“L’Hiver Est Mort”

Summary

Podcast Summary: "L’Hiver Est Mort"

The Tony Kornheiser Show — March 23, 2026
Host: Tony Kornheiser | Guests: Michael Wilbon, Pat Forde ("Pat40")

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Episode Overview

This episode captures the end of winter and the energetic arrival of spring in Tony Kornheiser’s world. Tony is joined by Michael Wilbon and Pat Forde for wide-ranging conversations, centering on the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments, the Valspar Championship’s Northwestern success story, and the evolving landscape of college athletics. There's also plenty of classic “Tony” — weather musings, golf misadventures, and snappy banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Spring Has Sprung in the DMV

[02:14–07:11]

• Tony opens with vivid observations of blossoming trees and rapid weather changes in DC and Rehoboth Beach.
  • “There's a cacophony of white and pink blossoms on a bunch of trees lining the street.” (Tony, 04:34)
• The famed cherry blossom festival is underway, and local urban forestry decisions have led to prettier spring streets.
• Banter on the fleeting nature of these blooms and anticipation for more stable spring weather.
• Tony laments his inability to purchase lined pants at Eddie Bauer, jokes about clothing sizes, and recaps a less-than-stellar round of golf.

2. Nationals Baseball & Streaming Woes

[05:19–06:46]

• Frustration over “cord-cutting” and the challenge of streaming Nationals games following MASN’s dissolution.
  • "If you're the Nats, don't you want to be seen?" (Tony, 06:32)
• Discussion of top prospect Dylan Cruz being optioned — viewed as a significant development for the franchise.

3. The Valspar Championship & Northwestern’s Big Day

Featured: Michael Wilbon, Pat Forde | [16:58–21:41]

• Both Matt Fitzpatrick and David Lipsky — Northwestern alums — contend at the Valspar, thrilling Wilbon and Forde.
• Wilbon shares pride and “conflict” rooting for two Wildcats in contention:
  • “But at some point, you gotta, you know, you gotta root for somebody. And Lipsky's never won.” (Wilbon, 20:10)
• Tony adds context about Fitzpatrick’s redemption after a near-miss at the Players Championship.
• Northwestern’s steady rise as a golf power highlighted.

4. NCAA Men’s Tournament: Predictability, NIL, and Power Shifts

[09:22–13:28 | 22:21–31:02 | 33:14–44:48]

Gonzaga Rant

• Tony delivers a classic take:
  • “Gonzaga is the most overvalued, overrated program in the United States of America in basketball... They will never win the NCAA Tournament as long as they remain in the conference they're in.” (Tony, 09:22)
  • Mark Few gets due credit, but Tony insists “they’re not equipped to win.”

“No More Cinderella”

• All Sweet 16 teams are from major conferences; the days of George Mason or VCU-type upsets seem gone.
• NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) & Transfer Portal are changing the game:
  • “Basically, Tony, it's pro sports... the average budget for a Big Ten team in just salary payout is over $10 million.” (Pat Forde, 26:01-27:15)
  • “The power and money is rewarded more than it ever used to be.” (Tony, 30:50)
• St. John's, Nebraska, and Iowa are the closest things to underdogs, but even they are solidly “big conference” stories.
• Wilbon and Forde express disappointment:
  • “It's fascinating. There's going to be some great games. It's also devoid of charm... no plucky underdogs.” (Pat Forde, 34:01)

Standout Players & Teams

• Pat Forde: Loves seeing young individual stars breaking out.
  • Praises players like DeBancer and Acuff, noting pro futures.
    • “Acuff, who I see a bit of Allen Iverson in, except he's 6'4.” (Pat Forde, 24:36)
• Iowa State, Iowa, and St. John’s noted for exceeding expectations.
• UConn’s strong finish, Illinois and Houston’s size/power, and Alabama’s resilience highlighted.
• Discussion of future tournament structure:
  • “It's almost like there should be another tournament... for amateurs.” (Pat Forde, 31:03)

5. Women's NCAA Tournament: Consistent Predictability

[12:16–13:28]

• Tony calls the women’s bracket “very predictable.”
  • “It’s just... very predictable. The arc of the women’s tournament is at this point, very predictable.” (Tony, 12:26)
  • Top seeds and powerhouse programs dominate. Occasional upsets happen, but rarely beyond the first weekend.

6. The Future of Mid-Majors and College Hoops

[34:01–36:27]

• Transfer and NIL money have decimated the Cinderella tier — even traditional mid-majors have “moved up” to bigger leagues, further thinning the field for tournament upsets.

7. Around the Horn: Coaching Carousel & News

[44:46–45:34]

• Tony and Pat Forde advocate for Syracuse to hire Jerry McNamara as head coach after Adrian Autry's struggles, calling it the “obvious and right thing.”

8. Lighthearted Asides & Classic Tony

Various Timestamps

• Tony’s golf complaints — “I didn't break 100. I was rancid.” (Tony, 13:34)
• Running jokes: Eddie Bauer’s empty racks, lined pants, Bethesda Bagels, and mailbag zingers.
• Banter on new music submissions and shoutouts to small bands.
• Joking about van sightings (Frostburg, Mizzou), saltine cracker debates, and Waymo self-driving cars.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On March Madness predictability:
  “It's fascinating. There's going to be some great games. It's also devoid of charm.”
  (Pat Forde, 34:01)

• On Gonzaga’s ceiling:
  “Gonzaga is the most overvalued, overrated program in the United States of America in basketball. They will never win the NCAA Tournament as long as they remain in the conference they're in.”
  (Tony, 09:22)

• On NIL and the death of Cinderellas:
  “Basically, Tony, it's pro sports... the average budget for a Big Ten team last year... is over $10 million.”
  (Pat Forde, 26:00–27:15)

• On the transfer portal:
  “Let's say you're a late bloomer... Now you can play your second, third or fourth and fifth years for that power coach, and that coach will come and get you from the portal and you will be paid handsomely.”
  (Pat Forde, 28:02)

• On the Valspar Northwestern finish:
  “At some point, you gotta, you know, you gotta root for somebody. And Lipsky's never won.”
  (Michael Wilbon, 20:10)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Start | End | |--------------------------------------------|---------|---------| | Spring Weather & Blooms | 02:14 | 07:11 | | Nationals/Dylan Cruz/Streaming TV | 05:19 | 06:46 | | Tony’s Rant on Gonzaga | 09:22 | 10:29 | | NCAA Men’s & Women’s Tournament Analysis | 12:16 | 44:48 | | Valspar Championship/Northwestern Golf | 16:58 | 21:41 | | St. John’s under-seeded, future matchups | 39:10 | 42:12 | | NIL/Portal impacts on college basketball | 26:00 | 31:02 | | Syracuse Coaching Search | 44:46 | 45:34 | | Mailbag & Banter | 46:26 | End |

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Episode Tone & Style

As ever, Tony’s conversational approach mixes wit, affection for his guests, and a signature blend of skepticism and nostalgia. With Michael Wilbon and Pat Forde, the analysis is knowledgeable and candid, but always relatable and laced with humor and friendship.

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For New Listeners

This episode is a timely deep-dive into current college hoops, spring rituals, and the transformation of amateur sports — all through Tony’s idiosyncratic but expert lens. The podcast rewards both dedicated fans of Kornheiser’s universe and those following the shifting landscape of American sports.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we will talk to Michael Wilbon about a great day for Northwestern University at the Valspar Championship. We'll talk to Pat40 about what has stood out to him in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. But first, Commerce. Okay, quick question. Why should your energy boost taste boring? The new fruity rainbow shots from five Hour Energy are proof that caffeine can actually be a treat. These bring an explosion of fruity flavor with a tasty caffeine kick. Think sweet, colorful candy vibes. But in a tiny bottle that gives you the perfect boost. Caffeine just got a serious flavor upgrade. There are 17 flavors in the full five hour energy lineup. 17. So you've got options depending upon your mood. But this fruity rainbow launch is all about bold, playful candy flavored chaos. And somehow all that big flavor fits into a portable 2 ounce shot. No bulky drinks, no sugar crash. No sticky wrappers. It's a zero sugar treatment that's totally sweet tooth approved, which makes it feel indulgent without slowing you down. If you want your pick me up to actually taste fun, this is it. Get candy flavored chaos with fruity rainbow 5 Hour Energy shots available online at 5 Hour Energy.com or on Amazon.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Michael Wilbon]

Michigan dominates this game with Georgia.

[Pat 40]

Poor Georgia is gone.

[Michael Wilbon]

And if you doubt I know what I'm talking about. I've won this thing as many times as Spike Brawn.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, just like Spike Braun who goes to Georgia anyway. Texas Tech. Hofstra.

[Michael Wilbon]

Texas Tech will prevail and Hofstra's feelings will get hurt. This game will be uglier than a W A bet sweatshirt.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's really. That is so awful. The Tony Cornheiser show is on. Now do we have a sense of how everybody is doing so far in the practice?

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Had a big opening weekend.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Spike Braun is doing well.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Gary the league 520 points still as a high max total Nigel with a surprise upsets in the two spot.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How about that with Bob Ryan. Oh, okay. Who's last?

[Pat 40]

Last?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, any Guesses not Phil's mom this year.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Phil's mom.

[Pat 40]

Oh.

[Producer/Co-host]

Oh, we had such high hopes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, her brackets seemed like a good.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

And we can get a response from Pat, 40, who's also hanging down there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Is that right? Well, we'll talk to Pat later in the show. All right. I wanted to open with weather. I understand that. I'm talking about a very limited area of weather in Washington D.C. and in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, where I was over the weekend. But I.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Were you there for the weekend if you left so early?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I left Saturday morning. Yeah, I was done, but I was there Thursday. No, two nights. Thursday and Friday left Saturday. In the area where I live, the weather has turned. It had gotten last week, not this past week, but the week before. There was a 70 degree day. There was an 80 degree day yesterday it got to 80 in Washington, not in Delaware, but it got to 80 in Washington. This morning at 6:45 in the morning when I was walking Chessy and it's still dark. That daylight savings time gambit has not fallen apart yet. It's still dark, but it is now spring. A variety of things make it spring. First of all, it's true spring. Now it's spring on the calendar. On 21 March, it turned to spring on the calendar. It had already been meteorological spring at the beginning of March, but now it's all sorts of spring. And the Capital Weather Gang, who I love, declared three days ago winter was over. They wrote a piece of winter is over. You want us to tell you when winter is over? We don't see any prolonged cold spells. We don't see anything to indicate that winter has hanging on. So it's over. This morning, armed with all this information, walking the dog. There's a street that I walked down with the dog and suddenly and really out of nowhere to me, there is a cacophony of white and pink blossoms on. On a bunch of trees lining the street.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Happened this week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. And I was agape. I was. Now I'd seen. I'd seen daffodils for a couple of weeks already. That didn't surprise me. Prior to that. There were those little white, little bell like things that come up at the end of February, the beginning of March, but I hadn't seen the explosion of color. The pink and white blossoms that were all lining the streets going to last about four or five days is all.

[Producer/Co-host]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And these are not the cherry blossoms, the famous cherry blossom?

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Well, some of them are.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There's two.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

There's different varieties that we have. And there's one that blooms about two to three weeks before and it often peaks late February, very early March, and that was delayed this year. But we're officially in the Cherry Blossom Festival. Do you know opening day is just around the corner?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

And I figure out how to stream the games.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't. Yes. Let me just say this about the Nats. I don't know the name of their 31 year old manager. I know that they optioned Dillon Cruz. This could be one of the great failures of all time if he doesn't get back to the majors. He was the number two overall pick and the guy ahead of him. 100 out of 100, you pick him. It's Paul Skeens.

[Producer/Co-host]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

100 out of 100, you Pick him. Dylan Cruz was second. They were teammates at LSU. He's batting around 200. He came up right away. He's a good fielder. We thought he was a good hitter. He's not great, though. And they optioned him. Didn't that surprise you? Yeah, that was a stunner. That was a pick. That was the importance of it more than anything. Yes. Yeah. If he's done already.

[Pat 40]

Already.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean, I don't. I choose not to believe that, but we'll see. This is a. You want a wake up call if

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

you're Dylan Cruz fragile thing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is. Yeah, this is a big deal. And yes, the Nats have not yet announced. How do you watch them? Where are they on?

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Well, there is a. There is a standalone streaming service that you can get for it. I just have to figure out what's most advantageous for us because for years I want to get held on to cable for one reason.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, for Massen. And now there is no more Mason, so. But if you're the gnats, don't you want to be seen? Yeah, one would think so. Anyway, so it's spring Wizards. It's spring and the woods.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

What I will give credit to the city about is for every opportunity, they've been putting appropriate trees into these curbside boxes so that they're no longer these huge behemoths that, you know, end up getting knocked down in 50 years in a storm. And the, you know, the result of that is these beautiful cherry trees and they're lining our streets.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's really nice.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

You must have probably seen some early magnolias.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's not going to last long, but I saw it this morning.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

We have these 40 to 50 degree swings.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Producer/Co-host]

Hopefully we're done with all that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, I don't know where.

[Producer/Co-host]

It's 80 and then it's 20.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know. I don't know how that works. But again, capital weather, gang.

[Producer/Co-host]

Winter is over.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Winter is over. I went to Rehoboth. I came back. I don't have much to say. I played some golf.

[Producer/Co-host]

The snow melted.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, all the snows melted. I played well. I have a story to tell, but

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

pick up anything good? Eddie Bauer.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Eddie Bauer's out of business. He's gone. Well, no, it's still there. They're waiting to sell all their remaining inventory. But they didn't have any line pants. I mean, they had three pairs of line pants.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

What size, though?

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, 48 and 22, you know, so they were useless to me. So I couldn't get any line pants. I did play. I needed line pants to play out there. I didn't need that here. I played with three guys I didn't know yesterday. I played terribly. I didn't break 100. I was miserable. You know, I had a good time. I had a good time, but I was just miserable playing. Did you just hear me, Tony?

[Michael Wilbon]

Like that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, Tony.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

A lot of ground balls.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's just. Yeah, just nothing.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

PFP for you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I was trying to get the ball in the air. I was great at the range and I just wasn't.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

You could bounce the club in on that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just wasn't any good. I tried that eight iron two or three times. The chip, just ground ball.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Hey, you gotta stand very close to it. Keep the handle high.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You have to teach it to me.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Peel off the ground.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's just awful. But I wanted to say one thing. A couple of things about the basketball. We're gonna talk about the basketball with Wil Bond and about a Northwestern kid, Matty Fitzpatrick, winning a tournament yesterday over a Northwestern kid, Rich Lipski. You know, Is it Rich Lipsky or David Lipski?

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Lipski.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You don't know his first name?

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

No, I don't.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. It's either Rich or David.

[Producer/Co-host]

What tournament was it? Valspar.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Fitzpatrick had to manage a playing partner

[Tony Kornheiser]

who was on the clock who was also like plus four.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Oh, I had a couple big holes, so. The easiest holes of the course.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Producer/Co-host]

Was there some deal where he said reporting for slow play or something like that?

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

I mean, the cart was following them in 50 playing out of turn just

[Producer/Co-host]

to try to get out of the way.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Fitzpatrick is not a slow player.

[Pat 40]

Oh, no.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Plays fast.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Not a slow player. So we'll talk about all that, but I need to say this to begin with so you know don't take this position. It's an old position for me.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

David.

[Tony Kornheiser]

David Lipsky.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Thank you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Gonzaga is the most overvalued, overrated program in the United States of America. In basketball, the most. They will never win the NCAA Tournament as long as they remain in the conference they're in. I am not saying Mark Few is not a fine coach. I am not saying they don't have fine players. You look at the rosters in the NBA, there are Gonzaga kids all over the NBA. Mark Few is an assistant coach on the United States Olympic team. He really good coach. His record is great. They will never win this tournament, ever. They went out early. I knew they were going to go out because they don't play. They played two difficult games after January 1st. One with Santa Clara and one with St. Mary's both of whom went out in the first round of the tournament. It's a terrible conference. It does not prepare you to win five hard games in a row. Your first game, because Gonzaga is a high seed, your first game is going to be relatively easy. Then you have the first of five hard games in a row. They could even win the first one. Did they go out to Texas?

[Producer/Co-host]

Think that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Texas, an 11 seed. Texas, you know, but a quality conference, the SEC conference. Texas plays tough games all the time. Iowa beat a number one seed last night. Florida. Iowa plays tough games all the time. Gonzaga doesn't. They're not equipped to win the ncaa. And you say, well, they got to the finals. Yes, they've got the finals twice. Did they win? No, they didn't win. They didn't win. They gotta leave that conference. They have to find someplace. You know, you can schedule all the tough games you want in November, but by the time you get to March, it's forgotten. You don't remember what happened. You haven't had to play enough good teams for this to happen. So I just want to say that maybe Wilbon will push back. Maybe Pat40 will push back. I don't know, but that's how I feel. Also, the women's tournament is unbelievably predictable. I mean, the men's tournament is very predictable. I don't think there's. I think it's all top conference teams. I think it's all power for top conference teams in the Sweet sixteen. There's no Cinderella you could make. Look, the case I would make for Cinderella is a team like Nebraska, you know, that had never won anything before. But they're a four seed from the Big Ten, which is a great conference. So the Women's they got one. They had a 10 beat a seven and then. And a couple of nines beat eights. But you get every year, the last eight, probably four ones and three twos almost every single year. I think last year they had four ones in the final four, as did the men. Yeah. And it's not that exciting. It's just, look, it's fine basketball, but it's just very predictable. The arc of the women's tournament is at this point, very predictable. And you. Maybe with Nil, maybe that changes. But, you know, you look at UConn, you look at South Carolina, you look this year at ucla, last couple of years, ucla. These are teams that are in there all the time and they are. They are the best teams. You can't get angry when the best teams win. No, you can't get angry when the seating committee does their job. But if you are looking for that wonderful upset, the high point upset, something like that, it's going to happen the first weekend with the men. It doesn't happen with the women, and it doesn't usually happen on the second game to get to the Sweet 16. Yes, there's a one out. Florida is out. There's a. Maybe there's a two or three out or something like that, but all the teams that are in are major conference teams. So the concept of, wow, this first weekend is just great. There are so many upsets. Well, there weren't. No, I mean, weren't. I think Nil has something to do with that. Yeah.

[Producer/Co-host]

Transfer portal.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah, I do. All right, that's it. You don't want to hear about my golf.

[Michael Wilbon]

Was.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I didn't break 100. Just. I was rancid. I was better in Rehoboth. I was just lousy in Colombia. What can I tell you?

[Producer/Co-host]

Did they serve the good dinner at the Rehoboth?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, that's in a couple of weeks. That's the master's dinner. That's the master's dinner. I'm signed up for the Masters and

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

with Rory's menu, that's going to be a big time number.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, we're not going to have the same kind of wines that he's having. I mean, we don't.

[Producer/Co-host]

But that looks. That looks like that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm not going to sign up for a dinner with $2,000 wine. No, not going to do that.

[Producer/Co-host]

Bring your own.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, if they let you, perhaps.

[Pat 40]

Water?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'll just have water.

[Pat 40]

All right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wilbon. Wilbon. When we return, I'm Tony Kornheiser.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

This is your fix. I am your host, Stassi Schroeder.

[Michael Wilbon]

Welcome to Tell Me Lies, the official podcast.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What's the most unhinged thing of season three?

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Steven because he's so evil.

[Producer/Co-host]

I do think he is misunderstood.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You see everyone face consequences. It's intoxicating.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

The writers just know how to trick.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, there's always a twist in this show. Tell Me Lies the official podcast January

[Michael Wilbon]

6th and stream the new season of Tell Me Lies January 13th on Hulu

[Tony Kornheiser]

and Hulu on Disney.

[Pat 40]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is sent to us by Stephen Good in Fayetteville, Arkansas, who writes I normally write in about the Nats bullpen, but today I'm sending in two songs by Garden Snakes, a rock and roll power pop band from Fayetteville, Arkansas. The songs included are Run Me around and Suitcase. This is Suitcase, the band's most recent releases. The band has planned to release new material in late summer or fall this year. You can get this on Bandcamp. And he writes My friend Joey sings and plays guitar for Garden Snakes. So it's a real treat to send in these songs. Thank you for supporting independent artists like Garden Snakes. Again, it's called Suitcase. It plays in Michael Wilbon who I saw last night at Columbia and Michael Wilbon had an interesting day and that's because the golf tournament and it was not a high power golf tournament. The Valspar was not. Not at all. But. But the guys at the top of the board from about 15 on. The two guys at the top of the board were both Northwestern University golfers. Why don't you talk about your conflict and how you feel about it now yeah, Tony.

[Pat 40]

I mean, the two of them were in the top five or, you know, top three all day. And I have been keeping an eye on it. Not because Matt Fitzpatrick, we're used to. He's one of major. One of us.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. At the country club.

[Pat 40]

You know, he's the top 20, if not top 10, you know, worldwide golfer. He's, you know, and he in his late 20s now and just a pleasant guy I've met a few times. I know how much he, you know, he was a one and done guy at Northwestern, but, you know, like yesterday he had on his Sunday purple.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Pat 40]

Which makes us, makes us proud. And, you know, we've talked about it in his time there, how much he enjoyed it. And I root for him, as, you know, you know, hard.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And he sort of gagged last week and this week made a putt on 18 players. Yeah.

[Pat 40]

But before we even get there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Pat 40]

Also, on the board is a name that people who are just casual fans are going to be accustomed to. David Lipsky, who went to Northwestern on the freshman team, was not highly regarded. Now on the freshman team, on the, on the varsity, was not highly regarded when he got there as a freshman and was just sort of there, improved, improved, improved, and by the time he was a senior, won the Big Ten championship outright.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's a big deal. That is.

[Pat 40]

It is a big deal. And so, you know, I've had a few more interactions probably with David because as an alum, I try to, you know, do a couple of things that involve the golf team and have over a few years out in Arizona so they can sort of maybe get a little practice in before having to at times play in the Michigan Invitational. You know, I don't want to lose to those people, Maize and Blue. But anyway, so David Lipsky has won. He's won several places in the world on world tours, live places, you know, around the world, Europe, Asia, has won tournaments, but has never won on the PGA Tour. And so he's 37 years old. I was the speaker at his graduation from Northwestern. I was the commencement speaker and again, just, you know, just an easy person to root for.

[Michael Wilbon]

I'm not going to sit here and

[Pat 40]

tell you that I know him well, I don't, but I root for him when I see him. And we had a third person, Dylan Wu, who was, I think he finished top 20. But this is a big deal for us. And I'm sitting there and, you know, Brant Snedeker was at the top of the board, as you know, for some of it. And I've gotten to know Brandt at a couple of events that I attended or hosted, mostly Steph Curry events. And Brandt comes to those a Vandy guy. Yeah. So any week I would be thrilled to root just for Brad Snedeker, who I've gotten to know better than the Northwestern guys and like him a lot. But the two. With the two Northwestern guys on top of the board, I mean, I'm not going to call it conflict. I'm rooting for both of them to make every shot. But at some point, you got to, you know, you got to root for somebody. And Lipski's never won. Yeah, he's never one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You got to root for him. You have to.

[Pat 40]

Yeah. Yeah. And so. But. But also, given what happened last week to Matty Fitz, you know, he made that put on 18 after last week, you know, unable to make a putt and extend the match on 18 and get to a playoff at the players. You know, it was. It was great to see him drop that putt on 18 and. And show the emotion, you know, sort of the Tiger fist pump, I'll call it, because he doesn't do that. He doesn't show that kind of emotion. But, you know, obviously it was on his mind what happened last week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. The difference in this is Lipsky, of course, did nothing wrong. He pared out. He did nothing wrong.

[Pat 40]

No, no, no.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And Matt Fitzpatrick won it. He won it on 18. He won it.

[Pat 40]

David had a chance to. He had a chance to put himself in the lead on 17 and did not put left inches short. So anyway, you know, I know this is way too much inside baseball for most people who don't have the interest in this institution, and I do. But I was just as thrilled as I could be for my alma mater yesterday. In a sports context. We're not in March Madness, neither men nor women, but I just completely thrilled with. With the golfers who were in our women's golf team, you know, won the national championship less than a year ago.

[Michael Wilbon]

So we've been on a bit of

[Pat 40]

a roll, and it's just. It's cool.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What is the home course you play at?

[Pat 40]

You know, Tony, I don't know that there's a single home course. The Glen is where I know that our women play because Don lives on the Glen. The Glen Club in Glenview. I don't know if the guys. Only we. I'm drawing a blank on farms, shooting a blank on the golf course, which I know that we play because they're. They're events in which people like Me are invited. And that's where another place I've gotten to know some of our guys who play and women because some of the one was invited to participate.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's nice. It's. It's nice that you had that. It's nice that you had that. Let me shift gears, obviously, to the basketball now and your overall thoughts on the tournament that we've seen so far.

[Pat 40]

Tony, it's been there have been some good games and a couple of obviously dramatic games. The Iowa game most recently, you know, and the Virginia game right before it went the wrong way for me. I had Virginia not only winning that game, but winning the next game, the regional semifinal in Chicago. I had them winning that game. But, you know, the Kentucky game went against me in the bracketing as well because I had Santa Clara in that game and there were two ways they could have secured that win and got neither of them done. So there have been some, you know, there's been some drama. Not all, not all time. Historic drama. Nice drama and good games. And I've been most pleased with the what the reason I told you last week that I care about this tournament, I wanted to see certain individual players who I think who are 18 years old now, who I think will be prominently displayed and have big roles in worldwide basketball coming in the coming years. And so I've not been disappointed in that way. Even though we lost to Bancet after one game, the kid goes 35 and 10. Just his second best player on his team was injured on Valentine's Day and they lost like seven of their final 11. But you could see if you want to make the case. Yeah, I'll take that kid. DeBancer did not disappoint. 35 and 10. And the kid Acuff, who I see a bit of Allen Iverson in, except he's 64 and I think he's a kid from Detroit. I've been watching him play with Arkansas the last couple of months. He is mesmerizing. And so I care about the individual stars of this tournament more than I do any of the team.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I don't want to say, I don't want to use the word disappointed because I'm not disappointed. But the last 16 teams are all major conference teams. If you, if you want to get to a Cinderella, it has to be someone like Nebraska, who's never won anything before in basketball, but they are a four seed from a big conference, the Big Ten. Again, I'm not disappointed, but I think this is where college basketball is now, that especially With Nil and the Portal, the big teams are going to win more than they used to. What are your thoughts on that?

[Pat 40]

Exactly that. And I'm disappointed in that. Even though I'm from the biggest of those conferences.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Big Ten, sure.

[Pat 40]

I'm disappointed in Tony because that's not what attracted me to the tournament all my life.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right, right.

[Pat 40]

And particularly since, you know, we, you know, they seeded the tournament in the same way that it is now, which I think was 1985. So I just, you know, I am disappointed. Not. That doesn't mean I'm disappointed in the play. I'm disappointed in that trend. And it's more. It's a trend. I don't. We don't know how long it'll last because there are no rules. And so basically, Tony is pro sports.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, it is.

[Pat 40]

And it may as well be a salary cap. Right. I'm told that the average budget for a Big Ten team last year in terms of just payout, just, just salary payout, not the other stuff, is over $10 million. So if you are school. Wow. Yeah. That has that kind of access to that kind of money from alums. Okay. Face it, or associates, bit boosters, people who have a vested interest in that program, maybe in that community or in that family or in that personal history, then you can, you just have the money to pay them. And you say, look, I understand that this nice mid major, you know, I'll pick the city that the teams play, the first four in Dayton, which was the nice mid major, let's say that Dayton could pay you, or locally I'll pick George Mason, can pay you, you know, $400,000 a year, young man. And you're going to have at least 800,000 minimum after two years. So a mid major might be able to pay you that, but we on this bigger stage can pay you a million dollars a year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Pat 40]

And do it. And they can. They do it. So what. So how are the. How are you going to survive at the same level? Yes, you can survive, but how are you going to become. Are you going to beat Goliath? If Goliath has all of the resources, and I mean all.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I would also add that this is. And I know people don't think of this, but if you have a charismatic coach with a history of winning championships and they're offering you that kind of money, you're not going to go somewhere else. You're going to go play for Rick Pitino or John Calipari or somebody. You're going to do that because you want to go to the pros, you

[Pat 40]

know, well, you might go to somewhere else for one year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

One year. Okay.

[Michael Wilbon]

If you're.

[Pat 40]

And let's say you're a late bloomer, which. Which really benefits that those kids. Let's say you're a late bloomer and you're a year or two, or even three somewhere else. Now you can play your second or third or fourth and fifth years for that power. That coach. And that coach will come and get you from the portal and you will be paid handsomely.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Pat 40]

Again, I'm told last week, average of $10 million.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's a lot of money. That's just a lot of money. Is there a. Is there a team that you looked at at all and you said, well, they're better than I thought they could win this thing.

[Pat 40]

Oh, Iowa State, despite. And they're a two seed. But despite losing their.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They lost a player. Yeah.

[Pat 40]

Their best player.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Pat 40]

And then now it sounds like from what he said last night, he may be able to play in the regional round. Good for them. If he can. Who else? I mean. No, because they're all like, all of them are schools, you would say. Yeah, they have the roster, the star and the coach who can move them along. Yes. I mean, even the teams that lost early, and by early, I mean, you know, a team like Kentucky, which thinks it's its birthright to be in the Final Four, they're gone, but obviously they could win and they got a player. I mean, that kid who won that game, I was looking at him the rest of the next game yesterday. He. He's 6, 6, 210 pounds. He seems like a guy who the pro game fits. Like, we could look back and he's. The college version. Doesn't mean he'll be this as a pro, but he's got some James Harden in him. And you're like, wow, really? Like, who's going? Like, you can. You can stop this kid? No, but you can counter him with your own star. And again, Acuff, Seriously, Tony, next year, when we get to this time next year, Acuff ain't gonna be doing this for Rick Pitino. No, I'm sorry, no.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He'll be in the NBA. He'll be in the NBA.

[Pat 40]

And by the way, whatever city your NBA team is in, if you can get that kid, you're gonna be real happy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The sad thing is that there's not going to be another Loyola Chicago. It's not going to happen.

[Pat 40]

Well, not under the rules. Now we don't Know, like, you know, I don't. Tony, we didn't know this was coming. How do we know what. What is coming?

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I don't. I don't think it's bad. I don't. I mean, these are good teams. They're good teams.

[Pat 40]

They are.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But. But power and money is rewarded more than it ever used to be. It just.

[Pat 40]

More than ever. And it's a clear distinction.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I agree.

[Pat 40]

And it's almost like there should be another tournament.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it's. It's.

[Pat 40]

Oh, wait, for amateurs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Pat 40]

How about that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

There were no amateurs. All right, I'll talk to you later. Michael Wilbon, boys and girls, we will take a break. Pat40 will join us. And Pat will talk about the same stuff that we're talking about now because it happens to be the headline that this is college basketball. Right now. It's professional basketball, and the bigger teams are knocking off the smaller team. So I'm Tony Kornheiser. Protein is now at Starbucks and it's never tasted so good.

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My day kicks off with a refreshing

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Time for my fire station shift. One more Celsius.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. The Tony Kornheiser Show. Once again, these are Garden Snakes. They are from Fayetteville, Arkansas. This is a song called Run Me Around. Pretty good rock and roll band. Oh, yeah. Pretty good rock and roll band.

[Michael Wilbon]

Michael.

[Tony Kornheiser]

If independent artists like Garden snakes want to send us their music to be played on the show, how do they do it?

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Send us your music by emailing it to jingles.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tony Koenizershow.com they play in Pat 40. We are devoting the entire day to the tournament. Basically. I've already done my rant on Gonzaga. I'll just. I'll just tell you this right now, Pat, because you would not have heard this. They are, to me, the most overrated, overvalued college program of all time. Gonzaga, they cannot win this tournament. They don't play in a good enough conference. They don't play enough good games. They cannot win five hard games in a row. This time. They couldn't win one hard game in a row. Tell me if you think I'm wrong. I'm willing to listen.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, I mean, you're not wrong because they can't win the tournament. I think that's become clear. They did. They made the championship game twice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yep.

[Michael Wilbon]

Made the Sweet 16 many years in a row. So I mean, they're good, they're a good program, but there clearly seems to be a ceiling there that they can't break. And again, even the, you know, when they had high level NBA players, like they got pros, they got pros.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, sure.

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, so there is the limit. There is a ceiling and unfortunately there's a ceiling on everybody right now who isn't at a power conference program.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. And which gets us to the, the obvious overall question, the overall impression. As you look at the 16 that are left, what are your thoughts?

[Michael Wilbon]

It's, it's interesting, it's fascinating. There's going to be some great games. It's also devoid of charm. You know, as I said, we've got, you know, no plucky underdogs, drivers. We have got a lot of schools with a lot of money who have bankrolled a lot of good talent. You know, we've got some places that are going swimming upstream still. I mean, the Iowa story to me is great. Where the point guard Bennett Sturtz and his coach Ben McCollum were at Division 2 two years ago and you know, went to Drake and now to Iowa and then just took down Florida. But you know what has always made the tournament great, especially in that first weekend, are the one or two or even three or four, you know, mid major schools that break through and make a run and that doesn't happen. It didn't happen last year, it didn't happen this year. And I think that's kind of a sad testament to where the tournament is right now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's not going to happen. It's not going to happen again. And, and I was saying this to Wilbond before. If, if you are invested in a Cinderella, basically what you have is Nebraska. You have Nebraska, the basketball equivalent of Indiana in this past year, a team that has never won at all. And you say, I'm going to root for them. But then you're looking at a four seed from a terrific conference and it's not the same as George Mason. It's just not right. It's not the same.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's not, it's not the same as Butler, it's not the same as George Mason, not the same as vcu, not the same as Wichita State and so on. Yeah, Florida Atlantic, you know and I actually wrote about, you know, life after a Cinderella run last week and what you have what one of the biggest problems with all this beyond the NIL bankrolling is the Cinderella is all moved up. They all upgraded conferences and so you take away a whole layer of Cinderella type teams. I mean Butler's in the Big East, BCU went to the A10, George Mason went to the A10, so on and so forth. And you know, I think that takes away some of the mid major element to this and yeah, we're missing that. And I think people, that's one of the things people have always loved about the tournament. And guess what? It no longer exists.

[Tony Kornheiser]

If you had to, if you had to list teams that surprised you and this doesn't mean that they're not really good teams. But what were some of the surprising like of the teams in the sweet 16 now who are you surprised by?

[Michael Wilbon]

I mean Iowa, I certainly didn't see them as a number nine seed beating Florida. I thought they would win their first game. I didn't think they had the personnel to win the second game. Nebraska playing as well as they have. I thought they, I thought they could be beaten early. That clearly didn't happen. Alabama I thought could be beaten early. And they are rolling even without. They are their, their marijuana possessing point guard. So I guess those three jump out at me. But you know, yeah, that's like I said, two from the Big Ten, one from the sec.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that is becomes the bottom line that they are very big teams from very big conferences. I watched, I thought Florida was going to win that game. Florida's comeback when it gets to about seven or eight minutes left in the game, I assume Florida is going to extend that and they're going to win by 10 or 12. I was surprised by how it ended. Not the shot. It's a, it's a wide open shot in the deep corner on the right. But I thought Florida was going to win that game because I thought Florida was a better team. I was surprised.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh sure. And I think if they play 99 times, 100 times, Florida wins 99 perhaps. But what I will say about Iowa and I've watched a lot of Bennett Sturtz the point guard and Ben McCollum the coach last year and this year, especially when they were Drake. But again this year I really think he's a great coach and this kid is a great player and they're completely unflappable. In all situations, but they play a million close games because they play low, they play slow. Yeah, yeah. And so they're just used to those games, and it doesn't really matter, you know, who they're playing. They're just like, we're just going to do our thing and we're going to be there at the end and we're going to see if we can pull it out. Boy, did they, you know. Yeah, they got an incredibly easy shot, really, frankly, but the kid had to knock it down. A transfer from Robert Morris. It was a transfer from Drake passing to a transfer from Robert Morris to go to the sweet 16, which, you know, people don't like the transferring, and I don't like as much of the transferring as there is, but there's some pretty cool stories about some guys who have improved their place in college basketball just for this reason, to reach this dream. Like Dylan Darling at St. John's who came from Idaho State and makes the winning shot there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So let me get to St. John's because you know that it's a slow day in the office when the only thing I had to complain about last week was that St. John's was undervalued as a five and maybe should have been a three or something like that. I did. I think St. John's going to be Duke. I mean, I think St. John's knows what it's doing at this point. I. I think you agreed with me that it might have been undervalued out of five. But what are your thoughts on. On St. John's because they're in these kinds of games all the time. They are.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Pat 40]

And that.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes, I thought the Big east regular season and tournament champions was definitely undervalued as a number five seed, that's for sure. And that's, I guess, bad luck for Kansas, bad luck for bad luck for Duke. I think this next round, you know, I mean, I agree with you that they have the personnel they are. You know, this is a classic Pitino. Insanely aggressive, athletic, defensive juggernaut of a team. They can't shoot, but they, they. They made just enough three pointers to have this thing won. Until they didn't. Until the ball goes in the hands of Dylan Darling I wrote about, who is nicknamed Bells because he has a part of his anatomy that Rick Pitino says are as big as church bells.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There you go. Go. Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

And the kid hasn't made a shot all day, and he's over his last 16 from three. And everybody in the arena is like, why Is he even playing? And he's got the ball and he takes four dribbles and lays the thing in with his offhand and all of a sudden they advance. You know, great, great march moment there. But yeah, look out Duke.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I mean, because I've watched Duke a couple of games now and they were good when they had to be good in the first game late in the game against Siena, they extended in the second half in the next game they played. But they don't look great. And it looks like you can figure Cameron Boozer out. I don't want to, I don't want to denigrate him because I know he's going to be a fine pro. But it looks like you can defend him, right? It looks that way.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, yeah, I mean, I think so. I'm telling you what, his production is just consistent.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, I'm sure a lot of people have tried to defend him but not had much success. But you know, you've got Zubi, Edgier4 and some other size that you can throw at him. The one thing you don't want to get Zuby in foul trouble because he's your best player. So that's going to be quite a matchup of those two guys going at each other. And you know, Pitino is that guy who, he will find ways to, to make your life hell defensively. And I can foresee them putting, you know, just withering pressure on Duke's guards the way they did to Kansas and see how they handle it. And then we'll just see if again, if they can make enough shots. They, they had to take a ton of threes to make 11 of them, but they did. And that's two straight games they've made double digits threes and they're undefeated when they make double digit threes this year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Was there a win that you thought was gratifying? Was there a win where you said, yes, I think this is a good team. I'm glad this team has advanced.

[Michael Wilbon]

I would, you know, I guess I would fall back to St. John's just because I thought again that they should have been seated higher. So I thought, I thought they were going to win that game and I thought that, that they should be going where they are going outside of that, looking around the rest of the bracket. I give credit to UConn for putting the pedal down at the end against, I thought a good UCLA team, you know, and I wasn't sure about UConn after the way they played the Big east tournament. And they've Regrouped, clearly. And, you know, that is. That is a tough team. And I remember distinctly Danny Hurley last year when they lost, saying, we played with honor. And I think this team is playing with something approaching honor as well. You know, I mean, they're playing like it's important to wear the UConn uniform and play the way they did. The other one, I would say, Tony, is Iowa State, which lost their best player, Joshua Jefferson.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

To an ankle injury. Hopefully he's back this next week. But I saw him in Kansas City, and they were excellent at the Big 12 tournament. And then for them, without Jefferson, to demolish Kentucky the way they did, said a lot about Iowa State and a lot about Kentucky. Frank.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I. Yeah, I look at that conference. I mean, they have only three teams left, but any one of those three teams can win this tournament because Houston is cruising. They are cruising. And they have home games in the 16 and the 8. They have home games, right? They're in Houston.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, they're in Houston. They're not in their arena, but they're in Houston in the NBA arena. And, yeah, I mean, when I saw them, you know, they didn't finish the regular season very well, and I was like, I'm not sure. They don't guard quite fight the way Kelvin Sampson teams usually do. And then I saw him in Kansas City, I was like, oh, no, no, they're fine. They're perfectly fine.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

And they are a little bit, I think, of an outlier compared to some of the other top teams here, because they're not quite as huge. I mean, one of the themes of this sweet 16 is to be huge.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, Illinois is enormous. They're enormous.

[Michael Wilbon]

Enormous. Yeah.

[Pat 40]

Arizona.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I thought Florida was enormous.

[Pat 40]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Illinois is. Illinois went on a recruiting trip to Eastern Europe and got the biggest kids they saw on the street. Right.

[Pat 40]

Find the biggest kids on.

[Michael Wilbon]

In Belgrade or whatever.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're big and they're better than I thought. They're better than I thought. Let me just get to some news. I think Syracuse did the right thing. I think if they hire Jerry McNamara, that is the obvious and right thing. What are your thoughts?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, you know, I mean, Adrian Archie was in the thankless position of being the man who follows the man.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

And so McNamara is the next one up, and the best thing that could

[Pat 40]

happen to him is he went and

[Michael Wilbon]

became a head coach and did great at Sienna and got Sienna to the tournament and almost got Sienna passed Duke. Yeah.

[Pat 40]

So, yeah, I think he went out

[Michael Wilbon]

and, you know, figured out how to be A head coach already and. And, you know, learn the job. And now he can go in and be the savior. I think that's absolutely the right move.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, me too. I agree with that. All right, plug your podcast for us.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes, sir. Others receiving votes. Sports Illustrated. We'll be recording later today so people can get Tony and me on the same day. Double shot.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thank you, Pat.

[Michael Wilbon]

All right. Thanks, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Pat 40. Boys and girls, we will take a break. We will come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Could it sound more like the birds at the beginning? Could it? No, it could not.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Ronnie Newmeyer. Thank you. It just sounds just like the birds. It's wonderful.

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Some guy named Tom Loughgren up there as well.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Got a brother who made it pretty big. You want to do the Bethesda bagel ad, please?

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Yes. Bagel sandwiches today. Very excited about that. Just go to bethesdabagles.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And before we get to the mailbag, let me say here's my story. Sad but true. It's about a girl that I once knew. She took my love and then ran around with every single guy in town. Yeah, I should have known it from the very start this girl would leave me with a broken heart. Now listen people, what I'm telling you, keep away from Runaround Sue. That's Dion. That's an early Dion song. Fabulous song. Thanks to our guests today, Michael Wilbon and Pat40. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey, the guest show through Apple. Please leave us a review. We have a note here from Malcolm Wilson, who is a graduate of the Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, Maryland. They are holding their hall of fame is holding its annual golf outing on May 18th at Leightonsville Golf Course to raise funds to support scholarship program. Since the inception of the tournament in 2006, they have provided $500,000 in scholarships to deserving student athletes. Among notable alumni are current Nats play by play announcer Dan Koko, Eagles edge rusher Arnold Ebakiti. I hope I have that correct. 1972 gymnastics Olympian Roxanne Pierce and loyal little Joe O'. Connor. You do not have to be an alum to come out and have a good time and help us keep the program going. Littles who want to sign up can go to www a e h s Albert Einstein High School hall of Fame Hof.com makes me want to go check out Continental.

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It's a Connecticut Avenue pizza shop Subs Is it good?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I don't know it.

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I'm not familiar with it. Now I need to check that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jolene Wojcick writes, go big red sweet 16, baby. Yeah, that's Nebraska. Yeah, yeah.

[Producer/Co-host]

Very happy for them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jim Cudahy Locust Grove, Virginia In a recent mailbag, a listener mentioned leftover materials from a canine bar mitzvah. I'm wondering if the same listener would be willing to recommend a moil in the greater DMV area to perform a canine brisk P.S. according to the quintessential American sports writer, a 12 over a five, not an upset. A 13 over a four. Big upset. Bob Ryan doesn't acknowledge anything. No, he just doesn't do it. From Pat the Current the statement that Waymo made recently about their cars learning to drive more like real people is coming true. Probably isn't that good of an idea. I saw these three last week on a very narrow San Francisco neighborhood street. A Waymo car was parked about 3ft from the curb waiting for a rider. Cars could not pass it in both directions at the same time. I waited my turn to get around it. As I did, I came very close to the car. It started honking the horn a lot. Then I saw another Waymo that was coming at me in the opposite direction. So I figured either it was honking at me for getting too close or hey human, look out. Or was honking at the other Waymo, hey bro, yeah. Or it was honking at the person who booked it. Like, come on human, I don't have all day. An hour later I went through an intersection where I had no stop sign, but the cross street did. A Waymo car driving at the speed limit never slowed down and burned right through a stop sign. Luckily I saw it and could tell it wasn't going to stop, so I avoided a crash. Then yesterday I saw one speed up to run a light just as it turned red. They said these cars were needed because they would drive safer than us, right? I don't know.

[Producer/Co-host]

Dubious.

[Tony Kornheiser]

From David Andrews in Adelaide, Australia. Weather update Two weeks into autumn. Yeah, they're the opposite of us. And Today's temperature is 31 centigrade or 87.8 Fahrenheit. Snow would be a surprise. Well, they're going into summer. Yeah, they're going into summer. Mike McCarthy in so many Mike McCarthy's in O', Fallon, Illinois, I was walking through a parking lot at my non masculine child's high school after her soccer team's opening game when I came across a van with University of Missouri Marching Band Marching Mizzou emblazoned on the side picture attached for News Channel 8.

[Pat 40]

Yes.

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

Not possible.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That was a high school. A High School 2.5 hours from Columbia, Missouri, hosting a mid Continent Color Guard association event. I got into my car and resumed listening to Thursday's podcast at the very end of Greg Garcia's rhyming bracket banter. Within a couple of minutes, I was rewarded with the Mizzou Marching Band mailbag

[Email/Jingle Coordinator]

jingle I do alive.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And to top that off, yeah, the same non masculine child will be attending Mizzou in the fall. On a Separate note, the Second Continental Congress established the U.S. postal system on July 26, 1775, with Benjamin Franklin appointed as the first Postmaster General. The United States Postal Service began operations on July 1971 as an independent establishment of the executive branch and no longer a cabinet level department. USPS does not receive tax dollars for its operating expenses, relying on the sale of postage and services. Well then the government's not responsible for it, even though it's the end of America. Yeah, it's the end of America.

[Producer/Co-host]

By the way, you say he saw the Mizzou ban. You see this van that I saw when I was out in Great Falls this weekend?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Frostburg. Frostburg.

[Producer/Co-host]

I immediately texted Greg. I was like, why is there a Frostburg van parked in the middle of the woods? He said, probably burying a dead body.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There you go.

[Producer/Co-host]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

From Patrick Ratliff in Corinth, Texas. A couple of days ago I was on my way to the local CBS when I drove by an independently owned pharmacy whose LED sign read in bright letters we answer the phone. I love that this is actually a selling point. They probably accept cash too.

[Producer/Co-host]

Yes, that is a selling point. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

From Chris Hinkle in Winter Park, Florida on Monday show you asked where Queens College was located. I grew up in the New York City Metro in North in North Jersey. And when I first saw that school name when my daughter started school at the University of North Florida unf, I thought wow, they play schools all the way up in New York City. You see UNF is a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference with the likes of Florida Gulf coast and Stetson. Queens College is located in the Queen City of Charlotte, North Carolina. Unf, the Mighty Ospreys are located in your favorite city of Jacksonville. I agree with some of your assessment of the Jacksonville area, but part of the city by UNF, St. John's Town center, the Mayo Clinic and Ponte Vedra beach are quite nice and posh. And while you want to say that Ponte Vedra beach is Jacksonville, it's really not. That is primarily distinguished by the fact that it is not in Duval county, but rather St. John's County. And finally, my daughter's part time job while in school is working at the TPC Sawgrass Clubhouse. I can get us a good deal on playing Sawgrass. Please let me know when you and Michael would like to come play this summer and I'll host you. Can I be the official Atlantic Sun Conference Correspondent of the show? Sure. As well as the official Call Center Director of the show. You see, I'm an expert on customer service sector, particularly in the hospitality industry. I love when you get on your rants about the latest customer service snub and will be happy to help you navigate these rough waters. Wow, that should go on the save.

[Producer/Co-host]

Yes, absolutely.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That should go on the save pile. From Steve Gilmore, not Artist Gilmore. Steve gilmore, San Angelo, Texas currently 224 in the TK bracket. Basically top 50. Wanted to let you know that if you want some saltines with a kick, try the jalapeno ones. Not too shabby. I didn't know that. True jalapeno saltine. Saltine crackers. But I don't know if they're actual saltines or Saltine is a name that someone can use. From Mark lynch and Camby, Indiana I hate Ritz Crackers. Okay then fairly defensive. From Greg in New York, New York, I've been to Maine. Okay. From Anthony Jones in Falls Church, Virginia Dear Captain Tony, when talking about Wilbourne's trip to Maine, you mentioned you had never been. I thought I'd get my email in before Gene McManus beat me to it by saying I've never been to Maine, but I kind of like the music. And from John Tagliarini, as promised, here is the updated construction report on Ankeny A n K E N Y Ankeny and Kenney, Iowa. The work on Ankeny Boulevard has started up again, this time south of 1st street to Southeast 8th. You'll probably want to use the McDonald's on Delaware Avenue until the work is done. If you're out on your bike tonight, everyone, as always, do wear what who wants food? What do you got?

[Michael Wilbon]

I got brown sandwiches and green sandwiches.

[Pat 40]

Which one do you want?

[Michael Wilbon]

What's the green?

[Tony Kornheiser]

See the very new cheese or very old me meat.

[Pat 40]

I'll take the brown.

[Mailbag Reader]

I found a new kind of been keeping me down I left it left out of you. Sam Paintings on the walls have never been clear. There's some kind of way when I look in the mirror When I picked up the phone yeah, but you could hear I left it and left I'll stand beside you. Sa. It around. And. I'll pick you up and we go traveling all the way to South Town. If I get down, just break down you can have a good round and. It's coming too crowd. Me to the ground I waste my time. Just fooling around. Sam.