“Name names!"

Summary

The Tony Kornheiser Show – “Name names!” – May 20, 2026

Episode Overview

In this lively, wide-ranging episode, Tony Kornheiser is joined by familiar show friends and sports journalists Mark Feinsand, Tim Legler, and Michael Wilbon for the regular mix of sports talk, personal anecdotes, viewer mail, and playful banter. The show opens with snack talk and gardening adventures, pivots to in-depth MLB analysis, examines NBA playoff drama (including a historic Knicks comeback and the rise of Victor Wembanyama), and closes out with engaging listener emails and show traditions. As always, Tony’s blend of candor, nostalgia, and humor shines through.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Snack Talk and Gardening Follies

[01:36–04:45]

• Snack Preferences: The episode opens with the hosts humorously debating their Pringles habits.
  • Mark Feinsand jokes: “If I'll sit there like a complete fat slob and eat the whole sleeve.”
  • Wilbon provides trivia: “80 to 100 chips, approximately in a can of Pringles.” — [02:26]
• Gardening Updates: Tony shares woes and triumphs from tending his tomatoes and peppers, with “the two peppers closest to the brightest light appeared to have died...by 4 o’clock, they were alive again. I felt so good about that...” — Tony Kornheiser [04:13]
• Potato Drama: A family dispute emerges over whether potatoes in the pantry are organic and when to plant them, colored by Wilbon’s jokes about rotting potatoes and Tony’s concern about proper sprouting techniques.

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2. Nationals/Mets Series and MLB Chatter

[05:13–12:34]

• Nationals vs. Mets Recap: Tony expresses frustration with both teams’ poor play and numerous errors. He’s particularly critical of pitchers failing in the first inning:
  • “There has to be a statistic that will prove that the Washington Nationals pitching staff has the worst first inning ERA in the history of baseball. Nobody gets through the first inning untouched.” — Tony Kornheiser [07:53]
• Young Prospects & Lineup Changes: Dylan Cruz is called up, Brady House is sent down, and the nation's obsession with roster moves is analyzed.
  • “They brought up Dylan Cruz. They not only brought him up, they said, ‘play center field, son.’ ...because that guy’s going to take your job if he hits.” — Tony Kornheiser [09:38]
  • Wilbon notes that some roster moves may be about money and service time: “I think for Cruz in particular, it’s about money just in terms of trying to delay when free agency could and would have.” — [10:56]
• Attendance Gripes: Tony shares surprise at low Mets series attendance; Wilbon provides plausible local context.

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3. American and National League Analysis with Mark Feinsand

[16:24–28:37]

• Phillies Turnaround: Mark explains Philadelphia’s resurgence as due to the end of tough early schedule and key players returning to form.
  • Mark Feinsand: “Since Wheeler came back on April 25, the Phillies rotation is a .322 ERA… hitters are hitting .232 against them… Before that those numbers were .568 and .310.” — [17:13]
  • Tony underscores his admiration for the Phillies’ everyday lineup: “I think they have one through nine, the best everyday lineup in baseball. My feeling is the lineup is too good to lose like this.” — [18:01]
• Managerial Change Impact: Mark downplays the bench coach Don Mattingly’s effect, noting a change in voice rather than philosophy.
  • “I would say very, very little. And that’s not a slight to Mattingly by any means…you know, this is not acceptable the way it’s going. This is the first change we’re making, and if it doesn’t get better, we’re going to make more.” — Mark Feinsand [19:36–20:40]
• White Sox Surprise: Tony and Mark marvel at the White Sox’s competitive record and young standouts like Munataka Murakami.
  • “The White Sox…made one of the shrewdest off season moves. This guy, Munataka Murakami…all he’s doing right now is leaving the majors in home runs or leaving the American League in home runs…” — Mark Feinsand [23:57]
• AL-NL Power Imbalance: They discuss why the American League is currently weaker than the NL. Mark attributes it to top-heavy spending in NL, injuries, and disappointing seasons for traditional AL powers (Astros, Tigers, Red Sox, Blue Jays).
  • “There are a lot of really bad teams around the whole league, and it’s a very top heavy league right now.” — [25:40]
• Yankees Strong: Yankees are “legitimately good,” led by Ben Rice and Aaron Judge, with pitching bolstered by youth and returnees.
  • “Rice and Judge have been an unbelievable one two punch for them… Cam Schlitler… has been probably the best pitcher in the American league… He’s 25. And the Yankees haven’t had a homegrown kid like this in a while, pitching wise.” — Mark Feinsand [26:56, 28:21]

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4. NBA Playoffs: Knicks Comeback & Wembanyama Emergence with Tim Legler

[29:42–44:38]

• Knicks’ Historic Comeback vs. Cavaliers:

  • Kornheiser presses Tim Legler on Cavaliers’ coaching—“What is Kenny Atkinson doing not calling Time out to try and change the flow of the game? What do you make of that?” — Tony Kornheiser [30:12]
  • “You have to take one...you have to stall that...And you can’t take those things on. The last thing you want to do as a coach when you get back to the hotel...is reach your pocket...and then you have two timeouts in there. You don’t want that.” — Tim Legler [30:24–32:19]

• Jalen Brunson's Heroics:

  • “Jalen Brunson takes over a game and Harden cannot guard. What are you doing right now?” — Tony Kornheiser [32:19]
  • “I still woke up, and I still can’t actually believe they won that game. Seven and a half minutes, 22 points you have to make up.” — Tim Legler [32:41]

• Game 1 Impact:

  • “I usually think it’s the easiest game to win. The easiest game to lose… I feel differently about this one.” — Tony Kornheiser [34:03]
  • “This is tough to come back from…when are you going to be in a better position to win a game than they just were?” — Tim Legler [34:24]

• Wembanyama’s Playoff Dominance:

  • “How good is Wembanyama? How good?” — Tony Kornheiser [35:49]
  • “There’ve been really big guys... There’s been nothing like this…[Wembanyama] is the only guy I’ve ever seen that continues to back up...and he still can reach out and block a ball on the side of the rim that you’re trying to release…” — Tim Legler [35:59]
  • “It is so easy for everybody else in that locker room to fall into [place]. And you develop this incredible chemistry which they've been able to replicate very similar to what they had in the Duncan Ginobli Parker days.” — [41:38]
  • On his mentality: “He used the word responsibility…he looked at it as his responsibility as the number one pick…to lead this franchise back…” — Tim Legler [40:19]
  • “If his body doesn’t betray him, this guy looks like he could be the greatest player of all time at that position, right?” — Tony Kornheiser [43:28]

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5. Classic Kornheiser Show Interludes

[45:03–58:12; mailbag & musical segments]

• Listener Mail Highlights:
  • Emails cover everything from Pringles manufacturing, potato planting tips, and legendary sports trivia, to hilarious stories about TV executives quoting “The Odd Couple.”
  • Memorable anecdote: “On November 13, Felix Unger was yet to remove himself from his place of residence. It’s the beginning of the Odd Couple, as everybody knows…” — Listener email [45:47]
  • Pringles process is described in detail by “the show’s official potato processing expert.”
• Show Jingles and Banter:
  • Listener musical submissions featured as transitions.
  • Michael and Tony’s running jokes about gardening mishaps, and growing potatoes too late.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On New York’s NBA crowd:
  • “That crowd was waiting the entire game for that run...The building was starting to energize that team. You, you have to take a timeout and you have to stall that.” — Tim Legler [31:28]
• On Wembanyama’s Uniqueness:
  • “Wembanyama is the only guy I’ve ever seen that…can reach out and block a ball on the side of the rim…It’s incalculable the number of times guys have processed how they want to play differently.” — Tim Legler [36:23]
• On Listener Engagement:
  • “I do not know why this jacket is such a big deal. I will not ask to be the official Justin, but can I be the original Justin?” — Listener email [53:22]
• On the Show’s Family Feel:
  • “Let me just say this on a personal level…I keep croissants in the house...in case Michael and his family drop by…” — Tony Kornheiser [14:34]

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Timestamps of Important Segments

• Intro, snack/gardening banter: 01:36–05:13
• Nationals/Mets/MLB talk: 05:13–12:34
• Mark Feinsand segment, deep MLB analysis: 16:24–28:37
• Tim Legler segment, NBA Playoffs & Wembanyama: 29:42–44:38
• Listener mailbag & show close: 45:03–58:12

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Tone & Language

The tone is funny, self-deprecating, witty, and family-like, with a signature blend of sports analysis and everyday life observations. Quotes and jargon remain authentic to each speaker, with Tony’s dry humor and playful nitpicking, Wilbon’s quick retorts, and expert guests’ insights.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode is a classic mix of Tony Kornheiser’s sports commentary, nostalgia, and personal storytelling, featuring incisive takes on baseball’s changing landscape, the NBA playoff theater, and the cultural oddities that make the show a staple. The camaraderie between regulars and the interaction with listeners make it both informative and entertaining, even for those less invested in sports.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll talk baseball with Mark Finesand. And we'll check in with Tim Legler about that huge comeback win by the Knicks in game one of the Eastern Conference finals last night. But first, Commerce.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tim Legler]

You know, normally I'll go just the

[Mark Feinsand]

regular, but salt and vinegars are the ones. But if I eat a whole.

[Tim Legler]

If I'll sit there like a complete

[Mark Feinsand]

fat slob and eat the whole sleeve. Yeah, if you eat a whole sleeve

[Tim Legler]

of Pringles and they're the salt and vinegars. I mean, your, your tongue and mouth might have problems for a couple of days. It's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Tim Legler]

Not recommended, but. God.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So you sit there with that entire canister. There must be hundreds of them in there.

[Mark Feinsand]

Yeah. Don't tell Val Sands. We don't do that.

[Tim Legler]

When Val Sands.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is General George Washington and you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. I have to say that I love when Steve refers to his wife as Val Sands all the time. He never calls her Val. It's always Val Sands. Yes. It just makes Me so happy it's brought up right to listen to that.

[Michael Wilbon]

80 to 100 chips, approximately in a can of Pringles.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're just too much.

[Michael Wilbon]

Once you pop, it's too much.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's too much. We had two incredibly hot days, Monday and Tuesday. Is today going to be that hot as well? There's supposed to be storms.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. Chance of some big storms later this afternoon. Yes to the heat. Not as bad as yesterday. Yesterday was worse than Monday.

[Mark Feinsand]

Yeah, yesterday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I go out early in the morning to check on the tomatoes and peppers all the time. And then I go out around noon with a big jug of water. The neighborhood watch, you know, to pour water on the tomatoes and the peppers. That's all we have in the ground. You may have noticed we don't have potatoes in the ground yet. Not yet. We're hoping to have potatoes in the ground Memorial Day.

[Michael Wilbon]

The potatoes are slowly rotting. It's okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We're hoping for that. We have a lot of different people working on this now.

[Michael Wilbon]

The tomatoes have been procured. They are safely tucked away in the pantry. Have you seen the. The potatoes?

[Tony Kornheiser]

There's. There is a dispute on the potatoes. The dispute is there is some reason to believe the potatoes have to be organic potatoes. The potatoes that are in the pantry are not labeled. Are they. Are they organic? Do we know? I don't know. I would have thought that everything was organic, just by definition.

[Michael Wilbon]

I think you leave the potatoes alone, they'll get. They'll sprout.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, well, that's what we're doing. Don't you think we should put them in a brown paper bag?

[Michael Wilbon]

I put a brown paper bag next to them, which I think is good enough.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Doesn't mean anything. That should work. Yeah, it doesn't mean anything. Anyway, so I go out and I do this with the tomatoes and the peppers. It was so hot yesterday and so bright that when I got out there, the two peppers closest to the brightest light, the brightest light appeared to have died. They were completely. Yes, they were completely limp. The other vegetables were not. They were completely limp. And I almost started to cry. I got more water and more water, and then by 4 o', clock, they were alive again. They were alive again. I felt so good about that, preserving their energy. I felt that I had brought them back to life.

[Michael Wilbon]

You tried to kill them with all that water?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, slowly boil the roots.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's certainly possible. I felt very good about that this morning. I went out and they were okay, but it's not. It's only 80 now. It's not 95 and blistering sunshine or anything like that. You're probably wondering why I'm not talking about the Knicks and the Cavaliers. Well, Tim Legler is going to be on with us and we'll ask him all the appropriate questions like do you ever see a dog show like that in your life? And why is the coach sitting on the timeouts?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, you get the carryover timeout.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Why is James Harden out there at all on defense? Can't you call a timeout and hide James Harden from Brunson? Now, there are some of us who did say on the television yesterday, now I said I'm cognizant of what happened in Oklahoma City, but Cleveland doesn't have Wembanyama and New York has Jalen Brunson, who I said, I believe when the spotlight gets bright, he's going to be great. And I think he was in the fourth quarter. Jalen Brunson was great. But we'll leave that for Tim Legler because I have the Nats. The Nats have now played two games with the Mets. These are dreadful games in terms of actual purist baseball. They're dreadful. There's errors all over the place. They're just. You cannot get 10 runs in the 12th inning. It's just unbelievable two nights ago that that happened. And they also, by the way, baseball,

[Michael Wilbon]

after they had two good chances to close the game out themselves.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You have. In the sixth inning, you have bases loaded, nobody out. You got to get two. You're down to. They only get one. And guys strike out. You know, they strike out in those situations. I'm not going to name names, but they do it all the time anyway. They get to. So they lose that game in an absurd way.

[Michael Wilbon]

And game one of a four game series.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, yes. It's an absurd way to lose when

[Michael Wilbon]

you don't play that many games anymore in division.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I was, I was surprised to see the paucity of the crowd the last two nights. It's a good crowd, but I sort of thought it would be a great crowd. I sort of thought Mets.

[Michael Wilbon]

I'm not surprised by that. Yet. A lot of people show up for the Orioles game. This is sort of the last couple weeks of school.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Beautiful filled stadium filled three games.

[Michael Wilbon]

Some college kids were already out of town.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, well, okay. So anyway, so they lose the first game to go one game under.500. They had reached.500 for the first time in like four years. Two steps forward, one bat. Okay, but now last night, these games, you know how baseball has been sped up by the pitch clock. These games are taking four and five hours. They're the longest games in recorded western history at this point. So last night the Mets made a million errors. They made throwing errors, they made fielding errors. The Nats won the game. Both managers were so disgusted with their starting pitchers that they left them in rotten to rot for 5, 6 innings. Griffin and McNeil.

[Michael Wilbon]

Now you mentioned, you mentioned the late inning from the night before. You just. The Mets immediately come out. Bichette hits two home runs in the first two innings.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

Game looks like it's over.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Because there has to be a statistic that will prove that the Washington Nationals pitching staff has the worst first inning ERA in the history of baseball. Nobody gets through the first inning untouched. It just, it doesn't seem. Jake Irvin never does. And last night yet there's a two run home. It was a three in the first, it was five, nothing after two. And that sets the stage. The Nats load the bases on a variety of things. And James Wood comes up and goes oppo, as they like to say all the time, to left field. The left fielder. Moravato or morabito. Morbido.

[Michael Wilbon]

McLean. Kid.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Mark Feinsand]

Local kid.

[Tim Legler]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Went to Gonzaga.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think this is his first game ever.

[Michael Wilbon]

First game ever.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Came close. I thought he should have had it.

[Michael Wilbon]

It hits the heel of the glove.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, probably should have had it. I thought he should have had it. I don't want to be overly critical, but I thought he so live.

[Michael Wilbon]

I didn't think he really had it. And then board center's been running it back.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let me just say this. I won't say should have. I'll say could have.

[Michael Wilbon]

Could have.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, could have had that. That's fair. And then the inning's over. But it becomes a little league grand slam. It bounces around in the outfield. And James Wood, who is deceptively fast once he gets started because he's like 8ft tall ahead first slide into home 29.4ft per second. Is that good?

[Michael Wilbon]

It seems pretty good.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know. I don't know what the standards are, but so he gets home and. And now it's 5, 4. And then the, the Mets. Not the Mets, the, the GNats went like 4, 3, 2 in the fourth inning, fifth inning, sixth inning or third, fourth or whatever it was. They scored a lot of runs and they win the game. They get decent relief pitching.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, there's a monster home run by Soto, but that's. Leave it to a solo shot.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I mean, they get you know, pretty good relief. So now they're at. They're at.500 again for the second time. Long time. But they made moves that, to me, were completely out of the blue. They brought up Dylan Cruz. They not only brought him up, they said, play center field, son. I mean, me and coach basically saying, Jacob Young, okay, I want to watch that guy, because that guy's going to take your job if he hits. You know why, Jacob? Because you don't hit. You don't. You don't hit with power. Although Jacob Jung's having a better offensive year than usually, and he's a great defensive center. They put Dylan Cruz right in the game. I think he got one hit. He did. He had not the first two at bats, but he got wood on the ball the first two at bats and then he got a hit.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, over the first two months, he's been hitting the ball very hard so that they're hoping that'll translate. And hopefully the strikeouts are down.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They sent Brady House down. This was going to be their starting third baseman for years to come. They sent him down. And Joey Weimer, who nobody could get out.

[Michael Wilbon]

No, he's. I think that's the toughest one to sell. I mean, that's the player you really need for the entirety of the summer.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What are you doing?

[Michael Wilbon]

You ran out of options. Where to put him in the outfield.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What are you doing? Put him at first. Well, they got Mead. They don't know what to do with Weimer. Now, your theory on that is that's just about money.

[Michael Wilbon]

I think for Cruz in particular, it's about money just in terms of trying to delay when free agency could and would have. And I think for House, it's probably a little bit simpler just in terms of you're now deep enough into the season where the errors are starting to pile up and is that starting to affect the rest of the play?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, this is how it goes. Who you know the. I don't know this. What's his name? Spike Butera. What's his first name? Braden Butera. Butera. Blake Butera. That's his name. And manager. I don't know anything about, except he looks like a little dollar. He's a very young person. He's two years older than the pitching coach, however, who looks like a kid who delivers newspapers. In the old days, when newspapers were delivered. When there were newspapers.

[Michael Wilbon]

Ride the bike out to the mound.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know anything about Butera, but he does not have the same lineup ever. Two games in a Row.

[Michael Wilbon]

All I know is that he puts out. He puts out a lineup that scores

[Mark Feinsand]

a lot of runs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're leading the majors in runs. And it's not because they have power. They don't.

[Michael Wilbon]

Interesting update. Last night you saw two successful challenges by the catcher. One that included a strikeout that ended in an inning right there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, yes. He had a good night.

[Michael Wilbon]

And after that, inside the park homer. I love James Wood after he's like, you gotta slide into the home for a little league home run. Yeah. I became obsessed with watching Nick Moribita for the rest of the game because the ball found him. I think he got on base for his first time in an MLB game by getting hit by a pitch.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Good for him.

[Michael Wilbon]

He makes a diving catch over the wall.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Great catch.

[Michael Wilbon]

Gets the. Gets the out, but ends up giving up a run.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It was in foul territory on third base.

[Michael Wilbon]

So I think. I think he's a center fielder. So you wonder if. If that's sort of why he was able to get to the James Wood shot, but why the angle of it was not necessarily what he was expecting. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Anyway, Nigel hands me a note that the attendance last night was 22,750.

[Michael Wilbon]

That seems pretty good for a late night.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And on Monday, 15,901. So they went up 7,000. I just thought that the. You know, to me, when the Mets and the Phillies come to town more so.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, there are a lot of. There are a lot of Mets fans, you could say.

[Tony Kornheiser]

See, that's what I thought. So I thought there'd be like 35,000. I was a little bit surprised that it. That it looked the way it looked. All right, do I have anything else to talk about? Is there. I can't talk about the hockey series start, but I don't know anything about hockey. Everyone says that the teams in the west are the better teams. Yeah, that's the best team. That's certainly true. In the NBA, those two teams are better than.

[Tim Legler]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Than Cavaliers in the Knicks, the Spurs and. And Thunder. And then Montreal is playing Carolina. I will just say this. Carolina is 8 no in the playoffs. And you think, okay, they're at home, they're eight. No. They're going to win. Montreal six and two on the road. And Oklahoma City was eight no at home. They were eight no at home. You know, doesn't work all the time. We'll take a break. Mark Feinsand, when we return, talk a little bit about baseball later in the show. Tim Legler, I'm Tony Kornheiser.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Don Stewart]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You're always welcome. Always welcome.

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You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is our friend Don Stewart. We play his stuff all the time. We like him. This song comes from an album titled Don Stewart Volume 47. He writes, I haven't written any new songs since last February because I had surgery called the Triple A's surgery. It was tough, but at least it's over with. Also, I really enjoyed you getting mad about not being able to watch the Nats games on Peacock when you're paying $327 per month. My wife and I pay over $300 for cable and we like to watch Yankee games However, we never get to watch Yankee games when they play against the Nats and the Royals. And it's been like this for years. Thanks for playing my songs. It's one of the highlights of my boring life. Thanks also for making me laugh, even though it hurts to laugh because of my surgery. This is Don Stewart and it's called First In Line Plays in Mark Feinstein. And this segment with Mark Feinstein is brought to you by FanDuel. Play youy Game. Can I start with Philadelphia and the turnaround in Philadelphia, which appears to be a real turnaround. What are your thoughts on that?

[Mark Feinsand]

Well, it's a good place to start, as I am in Philadelphia. I've been at the ballpark the last two days. You know, a couple things. It's easy to look at the managerial change and say, oh, little kick in the pants for the team. And that's all well and good. Let's, let's look at where the Phillies were when they started this season. They had a 10 game losing streak that looked like their season was just going to go into oblivion. That 10 game streak came against the Braves who have been the best team in the game and the Cubs who have been among the best teams. All, all 10 of those games were against the Braves and the Cubs. So one of the first things that happened for the Phillies is they stopped having to play the brazen Cubs every day. Now that said, they also got Zach Wheeler back. He's been their ace for several years and getting him back into the rotation certainly helped since he came back.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Zach Wheeler and Aaron Nola, that's a one.

[Don Stewart]

Yeah.

[Mark Feinsand]

And they've got Christopher Sanchez who has the best ERA in baseball. So in the American League, in the National League rather, since, since Wheeler came back on April 25, the Phillies rotation is a.322 ERA and hitters are hitting.232 against them. Before that those numbers were.568 and.310. So you don't have to look very far to figure out how they've turned things around. Some other guys have done well this month and turned things around. Alec Bohm has been a really good hitter for them after being pretty bad in April. Bryson Stott had a terrible April, he's having a great May. Kyle Schwarber has got about, I think 49 home runs in the last two weeks. Bryce Harper been playing well. So you know this team. I'm not sure that they did anything different. They're just playing the way that they're supposed to be playing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So my feeling is one of the notes I wrote down, because I've said this for the last three years, that I think they have one through nine, the best everyday lineup in baseball. My feeling is the lineup is too good to lose like this. Right. It's just too good. Or unless they all went south in a hurry. They got rid of one guy, Castellanos, but I think they have everybody else. Yeah.

[Mark Feinsand]

And. But when you look at it, you know, boom. I mean, Natalie gave him a couple of days off early in the month because he was just scuffling so bad. He looked lost at the plate. And since then he's got a 1200 OPS. He's hitting.429. Bryson Stott had a 534 OPS and did a home run in April. Well, this month it's about 900. He's got five home runs. So, you know, yes, they are a great lineup. And it's great. Lineups like that can usually withstand one or two guys not hitting well. But when you're starting rotation, which has also been a big strength for this team, has an ERA that's close to six, your hitters need to step up and do more. And they were getting the bad pitching and some of the scuffling in the lineup at the same time and combine that with the fact that they played a brutal part of their schedule and things just went badly.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let me tell for the people who are listening to this show, Mark knows this, but not all of you know this. Four years ago, the Phillies did this. Four years ago, they fired Northwestern's own Joe Girardi when he started 22 and 29. And they brought in Rob Thompson and they made the World Series that year. I don't know if that's coincidence. I don't know how much is Thompson and how much is coincidence. So I know. I'm not trying to minimize what Mattingly has done. That's why I'm asking this question. How much do you think is Mattingly or just very, very little?

[Mark Feinsand]

I would say very, very little. And that's not a slight to Mattingly by any means. Mattingly was already in the dugout. He was already the bench coach.

[Tim Legler]

Right.

[Mark Feinsand]

So it wasn't. He wasn't, you know, him and Rob Thompson were very tight. I don't think there was a huge change in philosophy, you know, within the clubhouse or within the dugout with the managerial change. I think sometimes it's, you know, they need a new voice. They just need a little wake up call that, you know, this is not acceptable the way it's going, this is the first change we're making, and if it doesn't get better, we're going to make more. And in the case of the players, you can't fire them, but you can trade them. And Dave Dombrowski has never been afraid to shake things up with trade. So, you know, if the Phillies got to late June and we're still wallowing under 510 games out of the wild card spot, Dave Domrowski wasn't just going to sit there and say, oh, well, this wasn't our year. He was going to either try to make some moves to make something happen or to build the team, you know, for the future, but he wasn't going to sit by. So I think it was a message to everybody that this is not the way this is going to go and we're not just going to sit idly by and watch this happen.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Dave Dombrowski does whatever he wants to do. Like Lou lamarillo and Hawkins, he does whatever he wants to do and he's got a great track record. But. And there's a but here. The nominal general manager of that team is Don Mattingly's son. So I think you have to go easy on Don Mattingly or, you know, just know what you're doing because you could alienate an entire family, which you don't want to do. Is your thought that he will be the manager next year? Is it up to him or is it up to Dombrowski?

[Mark Feinsand]

I think it's up to Dombrowski. I mean, the second that Rob Thompson was fired, maybe even I would go before that. The second Alex Cora was let go in Boston. Yeah, the rumors began that Alex Cora was going to be the manager in. Yes, it was more than a rumor. David Brown, he called Alex Cora and offered him the job before he had even fired Rob Thompson. So there is still a prevailing thought that Mattingly is a placeholder this year and that if Alex Cora wants the job for 20, 27 and beyond, it will probably go to him. That said, if Mattingly has a run like Rob Thompson had three years ago and, you know, gets to the World Series, well, then it's going to be harder for them to justify not bringing Mattingly back. But, you know, Mattingly came into this year thinking that his managerial days were behind him and, you know, he had done the bench coach thing in Toronto. I think they called him the offensive coordinator up there and he came back to be a bench coach in Philly this year. But I don't think Donnie came here with the Idea of I'm going to be the guy to save the day when, you know, when Rob Thompson gets the ax.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Mark Feinsand]

You know, him and Rob go way back to their days with the Yankees. And I think this was more of a circumstance than anything else. So if I had to, you know, handicap the managerial race for the Phillies for 2027, I still say Alice Core is probably the favorite, but I think Mattingly is certainly on the board and in that number two position.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Because my entire life revolves around Michael Wilbon. I want to get to something we wouldn't. Wouldn't normally get to, and that is my great pleasure. That the Chicago White Sox walked off the Cubs a few days ago, making Wilbourn insane made me very happy. Although he'll just say, well, it's another Chicago team, so I root for them, too, even though you can't root for two teams. But I look at the White Sox, if you want to look at a team in turnaround. I understand the American League isn't nearly as good as the National League, but aren't you surprised that the White Sox are so much better than you thought?

[Mark Feinsand]

I don't know how you couldn't be surprised. I mean, they've been historically bad the last couple of years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Mark Feinsand]

You know, two years ago, it was actually historically bad with the most losses in history. Yeah, I think it's, you know, the American League this year. You said there aren't very many good teams. There are very few good teams. I mean, there are. We're sitting here on May 20th. Right. Memorial Day is next week, and we're sitting here with. With an American League where there are four teams with a winning record and one of them is the Chicago White Sox. So what do you make of it? I don't know. Do I think the White Sox have it in them to make a run and win a division? I mean, my gut says no, but why not? That AL Central is not a very good division. Cleveland sort of finds a way to get it done every year, it seems. But coming into the year, Detroit was the overwhelming favorite division, and they're nine games under.500.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Macy, it's amazing.

[Mark Feinsand]

And I understand that schools hurt, but he's been hurt for a couple of weeks with that three starts, basically, at this point point. So that's not the reason they're nine games under.500. But the White Sox, you know, they made one of the shrewdest off season moves. This guy, Munataka Murakami, the first baseman from Japan, was supposed to be a big free agent, he's, you know, big power guy, home run records in Japan and. But there was a lot of swing and miss. There were a lot of questions about whether he could translate to big league pitching. And while you've seen a lot of these Japanese free agents come over here with these big 9 million 9 figure contracts, Murakami wasn't getting that offer and the White Sox signed him to a two year deal I think for about $34 million. And all he's doing right now is leaving the majors in home runs or leaving the American League in home runs and pacing a White Sox offense that's got some other young guys who are playing very well. Colson Montgomery is a 24 year old. He's got 13 home runs and 31 RBIs. Miguel Vargas, a 26 year old third baseman, he's got 11 home runs and an.850 OPS. And on top of that, their starting pitching hasn't been great. They have one guy, Davis Martin, who has been great. You know, he's got an ERA about one and a half, but the rest of the rotation hasn't been great, but it's been good enough. And they've got a bullpen that's been performing very admirably. So, you know, like I said, I don't know if they're going to be able to keep this up for 162, but the fact that they are where they are, you know, a third of the season, we're almost 50 games into the season and the White Sox are sitting here with, you know, with a winning record and only a couple of games out of first place. And if the season ended today, they're a playoff team.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Can you tell me why the American League is so much worse than the National League? There's a common draft, they play each. Why? Why are they worse?

[Mark Feinsand]

I think you look at some of the teams in the National League, you've got some, obviously some big powerhouses that spend money and, you know, go after it. You know, the Phillies and the Mets, Mets of course, are not one of the good teams in the league this year. You know, the Dodgers, the Padres, the American League this year. I mean, the Central has been sort of a middling ground for a long time. And people always say that about the National League Central. So everybody in that division has a winning record. So, you know, I think you're just looking at some teams that are off to uncharacteristically bad starts. I mean, we haven't looked at an Astros team at 10 games under 100 since they were going through the process, you know, their tank job back in the early part of the 2010s. And so, you know, between them and the Tigers, you know, the Red Sox and the Blue Jays. And Blue Jays had some injury issues coming into the season, but still, you know, you're 21 and 27. Them and the Red Sox, the Orioles, you know, for the American League east was supposed to be the powerhouse. And you've got three teams in that division that are six games under.500 or worse. So I don't know that I can explain it. You look at the run differential, there's a lot of really just bad teams. There are a lot of really bad teams around the whole league, and it's a very top heavy league right now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And at the top of the Yankees. The Yankees are good, right? They're legitimately good.

[Mark Feinsand]

Yes, the Yankees are legitimately good. And even with Giancarlo Stanton on the IL with another injury and they lost their shortstop to a broken finger, they lost their, their young outfielder, Jason Dominguez, early in the season, who was having a. Not a great year, but he was at least providing some, some value. But you look at what Ben Rice has been able to do, and this is a guy who people mostly looked at as a platoon type player, including his own manager who was platooning him quite often. Well, he's leading the league in ops. He's, you know, one home run behind Murakami for the league lead, tied with another guy on the Yankees, Aaron Judge, you might have heard of him. Rice and Judge have been an unbelievable one two punch for them this year, and they've gotten enough out of the other guys to score enough runs. The Max Freed injury certainly hurt them, but, but they get Garrett Cole back this Friday. So, you know, if you had added Cole to the rotation, that would have been a better situation for them. But at least he can come back, take Freed spot until Free comes back. And when Free comes back, they'll have Freed, they'll have Cole, and they'll be the number two and three starters behind Cam Schlitler, who we saw his breakout last year in the playoffs with his huge playoff performance. But this year he has been probably the best pitcher in the American league. You know, 135 era, a ton of strikeouts. He's. He's really, really good. He's 25. And the Yankees haven't had a homegrown kid like this in a while, pitching wise. And so for him to be doing what he's doing, very exciting development for the Yankees.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thank you. As always, thanks for being on the show. We are going to lean on you because that's what we do. Thank you.

[Mark Feinsand]

And thank you for the constant Rick Devins updates because I've been a huge Survivor fan forever and I connected with Devins once I found out he was a fan of the show. And I've been able to pick his brain during the course of this season even though he's not allowed to tell me anything real. But, man, I was really disappointed when he got voted off and I hope you guys have him on because it'll be a really fun spot.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm happy to do it. He's in this business. He can talk. We're sure of that. Thank you, Mark.

[Mark Feinsand]

Thanks, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This segment with Mark Feinstein has been brought to you by FanDuel. Play youy Game and we will have Tim Legler when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. Once again. This is our friend Don Stewart. This is tier of Light. T E A R Tier of Light. I believe so.

[Don Stewart]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tier. He's really good. Oh, we love Don. He's really good. Michael. Michael, if people like Don Stewart want to send in their original music, how do they do it?

[Michael Wilbon]

Send us your music by emailing it to jinglesneyquernizershow.com and he plays in Tim Legler.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I made a lot of questions here for Tim Legler. I did this yesterday before the game. Okay. So all of these questions are good and we're going to get to a lot of them. But what a gag job by Cleveland last night. And what is Kenny Atkinson doing not calling Time out to try and change the flow of the game? What do you make of that, Tony?

[Tim Legler]

I wish I could give you a good answer.

[Mark Feinsand]

There isn't one.

[Tim Legler]

I mean, I'm sitting there and watching just like everybody at home. But I'm sitting there after every basket glancing in that direction.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Tim Legler]

You know, because I'm trying to take in and analyze the game and I'm waiting for that timeout to come that never came. And his explanation later was like, I don't like to burn my timeouts. Like to have a couple in hand at the end. You have to take one. You have to take one. Number one. You've got to figure out what you want to do defensively because if you continue to allow Jalen Brunson to play the way he was and pick who he wanted to play against and play against single coverage, he was going to continue to score. So that's the first thing. Let's talk that over and figure out what we're going to do there. Maybe even get, you know, Dean Wade or Max Struse in the game. Who are the two guys that are most preferred for your team to be guarding? Jalen Brunson, who both were on the bench at the time when that run started. Streuss eventually saw the floor. Dean Wade didn't. So even if you just call timeouts to try to make that change, get one of those guys in the game, affect that. But also, you know, it was the first time and that crowd was waiting the entire game for that run. At one point on the air, I said, they're waiting for this run that just has not happened where you string together two, three shots. It hadn't happened the entire night. That was happening and the building was starting to energize that team. You, you have to take a timeout and you have to stall that. And he didn't. And you can't take those things on. The last thing you want to do as a coach when you get back to the hotel in New York is reach your pocket, you pull out some loose change, you know, a couple dollars, and then you have two timeouts in there. You don't want that. Yeah, you, you can't take him with you. He should have used them to stop the momentum of that run and also to make an adjustment defensively for an offensively because they completely got stagnant. They stood around almost like they wanted the clock to run out rather than continue to play aggressively. So you had opportunities to make adjustments on both ends of the floor. He probably should have taken multiple timeouts, not just one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Have you ever seen a playoff game like that, that sort of margin being whittled down like that? Mostly because Jalen Brunson takes over a game and Harden cannot guard. What are you doing right now?

[Tim Legler]

I've had a chance to sleep on it. I still woke up and I still can't actually believe they won that game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Tim Legler]

You know, seven and a half minutes, 22 points you have to make up. And on a night when they couldn't buy one from the three, that was the one aspect of the rust component that I did see because I'm always in favor of the rest. Fresh legs to me are always what you want. And maybe, hey, maybe that helped them down the stretch because they were the fresher team. They were able to dig deep to get that done defensively, but the three point shooting was nonexistent. For them. And so that had to change. But it started with, we've got to get the ball to go in multiple times in a row at the same time, we're getting stops. They hadn't been able to do it until they went back to basically the Jalen Brunson, New York Nick offense for the day. He got there, which was high ball screener ISO and just let him go against the matchup he prefers because they've been running their offense differently. Trail Anthony Towns top a lot, handling the ball a lot. His touches have gone up like 30% over the course of a game. That's how they've been running their offense, and it's been very effective for seven straight games. Really incredible how they've played. But when push came to shove in this game, they said, you know what, we got to get the ball to go in a few times in a row. And so let's go back to this Jalen Brunson simplification. Let me pick who I want to play against. And the Cavs allowed him to pick who he wanted to play against. And you saw the result.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I am. I am not a believer that game one means anything most of the time. I usually think it's the easiest game to win. The easiest game to lose doesn't really mean a whole lot. I feel differently about this one. Maybe I'm wrong, but this. This is. The Cleveland Cavaliers were handed a ticket. You have to cash the ticket. You have to, right?

[Mark Feinsand]

You have to.

[Tim Legler]

Yeah. I mean, look, it's. It's. Yeah, this is tough to come back from because, look, you have, you know, going in for the road team to win the series, you have to win a game in the guard. Like, the Knicks don't have to win on the road in this series, the Cavs do. And when are you going to be in a better position to win a game than they just were last night? So I hear what you're saying, because even in the moment, I'm thinking, you know, look, being honest, I'm expecting the Knicks to lose that game, as I'm calling it, when they're down 22. Of course you're thinking that. And even then, you're kind of thinking like, okay, well, it's. It's one loss for the Knicks. I feel like the way they're playing, they're in a better place than the Cavs coming into this game. Like, they're going to be okay as long as they win game two, they can still win this series for the Cavs. It. First of all, I Never crossed my mind that they would lose that game, but once it got late and now this is hanging in the balance, thinking to myself, if they cough this up, this is very difficult to recover from this because you're. You might not get another game in this series where you stifled the Knicks offense to the extent that you just did. Because the way they were playing coming in now, they might. The Knicks might go for 65 points in the first half a game, too.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I agree with that. Yes.

[Tim Legler]

Yeah, they might be completely ready to go now. And now what do you do? Like, at least you had it corralled. You've just got to close the deal. And it was both ends. Their offense let them down just as much as their defense.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just terrible. Let me move to the other series and ask you the question that. It's the only question that matters. How good is Wembanyama? How good?

[Tim Legler]

Yeah, I mean, what's. What. What is so different is there've been. There have been really big guys that have roamed the lane and protected the rim. There's, you know, I played with one in George Marathon in Washington. We talk about guys like. Like Manute Ball and Sean Bradley and Ralph Sampson even, who is pretty mobile. There's been nothing like this. A guy that's this long, that has this kind of mobility, even to the point where you talk about, well, take the ball, you know, as a. As a driver into his chest. Like, that's the way to negate a shot blocker. And that's true to a large extent. That is difficult for them to time it up. If you can take your shoulder into their chest, it's hard for them to stay in the air. It's hard for them to time the block as they're backing up and you're taking the action to them. The difference is Wembing Yahama is the only guy I've ever seen that continue to back up almost to the point where you could push him to the other side of the rim with your shoulder as you're driving, and he still can reach out and block a ball on the side of the rim that you're trying to release to basketball. So it's incredible, like, the difference defensively that he makes in terms of the way you process what's available to you as an offensive player. So even on the nights when it's not tangible, he doesn't get 5, 6, 7, 8. He had 12 blocks in a game, the playoffs, even those nights he gets two blocks. It's incalculable. The number of times Guys have processed how they want to play differently. So that is the impact, the true impact of what he does defensively. And then, look, obviously the offense isn't going to look like it did the other night. Every night, you know, you can still get into him a little bit. There's going to be nice. He's a little bit off balance, and he's. He's not strong enough to play through some of the things he's going to get, but on the night, he is. That's what it looks like. And now you've got this force that you just don't know what to do, because he has the great escape, Tony, in traffic, which is the vertical escape. When there's traffic and physicality in the lane, on the floor, on the perimeter, he has the ultimate solution. I will escape all of this by going to a place vertically that no one else out here can get to, and it will still give me an opportunity to play free. And that's what you saw the other night.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't. Again, I don't want to go crazy because Oklahoma City could easily have won that game. I expect Oklahoma City to win game two. But. But I like San Antonio to win because this is now five out of six. Tim, as great as Oklahoma City may be against everybody else, this is five out of six this year.

[Tim Legler]

Yeah. And, you know, that's when they put everybody on notice that this had arrived sooner than we thought. When they beat them three times in 10 days. Right. During the season when the Thunder looked unbeatable, it looked like a forego conclusion that the Thunder were going to be repeat champions. And then that happened, and you started to go, okay, there may be a little bit more susceptible than you think. They did deal with a ton of injuries this year. You're like, okay, it's going to be maybe harder than we thought. And now you get to this series, this collision course that we all expected all season was going to take place, we actually got there. We got one of the greatest playoff games you're ever going to see to kick it off. And look, Oklahoma City absolutely not only can win game two, they can. They can win this series. There's no doubt about that. They're that good. But the San Antonio spurs have something against OKC that most teams lack. That is, they have the belief that they have what it takes on both ends of the floor against that team, because you need it on both ends against the Thunder at that level. Very few teams actually believe they have enough against them. The spurs do believe it, and that's half the battle in this league. You've got to be convinced in your own mind that you can get it done. And they do. They're very confident against that team. They made the plays they had to make the other night. The end of game one, see what the Thunder response is going to be in game two.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I mean, I said this yesterday on tv, that every time I hear Wembanyama speak, I get more impressed. He does something that is rare. Tim, you played in the league a long time. He actually says, I want to be the mvp. I want to be the face of the league. I want. You know, he says things that everybody thinks but they won't actually say. And now he is admitting this guy won the mvp. I wanted that. I want him for this series. You don't hear that a lot, do you?

[Tim Legler]

I love that point you just made, because that's the thing that stood out to me from the beginning about him embracing that level of pressure, the scrutiny that comes with the hype that you had coming into the league, being picked number one. All of that. The thing I loved about it, he said one time in an interview, he used the word responsibility. He looked at it as his responsibility as the number one pick coming into the league to lead this franchise back to that place that they had been for so long. You don't hear guys talk like that, like, yeah, bring it on. I want that mo. You know, most guys will talk around that, actually, because they're trying to get their feet wet and they're trying to live up, up to it, but without necessarily pointing the finger at themselves and saying, yeah, I'm kind of built for this and I'm not going to stop until I get there. That's what he's. His approach has been the entire time. Man, is it easy to rally around that from a coaching staff perspective, the role players on that team, when your best player carries himself like that and wants all the responsibility and the light shown on him in good times and bad, it is so easy for everybody else in that locker room to fall into. And you develop this incredible chemistry which they've been able to replicate very similar to what they had in the Duncan Ginobly Parker days.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It bothers me so much because Wilbon was on this guy early and he's been slurping him for three years. And I have to admit, I have to admit Wilbon is right in everything. He saw everything, right? Everything.

[Tim Legler]

Well, yeah, you know, we saw the tape, and when you're looking at the tape and you see him then you start to see him a couple times live and you're kind of going, wow, you never really seen anything quite like it.

[Mark Feinsand]

And.

[Tim Legler]

But you don't know how much he's going to be able to add early enough in his career in terms of functional strength. That was the thing that I needed to see him add because in that league, these are grown men and it's going to be difficult to operate at 75 trying to dribble the basketball around when you've got guys getting up into your hip, into your lower body, manipulating, moving you, pushing you all over the court. The functional strength he's added, even just in the last couple of years is incredible. And that's what's allowing him now to be dominant offensively. We knew the defense even, I don't care how thin he stayed, he could have been a weakling his entire life. He was going to affect the game defensively. The functional strength and his ability to play through contact, stay on balance, get the shot he wants. It's incredible how much that has improved in the last couple of years to where now there really is no ceiling. There's a limitation you can put on how great this guy can be. And look, again, maybe it's not this year. They're winning championships because the Thunder, we're the number one seeds. They're really good, they're very deep and they're good and they're incredibly well coached. They're going to have something different that they bring to the table in game two. But look, there's no doubt it's going to be a long run for the San Antonio spurs as long as that guy stays healthy. When that starts, we'll. We'll see what the Thunder have to say about that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I mean, I don't want to belabor this, but, you know, we live in a world where statistics are used all the time, analytical statistics all the time. The guy got 40 and 20. The only other guy to go 40 and 20 in his debut game was in a conference final was Wilton Norman Chamberlain. Come on. I mean, this is. That's it. That's the entire list. I mean, this guy really, if his body doesn't betray him, this guy looks like he could be the greatest player of all time at that position, Right?

[Tim Legler]

Yeah. And people said even the shot he hit, the three he hit late, the pull up three off the dribble coming out of the backcourt, which did look an awful lot like the shot, shot Steph Curry hit years ago, which was one of the greatest shots and regular season games I ever watched when the warriors beat The Thunder in OKC and Curry hit that pull up 40 footer. It did look a lot like that. Somebody asked me, well, what was the difference? Is the difference. The ball was released from 3ft higher than where Steph Curry released it from. That was the only difference.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's really something, Tim. Thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of the finals and calling all those games. Thank you.

[Don Stewart]

You.

[Tim Legler]

You got it, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tim Legler, he's great. Like, there are good and there's great. Steve Young and Tim Legler are great. Let's come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Korneiser show.

[Don Stewart]

Oh, here comes Tony's mailbag.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Got your emails, faxes and your notes.

[Don Stewart]

Here comes Tony's mailbag. Gonna read some for all of you folks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Gonna read some for all of you folks. Biff. God, I love Biff. It's just great. Attention must be paid. Biff.

[Michael Wilbon]

The sound of pleated khakis.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you want to do the Bethesda bagel ad, please? Yes. Bethesda bagels, we love them. You will as well. My voice is not great today. I'm not sure. Yeah, hot bagels. Michael says they're. They're better when they're not warm. I think they're better.

[Michael Wilbon]

It depends on when you're gonna eat them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tomorrow.

[Michael Wilbon]

I hope they're still tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. Creeps.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area. You sound terrible. I know. Yeah, I'm not sure. I feel fine. Not sure what my voice is. But yeah, go in and you'll be thrilled. Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say, they say we're young and we don't know. Won't find out until we grow. Well, I don't know if all that's true because you got me and baby, I got you. I got you, babe. Sunny and Cher, of course. And we do that because Sherilyn Sarkeesian turns 80 years old today and is still great. Oh, yes. And is still great. Thanks to our guests today, Mark Fine sand and Tim Legler. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Audacy. If you get the show through Apple Podcasts, please leave us a review. This is a wonderful email here from David Epstein in New York. Nick from Dover's story about the reaction to quoting the pros from Dover in a meeting reminded me of when I worked at the ABC Television Network Back in 2001, one of the biggest events of the year at ABC was the Newsmaker luncheon. Clients would be invited to hear from and mingle with some of the biggest names in news at the time, including Ted Koppel, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters and Peter Jennings. That Peter Jennings. The luncheon was scheduled for late September. But then 911 happened and the event was canceled. A month later, the world had begun to get back to some semblance of normalcy. We were gathered at lunch in the executive dining room. I was a relatively lowly VP sitting among some very senior executives. When the head news sales weasel said, we're going to reschedule lunch and it won't be celebratory. It will be somber in deference to the events of 911 and we'll have five news people speak about their personal experiences on that tragic day. There was a lot of nodding. That seemed like a proper event. And then she announced the new date, November 13th. Without thinking, I said, November 13th. You know what happened on November 13th? And as if in the old E.F. hutton commercial, the entire table, the president of sales, the head of nightly news, the cfo, went silent and slowly leaned in while the head of new sales inquired softly what? I was way over my skis, but having fully committed, I could only say on November 13, Felix Unger was yet to remove himself from his place of residence. It's the beginning of the Odd Couple, as everybody knows. What followed was the longest half second of my life, and the table burst out in laughter. It could have gone horribly wrong, but instead became a good lesson for life. Fully commit, but know your audience. Just a fact from Gary Robinson, just outside Memphis, Tennessee, which can be reached by asking for long distance information. The letter on Monday's show about the pros from Dover Reference reminded me of two news meetings from my newspaper Days of Commercial Appeal in Memphis. In the first, we were going around the table talking about our top stories. The feature editor noted the death of Hedy Lamar. I immediately chimed in with, that's Headley. That's from the Mel Brooks movie Blazing Saddles. Blazing saddles Headley. About 10 of the 14 other people in the room room regarded me, in the words of a great writer, as if I were a Penguin. The other four chortled in. The other was 2009 and Memphis was about to get a visit from the Dalai Lama. This was a topic of every story meeting for about two weeks. And every time the subject came up, I mean, every time I was heard to mutter big hitter, the llama. After about five days of this, the novelty had worn off and my words were met with exasperation. I clearly had nothing receive total consciousness. Please tell Ed Waldman, the official father in law of the club director at Augusta national, to eat it.

[Tim Legler]

Wow.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wow. Of the director of the club operations. He's playing there this weekend, playing at Augusta, and we are meeting him and his wife for dinner on our way to South Jersey next month for the second time in three years, in part because of the connective tissue of this show. Thanks for the entertainment from Kelly Hodges as the show's official potato process processing expert. Yes, yes, I must correct Steve Sands Procter and Gamble developed Pringles back in the 1960s and the label has been sold twice since. It's now owned by Mars, thankfully not by Uranus to make Pringles, dehydrated potato flakes are reconstituted and formed into the shape of the Pringles chip. That's why they are so uniform in shape and size. They're not cut from potato like lay's chips. Dehydrated potatoes are usually created by taking the byproduct of other potato processor like french fries or the processed grade potatoes from the fresh packed potato facilities. Potatoes that are deemed inadequate to make french fries or pack as fresh potatoes due to appearance, irregular shape, size or other quality factors are sorted at the fryer or fresh packed facility. These sorted potatoes, not sordid sorted potatoes, are sold to third parties who peel, cook and mash the rejected potatoes and they spread them into a thin layer on a large drum that is heated with steam. As the potato mash rotates on the drum, it is rolled by what can only be described as large rolling pins against the heated drum and pressed into thinner and thinner layers until it's finally cooked into a crisp sheet that is quickly ground into a flake or flour and packaged into a 2,000 pound bag we call a Super Sack. These sacks are then sold to the likes of Mars facilities where they are the main ingredient into Pringles, instant potatoes or even breads. Another example is a retail brand Idahoan you see in grocery stores. Being the competent potato farmer that you are, I'm sure this is all elementary level to you, but your listeners may find it interesting that because of this process, potatoes are sometimes incorrectly considered a grain similar to wheat that is ground into flour. Potatoes can be cooked, dehydrated and ground into a potato. Flour potatoes are, however, botanically a vegetable and any credible health expert would agree with they were a nutritional powerhouse complete with essential vitamins and nutrients rich in potassium, antioxidants and fiber and even classified as heart healthy by the American Heart association and better choices for life by the American Diabetes Association. Please tell Michael that he is now one month late on planting the potatoes. He needs to go to a credible garden center and not a grocery store to find potatoes that have already sprouted to accelerate their growth. Anything at a grocery store gets a sprout inhibitor applied and will be very slow to react.

[Michael Wilbon]

And mine will sprout?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, yours won't. The reason? Potatoes. Potatoes are typically planted in late April and early May as to give them time to develop a canopy above ground before the heat of the summer beats down on the soil near the tubers. Healthy tall canopy shelters the ground and provides energy in mid to late summer. For the tubers, it begins the bulking stage. Think of it like you with your beach body. You don't want to get a late start on your summer tan and muscle sculpting. The earlier the better. Let me know if you need any potatoes. I know a guy. We need the potatoes.

[Michael Wilbon]

How did this become my responsibility? This is your hobby.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We need the potatoes. We're late. This is a second year in a row we're late. Kelly Hodges is brilliant. Brilliant. From Dave McCarthy in Newtown, Connecticut I planted my Kennebec potatoes yesterday. I know this doesn't work for your littles, but attached are a couple of photos. I let the potatoes sit in a cool, dark space for a couple of weeks to let the eyes grow, then cut them and plant them about 8 inches apart. I had yields as high as 125 pounds.

[Michael Wilbon]

What's known for that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

And as low as 25 pounds from a planting of 10 pounds of seeds. As the woman to whom I'm related by marriage, who grew up on a wheat farm in western North Dakota, tells me that's farming, to quote Robert M. Pyle. But make no mistake, the weeds will win. Nature bats last. From Josh ridgeway in Richmond, Virginia. Caught this on a billboard on the side of 95 this past weekend and had to share. This is me as a captain, right? What's the slogan? Have fun, get sick, don't remember a thing. Seems accurate. Go out on the road. Go out on a boat. For those of us that are very longtime listeners, we remember a story from Jeannie McManus that tells of when she took you shopping to get the jacket. Because she asked you if you had a cold weather jacket. You said something like, I live in D.C. and went to school at Harper College. Of course I have A cold weather jacket. When you showed her what you have, she said we need to go get you a jacket or something like that. So I do not know why this jacket is such a big deal. I will not ask to be the official Justin, but can I be the original Justin? Also Tell Brad Pepmiller to eat it. The original Justin from Joseph o'.

[Tim Legler]

Hara.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Kalmar Nikol is an amazing vessel to visit. The artwork alone is amazing. While never having been crew on her, I did sail tall ships for the better part of 11 years and was happy to see her in an event. Coincidentally, I left that industry to start working with the National Park Service, which after seven years of working at San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park, I'm now in D.C. working on the National Mall. My first day on the job, one of my new bosses brought in Bethesda bagels and I did love them as well. It's pronounced Nickel. Oh, nickel. It's Kalmar Nickel, even though it's spelled N Y, C, K, E, L Calmore Nickel. That's the tall shit, right?

[Tim Legler]

Very cool.

[Tony Kornheiser]

From Neil Ervais. Grandpa Tony with all the tales of fabricated middle names and men with names unrelated to their given names, the family history laded by the woman to I am related by marriage combines elements of all these stories. At birth, my wife's father was named Eldon Frederick. He had been preceded three years earlier by a brother named William Delta, who from birth was called Dell. Apparently the family didn't want a good name like William to go to waste. So from his birth, rather than either Eldon or Frederick, they called him Bill. The name to which he was referred to his whole life, Efraim Bill Holmes. In keeping with this inexplicable family tradition, when we were deciding on a middle name for our younger son, we wanted to honor his grandfather and named him, of course, William. This is from Mark Sandler from Chevy Chase. A C. Mark with a C. Yes. Despite the popularity of the name on this fine program, I must mention that all marks are not created equal. If you haven't had to answer whether it's short for Marcus, it's not. Or you haven't received this. Gif. G, I F. Gif. Yes. From everyone. You know you haven't suffered the pain of being the lesser mark. Shout outs to all my marks with a C. Hang in there. It's a picture of a container of coffee at a Starbucks kind of place. Yeah, and the note says. I said my name was Mark with a C and on the note it says C A, R K. That's funny. That's funny. Come on now. Carla Rose Corrado. So it's Carla Corrado. Carla Rose Corrado. Named after my grandparents, Carlo and Rosa. I asked the students in the sociology class I teach to tell us the story of their first names. After the fifth, Cameron spelled five different ways, explaining their mothers just like the names. I introduced the concept of fads and fashions. We don't have many kids named Dorothy today. Like we don't see wide lapels on suitcases. One kid said he's named Dylan because his father loved Bob Dylan. And thereafter I called him Robert Zimmerman. At the end of class, he asked why I referred to him as Robert Zimmerman. I told him Dylan's real name. The look of astonishment on his face was priceless as he murmured, my entire life has been a lie. The beauty of higher education. Carla Carrados. Oh, we love her. Yes. John Lansome of Marinec, New York. It's John with an H. Never Jonathan. I'll take John Lennon, John Travolta, John Rambo, John Wick, John F. Kennedy and John Hancock over whatever paltry list of Jonathan's you can come up with. Please tell Jonathan Plato and every other Jonathan out there to eat it. From Brandon Borzelli. When Nigel rescued the goose Goslin from the water, did he ask about the amazing 1924 season and how the Senators upset the Giants for the title? Maybe he asked about what kind of teammate the big train was. I can't imagine. He touched on the controversial topic of the 1928 batting title race with Heidi Minouche. Gosselin batted in the ninth inning of the final game with the lead over Minouche mere hundredths of a percentage point. Gosselin's teammates had pressured him to bat and earn the title. Gosselin then tried to get tossed, arguing balls and strikes so the at bat wouldn't count. The ump told him he wasn't getting tossed and he wasn't going to earn a walk, so he better swing. Old Goose singled to win the title. Surely Tony remembers this as he was in middle school reading the writings of one Shirley Povich. Rest in peace, Goose. Hall of Famer, Senator Legend from Nathan Ackerhelm in Denver, Colorado. I'm sure Carville has a double play on Rye to win the PGA. That'd be great if he. 290 to 1. Rob Potterooka. I want to acknowledge Michael's use of references from Les Mis. I catch every single one of them. I enjoy them tremendously. Tremendously. And one more. Greg From New York, New York Dear

[Michael Wilbon]

C6, we'll do the confrontation next.

[Tony Kornheiser]

When George told you to play from the green, he meant wait until he gets his ball to the green. Then you. You can drop one out of your pocket and play from the drink. If you're out on your bike. Time, as always, do wear wife. What's that?

[Mark Feinsand]

Chicken. Every night it's the chicken.

[Tim Legler]

Holy God Almighty. Is it possible just once you get something to eat for dinner around here

[Don Stewart]

that's not the chicken?

[Mark Feinsand]

Hey, dad.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm just saying, dad.

[Don Stewart]

There's so much pain when someone slain. It's a new world now you've been in doubt or maybe cursed to write this. First to recall when she left you how it hurts. Now she's first in line. Don't waste your life. How do I give to you now My heart goes through you, through you, through you Right now she's first in line now don't waste your life. You're far away but here today. Today your death is old or so I'm told. Way down inside it's you I hide. A plan I guess to get you back by my side. Now she's first in line. Hey now don't waste your life. How do I get to you now? My heart goes through you. Through you, through you now she's bursting light now don't waste your life. Sam. The sun won't come out tonight. The moment sheds a tear of light. One day maybe some be day soon. One day you might hear this too. The sun won't come out tonight the moon sheds a tear. Do you believe in love? Do you see me up above. Sa. The moon sheds a tear of light. Some days I can feel you near. Always wish that you were here. The sun won't come out tonight. The moon sheds a tear of light. Do you believe in love? Do you see me up above? Up above? Up above?