“Oh, Calcuttas!”

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The Tony Kornheiser Show

Episode: “Oh, Calcuttas!”
Date: July 30, 2026
Host: Tony Kornheiser
Guests: Michael Wilbon, Jason La Canfora, Jeff Ma

Episode Overview

This episode is self-described as a "catch up show," focusing on what's been happening in Tony Kornheiser's world and checking in with frequent contributors. With sports in a mid-summer lull—post-World Cup, golf and tennis on break, and MLB in the dog days—the crew veers into personal anecdotes, running bits, sports commentary, and discussion of wagering culture. Regulars Jason La Canfora and Jeff Ma join to talk about their recent projects, football prospects, and the growing world of sports gambling.

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Main Segments & Discussion Points

1. Summer Show: The Catch Up (03:00 - 16:30)

• Tony's Format Rationale:
  With few big sporting events in season, Tony frames the episode as a time to catch up on both the show’s status and personal updates.
  “This, for example, is a catch up show… because baseball is out there, but nothing else is out there.” (03:00, Tony)

• Show Logistics & Announcements:
  Tony discusses the annual show count (targeting 150), planned vacation, and thanks Gary Edel for "my dad’s chips" (local snack sponsor).
  “You know, I mean, I think people listen, and I think you like the continuity of it, and I like doing it.” (04:42, Tony)

• Favorite Snack Flavors:
  Original (Tony) vs. Jalapeno & Sriracha (Michael) as favored flavors.

• Personal Anecdotes:

  • Tony retells recent events: a Comcast technician’s home visit, receiving a signed magnum wine bottle from Chris Carpenter (the winemaker, not the pitcher), and being gifted pizza from a restaurant owner grateful for Tony’s podcast referrals.
  • Tony gets reflective about the perks of his career:
    “Sometimes you take it for granted and then I didn’t take it for granted anymore.” (15:41, Tony)

• Listener Engagement:

  • Mention of Luke Russert’s baby daughter’s birth (Catalina Teresa), congratulating the family (09:45).
  • References to famous birthdays on that date (Walter Payton).

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2. Nationals Catch Up: MLB and Uniforms (06:30-09:30)

• Frustrations with the Nationals' bullpen and recent losses.
• Tony wants the "Nats Hawaiian shirt and shorts" giveaway from an upcoming game but stresses, “I want to wear it. I don’t want to sell it.” (09:18, Tony)

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3. Sports Media & NFL Takeover: Jason La Canfora Segment (18:50–33:58)

Jason La Canfora Bio and Current Work (18:57):

• Coverage of the Orioles and Ravens for Sports Illustrated (print and digital).
• Hosts a daily YouTube show ("Big Play Baltimore") on Ravens/Orioles:
  “I'm doing quite a bit… chronicling those teams on a daily basis.” (19:00, Jason)
• May relaunch "Wanna Bet?" NFL show with Nick Bakai.

Media Landscape Discussion (22:33):

• ESPN’s shift to NFL content:
  "ESPN in full conversion mode, going to the NFL... It's a really smart thing to do. Right. Because football. Doesn't football drive the bus? It's football." (22:37, Tony)
• Buyouts and affiliations between ESPN & NFL Network, discussion of the eventual expansion to more international and regular-season games.

NFL Notes and Speculation (25:09):

• Aaron Donald:
  Jason predicts he’ll play again, despite rumors, but maybe not for the season-opener in Australia.
• Kirk Cousins/JJ McCarthy:
  Sees Cousins as starter, McCarthy as learning/backup: “It makes sense to give Cousins first crack… [Mendoza] learn from how Cousins operates in the system…” (27:15, Jason)
• Kyler Murray:
  “That’s Kyler Murray’s job… I don’t even think that’s really a competition." (28:13, Jason)
• Baltimore Ravens Coaching Change:
  Optimistic overall but expects a learning curve; notes Declan Doyle as promising but young.
  "The problem for Declan Doyle is, do you only have Lamar Jackson for one year?..." (31:48, Jason)
• Lamar Jackson Contract Standoff:
  Jason says the “game of chicken” is real and could end with Lamar leaving after this season.
  “If they don’t, I believe he’s playing somewhere else in 2027.” (32:13, Jason)

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4. Gambling and Calcuttas: Jeff Ma Segment (37:41–53:40)

Career and Recent Activities (37:53):

• Works for Troon (golf management); recently coached his son’s water polo team.
• Coaching "is not very good usually... but you know, I took it very seriously and it was… rewarding." (38:40, Jeff)

Gambling, Golfer Drafts, and Calcutta Explainers (39:24–42:15):

• Major focus on large scale “Calcutta” golf drafts—auctions for fractional ownership of golfers with big pools at stake.

  • “Generally speaking... at golf clubs… you have rules where depending on how you do... you win a percentage of the overall pot…you auction off every golfer.” (41:02, Jeff)

• Discussion of recent "Cinderella" major winners and the impact of unknowns on the Calcutta pool:

  • “The guy that owned Ryan Fox made quite a bit of money in that Calcutta because he was a long shot.” (43:10, Jeff)

Sports Betting, Athlete Gambling, and Prop Bets (43:39–51:12):

• Liquidity of World Cup markets and how casual (“hearts” over “heads”) bettors present opportunities for sharp action.

• Insights into the betting exploits of Rufus Peabody: "Rufus, I think, had multimillions of dollars at stake on every single game…" (43:39, Jeff)

• Tony probes about the risks and ethics of athletes gambling on their own sports; Jeff calls for more education and acknowledges complex policy gaps.

• On prop bets:
  “[Sportsbooks] can make a lot of money off of them. Like people, you know, do want to bet these things… The more stuff they have, the better.” (48:23, Jeff)

• Tony worries about prop bets corrupting lower-paid athletes; Jeff notes the inevitable cat-and-mouse with regulatory oversight.

Charity Event Promo (51:21):

• Jeff plugs a golf charity event at Silverado (Napa) August 29–30 to benefit Napa Valley grape growers and Connolly Ranch, inviting listeners/Littles to attend.

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5. Listener Mailbag & Running Gags (54:32–65:44)

• Segment kicks off with a live jingle and Bethesda Bagels plug.
• Amusing stories on meeting celebrities at the urinal—“we’re done with it” (58:12, Michael).
• Listener notes on produce prices (corn & tomatoes!), references to Tony’s past stories, and several clever haikus and callbacks.
• Expansion on inside-jokes about regular listeners (“Littles”), food lexicon, and golf score “Weismans.”
• Ends with the Reginald the monkey theme song and charm-filled notes on family and community.

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• "This, for example, is a catch up show… because baseball is out there, but nothing else is out there."
  — Tony Kornheiser (03:00)

• “Sometimes you take it for granted and then I didn’t take it for granted anymore.”
  — Tony Kornheiser (15:41)

• “I'm doing quite a bit… chronicling [Orioles and Ravens] on a daily basis.”
  — Jason La Canfora (19:00)

• “The problem for Declan Doyle is, do you only have Lamar Jackson for one year? ... If they don’t, I believe he’s playing somewhere else in 2027.”
  — Jason La Canfora (32:13)

• “Coaching for kids is not very good usually… but you know, I took it very seriously and it was… rewarding.”
  — Jeff Ma (38:40)

• "Rufus, I think, had, you know, multimillions of dollars at stake on every single game that was out there."
  — Jeff Ma (43:39)

• On prop bets: “You got to be kind of dumb to try to do this at this point, like, especially on like the, you know, the insider trading stuff and that kind of thing.”
  — Jeff Ma (50:58)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:16 – Jason La Canfora’s “Hall of Fame urinal encounter” (reference)
• 03:00 – Tony introduces the “catch up show” concept
• 06:30 – Nationals bullpen frustrations, upcoming team promotions
• 10:50 – Tony’s personal anecdotes: Comcast, wine, and pizza perks
• 18:57 – Jason La Canfora joins for sports/NFL/media discussion
• 25:09 – Detailed NFL speculation (Aaron Donald, Cousins, Murray)
• 31:48 – Lamar Jackson contract drama
• 37:53 – Jeff Ma segment: coaching, Calcutta explanations, gambling markets
• 43:39 – World Cup betting, Rufus’s exploits
• 47:54 – Debating athlete gambling, prop bets
• 51:21 – Charity golf event plug
• 54:32 – Listener mailbag and running jokes

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Tone & Style

The show combines wry humor, personal storytelling, and deep sports/industry analysis—a relaxed, chatty banter between close friends and regular guests. Tony’s self-deprecating honesty and fondness for inside jokes (“Littles,” food obsessions, old media gripes) define the tone.

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Closing Thoughts

This episode provides a textbook summer installment of "The Tony Kornheiser Show:" loose, playful, and filled with genuine camaraderie. While it includes sharp sports observations—from AFCE contract speculation to the risks of growing gambling culture—it’s also a window into Tony’s personal quirks and the community that has grown around the show.

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Note: Advertisements, show intros/outros, and non-substantive segments were omitted from this summary.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll talk to Virgil Sollozzo about a business opportunity for the two of us. And we'll also talk to Santino about the new toll booth on the Jones Beach Causeway, and Fredo will come on to give us his best fishing tips. But first, commerce you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Whether you're on the go or at the ballpark, T Mobile is built to keep you connected wherever the game takes you. With America's best network, you know your phone is going to work, even in a crowded stadium, for instance. And if you lose track of your friends after a long seventh inning stretch, one quick message and a shared location later, you'll find each other without missing the next pitch. And you can upload the video of the game winning hit and share it before you even leave your seat. And on the days you can't make it to the ballpark, streaming the game on the go feels just as electric. No buffering, no interruptions, just every moment as it happens. Find out how baseball hits different with T mobile@t mobile.com MLB fastest based on analysis by OOKLA of Speed Test Intelligence Data of national speed score Results for the second half of 2025 Best based on analysis by Ookla of the Speed Test Intelligence Data for the second half of 2025 this is the Tony Kornheiser Show. Certain flavors instantly transport you back in time, like those classic, refreshing freezer pops everyone lived on as kids. That's why you want to try the new Firework Freeze five Hour Energy Shot. It will completely blow you away. They have officially taken a beloved freezer pop classic and reimagined it into a delicious, convenient energy shot. It's a serious flavor explosion from the very first sip, perfectly blending juicy cherry, citrusy lime and that sweet candy like blue raspberry. Honestly, it tastes exactly like the real thing, but with a major upgrade. You get that iconic freezer pop flavor you crave with absolutely none of the sugar. It's the ultimate Zero Sugar portable summer companion that sparks a tasty flavor sensation and keeps you moving. Whether you're headed to the beach, working late or traveling, you need to stock up on this flavor immediately. Ignite your taste buds with a firework freeze flavored 5 hour energy shot. Now available online at FiveHouseEnergy.com or find it on Amazon previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Jason La Canfora]

I go to the bathroom and I'm the first one in there. There are four urinals I Pull in. And right behind me, guy says, hey, they let anyone in here? It was John Smoltz. He was my right. I looked to my left. Tom Glavin was on my left. And then I looked at the fourth urinal which was behind me and it was Greg Maddox. So I.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, you're right in the starting rotation. You're in the starting rotation with them. Fantastic.

[Show Announcer]

The Tony Kornheiser show is

[Tony Kornheiser]

that to me is an example of what we do in the summer that we talk about things that are not necessarily news related. This, for example, is a catch up show. We're going to have Jason Locanfora and we're going to have Jeff Mahm. We're going to catch up.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We're going to say, what have you been doing? That's because baseball is out there, but nothing else is out there. I'm not talking about NBA summer league. I don't care about that. The World cup is over. Golf is over. Tennis is on hiatus until the end of the month and the beginning of September with the US Open. There's really nothing out there except football training camps, which is great because the country runs on football. Yes. Doesn't run on Duncan. Runs on football. So today is a catch up show on a lot of levels. We have to concede a bad mistake here on my part. Gary Edel, who of course has been so generous to us with my dad's chips giving us box. Right. And I haven't, you know, I haven't seen it yet, but I'll open it up soon and give it to the kids and take a bunch for myself there. Oh, okay. Oh, good. There is a tasting and it's in Rehoboth and it's Saturday and I don't know where. Yeah, I don't know where.

[Michael Wilbon]

We had a document and I didn't.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, we didn't properly announce this and it's going to be too late to do it. Unless. Do we have a website?

[Michael]

I will work on getting the location and see if we can mention in the mailbag.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, okay. So that would be good if we could do that because the chips are great.

[Michael Wilbon]

Chips are fantastic.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean, my personal favorite is the original flavor. That's just mine, but there's like five or six different flavors that are good.

[Michael]

Jalapeno. Sriracha fan, myself.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You like that, right?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, yeah, that's good. That's got a kick to it for sure.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I also wanted to mention we are, we are in, we're going into August, our contract year in Both PTI and the podcast begins in September. So for bookkeeping purposes, I start the year number one show, September, and count all the way till the end of August. This is our last show in July. I like to do 150 shows. You know, I mean, I think people listen, and I think you like the continuity of it, and I like doing it, you know, but we are now. This is our 141st show, and we have a month to go, so we're going to take one week off in August. We took. I'm pretty sure I took a week off in January or February when I went to Florida to play golf.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So this is the second week off,

[Michael]

and that gives us your bonus episode about the flight.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Well, it lasted. I mean, we were like, I don't know, delayed by six hours. You know, that's hard to remember. Hard to forget. Rather not hard to remember, as I

[Michael Wilbon]

recall, that while you were gone, that was when just the deluge of snow.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

Ice opened up over deep. Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So. So that is the one time I leave my kids. Go ahead.

[Michael]

So you choose 150. Are you. Do you have any issue with it being an like with the 5? Is that jarring to you? Do you want. Do you think 160 would be cleaner, or are you good with the 5?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I'm good with 150 because I think that represents three shows a week, 50 weeks, and two weeks off. I mean, to me, that's always been a good number. So that's, you know, that's pretty much what we'll do.

[Michael]

Is that a hard stop? Can you not get to 151? Or you needed to be.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We could. No, we could, but I. But I'm smart enough to. To go to 150 and stop. I mean, you know, I mean, we'll see what happens.

[Michael Wilbon]

So we've gone to the Bulls.

[Jeff Ma]

We're in the.

[Michael]

We're in the latter endings, and we're down a run.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We're not giving it to Kyle Finnegan. Not after yesterday with Detroit. Scuba left that game up seven to one, and they lost that game. And who did. Who was part of it? Kyle Finnegan was part of it. Of course he was. This leads me to the. I didn't even write for. For Detroit. I didn't even know that the Nats were playing. I didn't know the Nats were playing in the afternoon yesterday. I did not know. Nobody on my text chain, which includes Michael and Chris and Chuck, Todd and Alan, nobody wrote anything down. So I'm Going to guess nobody knew or nobody thought it was important. And they lost. The Nats lost to Toronto. And I have nothing to report on it whatsoever.

[Michael]

You said I didn't know two thirds. It was a close game until. Until the late innings. And then Schultz gave up three. I'm not sure he knew they were playing in the afternoon.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Schultz is terrible. Schultz is terrible.

[Michael]

Interesting. They brought back Trevor Williams, who came in and got that final out in that inning. And so maybe that gives them some more protection going into the last stretch of the season.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let me know when they bring back Josiah Gray. Okay. Because that's three years now. They are now headed. Tonight they play at Atlanta. They have four games at Atlanta and then.

[Jason La Canfora]

And.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And four games at Philadelphia.

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And here are the numbers you have to consider. Here are the numbers you have to concern yourself with. These are on the road against teams that are ahead of them in the division. Teams that they know well. And again, ahead of them in the division. Substantially ahead of them. If the Nats win three games and lose five, you say, okay, I can live with that. Because they're on the road against better teams. If they win even four, you go, I'm happy with that. Yeah, I'm happy with that. But if it's two or fewer, then you say to yourself, okay, it's over.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, this is a sort of a hard count. I mean, you would agree with this, right, Michael? Those are the numbers involved here.

[Michael]

Yeah. Divisional games where you just sit there going, you. You sort of lose a week of potential catching of teams as well.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

But it's a great opportunity.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It is that. And speaking of the Gnats, I haven't asked Coco for this personally, so I'm doing it on the air. I want to get the Nats Hawaiian shirt and shorts. When is that? Giveaways in early August thing, didn't it? Isn't that giveaway in early August?

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah.

[Michael]

And then, then the whole, the whole thread that is you then wear it for the next couple of seasons and it's the flex that you were at that game. It's like the bad day to be a hot dog hat. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I, I want selling for a

[Michael]

ton of money on the secondary market.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't want to sell it. I want to wear it. I want the Hawaiian shirt and shorts outfit.

[Michael Wilbon]

Gotta wear that on pti.

[Michael]

It's a new flying.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I can't do that. No, no, but I'm. But, but I wanna. I mean, I think the shirt's probably really cool. And they give You. The shorts.

[Jason La Canfora]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, and I, I would wear them in the house. I don't think I'd wear them out. I don't think so, but I really love those. And, and another mention, as we catch up, a friend of the show, our dear friend of the show, Luke Russert, one of the earliest interns at the PTI show. He and his wife are parents. Yes, his wife. Was it July 25th?

[Michael]

Do I have that correct? Yeah. Good numbers. 15 ounces.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Nice. Nice sized kid. Catalina. Teresa. Yes, yes, I have that right. So we congratulate the Russerts. And now I had one other thing to say, and I never talked about this before, and this was when I was at the Member Guest at Rehoboth, and my guest was Al Serafino, who I like very much and I play with a lot at Columbia. And Al came out here and Al got to see the full Mr. Tony experience. And I will tell you all about it. There are three things that happened where Al just said, oh, oh. One was Comcast went out. You know, it just went out. It was behaving very, very badly. So I called Chip. Chip is my guy at Comcast. I love Chip. Chip is very. When you call Chip, Chip goes to work.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's a very valuable person at Comcast, for Comcast and for customers. And he arranged for Steve to come out here. Michael, you were here for this?

[Michael]

Yes, I was there for the beginning of the issue, but not for the resolution.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. Steve came out and literally climbed up a pole to change things to make sure that our cable system was working correctly. Worked till 9:30 at night. Yes, 9:30 at night. And then left and then came back Sunday. Sunday. Now came back to finish the job. This was tremendous.

[Sponsor Voice]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And Al said, whoa, I, I don't get that. And I go, well, I don't usually get that, but that was really great. So to Steve and Chip, we were very happy after that.

[Michael]

At any point in all those hours, did you ask about the peacock?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I. I did not ask Steve about the peacock. I, I did not, you know, on site. No, I didn't. I didn't do it. I didn't even think about it. Honestly, I never crossed my mind. It should have. Then we had this experience. Al wanted to get some wine and I said, we'll go to bin 66. We'll go. Because bin 66, the greatest liquor store in the world.

[Jason La Canfora]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We walk into bin 66 and Al Buys a couple of bottles because we're going to go out to dinner the next night at Dave Ward's house with Jimmy Crilley. And Al wanted to bring some wine, which is really nice. And he. He goes there, and as he's buying the wine, one of the people that works there, maybe one of the owners, says, I have something for you, meaning me. And he gives me a bottle of what Now? It's. It's much larger than a regular bottle. It's a Magnum, and it's a signed bottle of wine. And it's by. Can I get off the air for a second?

[Michael Wilbon]

Sure.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Can you just vamp and I'll get this. I'll get this.

[Michael Wilbon]

Tony is leaving the table now. He's walking into another room. This is scintillating. Play by play. I'm giving on this. I understand that.

[Michael]

No, keep going.

[Michael Wilbon]

I was hoping he would say that. When I walked in there to bin 66, they gave me an envelope of cash like it was a Mafia pickup. All right, he's got a note here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I got a note here from Chris Carpenter, okay? He says, as a sports fan and a winemaker, it's great to know that folks like you are banging the drum about wine when also talking about sports. Enjoy. And he sent me a bottle of wine, a really good, better than I deserve bottle of wine and a giant bottle of wine. And I was thinking to myself, well, when would I. Because you want to drink it all, you know, you want to make sure that everybody uses it. So maybe at a dinner party. The last dinner party I had was, I don't know, in 1959, because I don't do that. Nobody in my house entertains. No, I'm not good at. But I also thought I could. I could wait for the kids to grow up, But I'm not going to be around when the kids grow up and drink wine. I'm not going to do that. So Michael has to come up with something we can do to. To share this wine with people. And Al couldn't believe it that, you know, a vintner was giving me this big, great bottle of wine. And I said, yeah, well, it happens once in a while. And then. And then he said, well, what should we do for dinner? And I said, well, you know, do you want pizza? And he said, yeah, pizza would be nice. So I said, well, there's this place. And I've talked about this before. I used to go to Casa de Leo, which I thought was a very good restaurant, and I enjoyed it, and I brought home their pizza occasionally. Casa de Leo was replaced by Gio's Pizza Company. Gio, not Andrew Giordano. Who was our friend Giovanni.

[Michael Wilbon]

But Geo's pizza, no affiliation to Geo Gonzalez.

[Tony Kornheiser]

None that I know of. Not that I know of. It's just in the same place. It looks the same. The takeout area is the same. So Al calls up and orders a pizza and we drive over there to pick up the pizza. And then I see the pizza delivery guy who the same pizza delivery guy who's been there for, you know, 30 years. And we have a conversation and I go inside and I meet the owner and the owner says, people come in here because you talk about it on the podcast. I want to give you a gift certificate. I said, no, you don't have to do that. You don't know. He says, no, no, I want to. So he did. He gave me a gift certificate, half of which I used the other night. How was that pizza?

[Michael Wilbon]

It was great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It was really good.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, it really was.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So Serafino goes home thinking, oh my God, this is what his life is like. He doesn't see the bad parts of my life. He doesn't see the walking the dog in the snow. You know, he doesn't see the oh God, I have to go to the supermarket because we ran out of eggs or y. But it was, you know, I then got a fuller appreciation for what? You know, for the nice things that happened to me over the course of time. You know what I mean, Michael? Because sometimes you take it for granted and then I didn't take it for granted anymore.

[Michael]

I just love. This was your, this was your own odyssey to get back to the house, stop by, get a pizza, get up some wine.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, right. It's me and Odysseus.

[Michael]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I'm waiting for Penelope. Haven't seen her in a long time. Yeah, so that's what it is, you know, so that's what is. So that was nice. And yeah. So I think I've, I think I've covered everything. I don't have anything else.

[Michael Wilbon]

I did look up famous birthdays for. For Luke's daughter. Yeah, the biggest one that I could see. Walter Payton. That's a pretty good one that you said.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, it'd be certainly Wilbon would appreciate.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes, Wilbone.

[Sponsor Voice]

I don't know.

[Michael Wilbon]

I look for any bills players Will

[Tony Kornheiser]

Bond certainly would appreciate.

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, no Bill players at all.

[Michael Wilbon]

Not that I could find, but it's great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So good for him and good for. And today, as I say, today's a catch up day. We will come back with Jason Lock and fora later in the show. Jeff Ma who's Getting up at three in the morning to talk to us. And I am Tony Kornheiser. Best thing that's ever happened to you financially.

[Michael]

Go easy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sold my car on Carvana. Amazing offer, really. I hit 200 on a scratcher. Did the scratcher come to your house and hand you a check?

[Sponsor Voice]

No.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on Carvana.com once. Okay, that's fair. It's like the lottery, except you always win. Not like the lottery at all, actually. Exactly. Inexplicably good offers worth bragging about. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply.

[Sponsor Voice]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser. This is one of our favorite bands. Oh, yes, Post Sex Nacho. They're right there with Norwegian Soft Kitten. Though Post Sex Nacho does not claim that I played with them at any point. And it. It's a picture of the ballpark, the St. Louis ballpark where Post Sex Nachos, you know, threw out the first pitch Cards, Cubs. Throughout the first pitch, the announcer even read the whole band name and I said, I know them. Not quite a David Aldrich moment, but as close as I have been to date. This is sent to us by Josh Browning in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, who reminds us former home of a certain journalist who likes to write about people's ages. Yes, she does. Yes, she does. This is a song called all for you by Post Sex Nachos and it plays in our friend Jason Lochinfour. And I said this was a catch up day. So Jason has to tell us what he's been up to and what are his streams of income at this point other than wanna bet? What are you doing? What are you now doing?

[Jason La Canfora]

I'm doing quite a bit. Yesterday we watched Eli Willits play some baseball. My son and I went to Frederick. That wasn't like the main reason we went, but it was part of it. We kind of want to watch most of the Frederick Keys. But boy, I've got some reservations there. But anywho, so, yeah, look, I'm covering the Orioles and the Ravens on a very granular daily basis and I'm writing columns and multiple items a day in some cases, but you know, some, some pretty meaty columns multiple days a week at Ravens on SI and Orioles on si. And if you just Google my name and those words, it will bring up the, you know, the library of what's going on there. So I'm chronicling those teams on a daily basis.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm covering Sports Illustrated. Yes. For Sports Illustrated. Yes. Okay.

[Jason La Canfora]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean you can really.

[Jason La Canfora]

Well, it's kind of tricky because I'm also doing a daily digital show through a production company that basically sort of is in conjunction with Minute Media, who owns Sports Illustrated. It's kind of complicated as everything is these days. But I'm also doing a daily digital show on the Ravens and the Orioles. But I'm bringing in people like Sean Payton and Sean McVeigh and you know, guests who can add a, a real net national perspective to these local teams and also talk about some things that have some carryover. So yes, I am, I'm looking for all the audience I could get. And you can find that show on YouTube if you go to YouTube.com/at big play Baltimore. Big Play is the production company and subscribe for free. We always appreciate that. I'm doing that daily digital show and then I'm also covering the NFL some for fan sided. I'm covering the NFL quite a bit for some publications that are based in London that you will find on my Twitter whenever I am writing and I'm writing quite a bit. And then I may be relaunching one of it with Nick Bakai. I'm sure a lot of you guys are familiar with. I talked to Nick again yesterday and what happened

[Tony Kornheiser]

to him.

[Jason La Canfora]

That's great. That's great. But Beltway Ben schedule now he's producing a morning show and he's doing a lot of reporting from the ballpark and it just. Our schedules just don't align anymore. So. But I still believe in the concept and there's some other people who believe in the concept. So the hope is to be doing one of that not seven days a week anymore like I used to, but two to three days a week in the football season heavily focused on the NFL again with the great Nick Bakkei, schedule permitting. And it sounds like his schedule is going to permit. And then yeah, you know, I'm also open for business tone. So if you're looking for a writer or a talking head or whatever, I need a handyman.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I need somebody to. You don't do that.

[Jason La Canfora]

Effort.

[Jeff Ma]

Not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I need somebody to. Yeah, I need that somebody to fix the grill. You know, it's not lighting the way it should. And so. Have you tried cleaning it first? Michael cleaned it, and then, you know, I've got some weather stripping that I need, and I got a towel bar that's got to go up, but you don't do that kind of work. I need a hand.

[Jason La Canfora]

I mean, I don't. I don't do it very well. But cleaning up the grill, I actually am not too. I'm not too shabby with. But no, we've had some gutter issues here, Tone. And I went with a professional. I. I did not get up on that ladder and try it myself. So. So there's no way I'm going to go to the palatial Kornheiser estate and just, you know, start putting holes in walls and stuff like that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's okay. All right, well, so have you noticed. I just noticed this, like, two days ago, ESPN in full conversion mode, going to the NFL.

[Jason La Canfora]

Not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Not this other stuff. They're going, you know, around the clock. NFL, which is a really smart thing to do. Right. Because football. Doesn't football drive the bus? It's football.

[Jason La Canfora]

They bought the NFL Network. Right. I mean, this is. That. Had those conversations have been going on. My God, I don't think I've been at the NFL Network for, I mean, 15, 17 years, and people still come up to me sometimes, and they're like, you're the guy at the NFL Network. I'm like, well, you know, that was several children ago, but whatever. Sure.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Jason La Canfora]

But those conversations were going on then. Like, that was sort of. There was always this undercurrent of, like, you know, is Bornstein gonna like his ESPN ties? Is this thing gonna go back under the espn? You know, go under the ESPN umbrella? And what's the future of NFL Network? I mean, it literally's been going on since the thing was four or five years old. So I think a lot of people figured that this was where it was heading eventually and that the NFL was going to continue to expand both globally in terms of where games are played and then just numerically and how many games were played. And that back then, we weren't thinking of, you know, the whole streaming thing went on, you know, 20 years ago, was not on people's radar. But. But certainly the idea of, what are they going to do to both broadcast this extra inventory, but then prop up, right. All the ancillary bells and whistles around this growing inventory. And so ESPN was always, you know, figured to be at the forefront of that. And they are, and they will be. And there's also opportunity because things are still being sorted out and we're, you know, we're going to eventually get 18 games. We're going to eventually have a game in some far flung place, you know, I don't know, 16 of those 18 weeks or 15 or 14 of those 18 weeks, but certainly at least that many. And they clearly believe in the NFL and the NFL believes in them. And, yes, this is. This is sort of where it's at. I'm old enough to remember them being criticized for not covering the World cup, you know what I mean? Enough. Or whatever that kerfuffle was. But they're not as invested in that. And they're not, you know, they're not. They're not even showing us men's national team games anymore, let alone the full World Cup. So, yeah, I think the pivot is real.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. I mean, you know, I'm looking at stories about Aaron Donald and Kirk Cousins and Kyler Murray, and the games are still over a month away. Oh, yeah, the games are over a month away. And I'm excited by it like I'm excited by no other sport. And you know football better than, you know, anything else. Do you assume that Aaron Donald is going to play? Do you assume that Kirk Cousins will be the starter for the Raiders for five weeks, eight weeks, 10 weeks, two weeks? Do you assume Kyler Murray beats out J.J. mcCarthy? Wilbon crushed J.J. mcCarthy last night on TV. Crushed this kid. Is he any good? J.J. mcCarthy?

[Jason La Canfora]

Well, I mean, if you couldn't be good with Kevin o', Connell, and I know that it was only, you know, not the longest Runway in the world, but probably long enough. Certainly was long enough for him to say, boy, I better go get Kyler Murray. There's. There's questions there. Yeah, I mean, these are things like Sean McVeigh came on the Daily Flock show again, YouTube.com/@big play Baltimore, and of course, I asked him about it. And of course, as these things go, we had great video and audio the whole time. And then it starts to get garbled at the end when he's talking about Aaron Donald. And we couldn't use all of it on the show, but certainly I was able to transcribe all of it and write about all of it. Yes, I've long been convinced that Aaron Donald is coming back. And I was even more convinced after spending, you know, 35 minutes with Sean McVeigh, that's going to happen. I can't tell you exactly when and if there were to be some sort of a medical situation or setback, then that's a different story. But the road he's on right now, their schedule, the first five weeks, is nuts, Tone. So, like, I don't know that he wants to come out of retirement and fly to Australia and then play in Denver and Altitude and then go to Philadelphia for work for them as a 10am kickoff and then fly back across the country for a primetime game against the Giants and then fly some like. So I think he probably, you know, starts, gets this thing contractually done in the next, I don't know, 10 to 14 days, and then they come up with a plan that gets him into the mix at some point in the season. Doesn't necessarily have to be for that game in Australia. And away they go. The Cousins thing had a long chat with Rich Gannon, who's a part of their pregame preseason, all their preseason stuff. And obviously Rich is keeping close attention to that VP there. You know, Rich is watching the whole Tom Brady Mendoza dynamic. And, yeah, look, they're still sorting out their offensive line. It makes sense to give Cousins first crack. It makes sense to let Mendoza learn from how Cousins operates in the system that Cousins knows like the back of his hand from playing in it in Minnesota under Clint Kubiak. Like, all that was done very conscientiously. All the this was set up in a very reasoned manner with Tom Brady's paw prints all over it. And while, you know, the heel turn in the WWF and smacking Logan Paul or whatever, like, there's a lot of weird stuff going on with Tom Brady. But, like, everything I hear is he's totally invested in this Mendoza thing and he's sitting down with the kid and he's talking about how to read people's eyes and he's talking about how to read people's hands, and he's talking about what to do in the final three seconds before that ball is snapped to you and all the nuance. So, yeah, I think that's. I think that's very real. Like, I think they have a plan and they're probably going to stick to it. And maybe it's week three, maybe it's week five, whatever. But, yeah, it's something I've done a fair amount of reporting on. And then, yeah, that's Kyler Murray's job. Like I don't even think that's really a competition. I think the question is can McCarthy look good enough in the preseason that they get something for him to get him out of that building? Because I'm not sure about that dynamic.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, Wilbourne felt the same way. He felt the same way. So you have a coaching change in Baltimore after a very, very long time. A coaching change. Optimistic or pessimistic about who's coming in and how the team will react?

[Jason La Canfora]

Optimistic. The. But like to a point, you know, if you look at the sports bucks, they've got the Ravens to win 12 games almost, you know, as much as anybody other than the Rams, they've got the Ravens, you know, with some, some of the best odds in the afc, some of the best odds in football to win a Super Bowl. I kind of think you have to walk before you sprint in that regard. Like there's been two first time coaches in the history of the NFL who won a Super bowl the first year. You know, One was Don McCaffrey right here in Baltimore. Super Bowl 5. It was Don Shul, his team. He had been an assistant McCaffrey for 10 years. You know, it was a very different situation than a guy coming into it, you know, from, from afar. And the other time is Seifert and we all know that was a dynasty built by Bill Wallace. That was. And he had been there for 10 years. So this ain't that. So I'm not sure they're doing that. But Harbaugh had to go like his ways and his mannerisms and everything was almost 20 years. Everything had sort of reached its natural inflection point to hey, you go there and we go here and you know, Godspeed. I think the defense is going to be pretty close to a monster pretty soon. I believe completely in Jesse Minters ability to turn that around as a defensive coordinator. Now he's also the head coach and we'll see about the head coaching part. I think he certainly can do it and will do it but I think it's also natural to expect in a learning curve there. And the offensive side of the ball is where I had the most trepidation as things were coming together because it seemed to be lacking in proven commodities there as well. The more people I've talked to about the 30 year old offensive coordinator Declan Doyle, including Sean Payton who created him, right, he took him from Iowa as a grad assistant, bought him to New Orleans, then brought him to Denver and then he spends one year with Ben Johnson and he's hired at age 29 to go run Lamar Jackson's offense. So I wondered if it was too much too soon. I've done a lot of reporting, months of reporting on that situation. And yes, I know Sean Payton is not going to tell me, oh, no, he's no good. Like, he's part of Sean Payton's family tree.

[Sponsor Voice]

But.

[Jason La Canfora]

But just what you glean and what you hear sort of on background, and the more you dig, I think the young man's got a chance to be special. I do think, though, that he's probably a tight end short. He might be a wide receiver short, and I think the defense is going to have to be the star. But over time, I believe grow into the job and he'll be really good. The problem for Declan Doyle is, do you only have Lamar Jackson for one year? And the way that contract structured right now, you only have Lamar Jackson for one year. And Lamar Jackson spoke yesterday, and he does this sort of. You know, he plays the games. He sort of always plays when they ask him about his contract. And he clearly wants to have it both ways publicly, but he's an assassin as a negotiator, and he's got them in a corner, and I don't think he's budging. And they either give him everything he wants in the next couple of days, certainly the next couple of weeks before this season starts, or they don't. But if they don't, I believe he's playing somewhere else in 2027.

[Jeff Ma]

Really? Yeah.

[Show Announcer]

Wow.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That would be the. I would never even consider that. That Lamar Jackson would leave unless they wanted to get rid of him because he had a very bad playoff run again or something like that. And they said he can't win the super bowl when there's no point in having him.

[Jason La Canfora]

But, I mean, I think that's part of it. But they clearly have reservations here. I mean, Patrick Mahomes gets a new deal. It's no fuss, no mas. Like Dak Prescott has to hem and hall for a while, who's nowhere near Lamar Jackson, and he's older than Lamar Jackson, but he eventually gets his bag before training camp starts. Right? Like the fact that we're now in training camp and this is the second negotiation that's been protracted. It's been janky, it's been weird. I mean, this guy did have a trade demand in the past. Like, the whole league colluded against him. Like, there's just a lot that's happened here. And for them to be back at this point with him playing on Basically a Fugazi one year, $50 million deal with an $85 million cap hit next year and a no trade clause and a no franchise clause that he had a, you know, get real stuck in to get the last time around. There's something holding them back. There's several things holding them back. I've written extensively about this at Ravens on our side, but it's very real tone, like, it's. It's almost August now, like. And he will cut these negotiations off and say, I'm a football player now. I'm not a player agent. And that's what they're up against.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is so fascinating. It's good to hear you. It's good to catch up. And then soon we'll put you on every single week and it'll make us happy. Thank you, Jason.

[Jason La Canfora]

I will. I'm here, brother. Trust me. Good luck with the hope. On the whole, a good handyman. Hard to find.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I gotta find a handyman. Jason, I'm rooting for you, brother. Thank you. We will come back with another person we haven't talked to in a while. Jeff.

[Jeff Ma]

Ma. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Show Announcer]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Tony Kornheiser show.

[Michael]

The other night, I was browsing the Vistaprint website. Normally I wait till there's about two outs, two strikes in the Nats game just to be sure. Just thinking about little ways to make our podcast feel even more organized and professional. I completely lost track of time because there's so many options. We use vistaprint, order our show's custom notepads. We really do. And what's great is that I have orders from eight, nine years ago that are still saved. So it's as easy as going and logging into my account and they're ready to send out again. So I know Nigel uses some of the notepads, the spiral notepads, which is.

[Jason La Canfora]

Which is great.

[Michael]

And I use some of the notepads that have our logo sort of in a shadow in the background. We actually send those out every year. Handwritten notes to our. To our winners from the March Madness tournament bracket.

[Michael Wilbon]

That's lovely.

[Michael]

I realized how useful it would be to have show branded notepads for episode prep. Just like Nigel. Interview questions. Tony just uses a legal pad, but we're working to get him into our own show branded one production notes and all those ideas that pop into your head right before you hit record. Instead of scribbling notes on random pieces of paper, everything stays in one place. And and it looks great too. And you know what? They have recommendations. Once you're part of their system and your logo's in there, they will say, hey, would you like a deck of cards? And you know what you're sitting there considering.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Michael just passed the read to me. This is like a relay in the Olympics. Don't drop the like the 2 by 300 if there was such a thing. That's what we love about vistaprint. They make it easy to turn simple ideas into polished, professional products without spending a fortune. Whether you're running a podcast, a small business, or you just want materials that reflect your brand, vistaprint gives you the tools and real human support to help make it happen. Vistaprint print your possible right now, new customers can get 20% off with the code [e-mail] remember that's 20% [e-mail] when you use the code NEW20. So use the code people.

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[Show Announcer]

You are listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Tony Kornheiser Show. Once again, this is Post Sex Nachos. This is called the Sound of you and we have a note that accompanies it. It says Todd Hart here. Yes, that Todd Hart from Sheboygan, Wisconsin is here to announce that the Post Sex Nachos have made it to the big stage. They will be forming be performing tonight July 30th and Friday, July 31st at 9:40pm on the Jones Park Main Stage at the Mile of Music festival in Appleton, Wisconsin. 200 artists, 35 venues and one great mile of music. Thank you for all the support you've given the band. We look forward to some cheeseries from the audience and TK salutes. The show starts at 9:40pm so don't expect you to make it. But we encourage all littles and bigs to make it if they can. In either case. In case either those days does not work for folks Post Sex Nachos will also be performing on Saturday night at Emmett's Bar at 10:10 at night at the Mile of Music. Michael, if people like post sex Nachos want to get their music played on the show, how do they go about it?

[Michael]

Send us your music by emailing it to [e-mail] and they play in Jeff

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ma and I said this was a catch up show. We caught up with Jason Locke and four, we're going to catch up with Jeff Ma preparatory to all the bets he's going to make for us when the football season starts. But what have you been doing and what are you doing now?

[Jeff Ma]

You know, I have a day job which is, I work for a company called Troon which is a golf course management company. It's sort of like Marriott for hotels and you know, we've been working on a lot of stuff there. I actually took some time to coach my 9 year old's water polo team and we just went to Junior olympics and finished 13 out of 60. So this, that's great. Yeah, we have four practices a week for an hour and a half to two hours for nine and ten year olds. So it's pretty intense. It was almost like a second job and then.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Are you, are they impressed? Wait, hold it, hold it. Are they impressed that you are a water polo player yourself from mit? Are they impressed by that?

[Jeff Ma]

I don't think anything impressive 9 and 10 year olds really. But like no, I mean I was a coach, you know I coached MIT for seven years and we, you know, beyond. I mean I was never much of a player but to be honest I was a really good coach and so coaching 9 and 10 year olds was, was pretty fun because I don't know Michael, if you've gotten into this but the, the coaching for kids is not very good usually because it's volunteers and it's people that don't really know what they're doing and sometimes aren't that committed. But you know, I took it very seriously and it was, it was a lot of fun and rewarding and it's something I'm going to continue doing with my kids.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good, that's good. 13 out of 60 is very good. That's very good.

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah, we're happy with that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What else you doing?

[Jeff Ma]

There's also like gambling during the summers. Then the World cup obviously came up. That was an interesting thing to gamble on because of it's an incredibly liquid market. Meaning like a lot of people bet on it and a lot of people that bet on it Bet with their hearts. So there was a lot of, a lot of value there. We've been doing a lot of work, work on betting, Calcuttas and the majors. So we have these really big Calcuttas where, you know, there's millions of dollars at stake and you know, you, you own all these different golfers. So that's been pretty fun. And actually the, the most fun thing I did is I just got back from the kingdom in taylormade where I got fitted for new clubs and got fitted by, you know, the guys that fit the pros. Wow.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So what, so you're going to get all new tailor made clubs?

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah, I just got all new tailor made clubs. They, you know, new shafts, all that kind of stuff. And it's funny because obviously I'm, you know, I'm like 15 handicaps, so I'm not that good. But like, you know, when you get out there and, and they look at all the things you do and they make all the corrections and they give you all the different shafts and things like that. It does, it does seem to make a difference. So I'm actually going to play this week and we'll see. You know, I'm dying to play with these new clubs and sitting in my office. So they're, I'm excited for them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right, let me go backwards on some of the things you said. First of all, everybody knows the word Calcutta, but I don't know what it is. Can you explain to a layman what exactly a Calcutta is?

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah, so generally speaking it's, it's a, you know, it's kind of like a betting competition where, and it happens a lot of times at like tennis clubs and at golf clubs where essentially golf clubs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All the time. All the time. Member guest all the time.

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah. You sort of have rules where depending on how you do in the Calcutta, you win a percentage of the overall pot. And you know, like in the Calcutta's that we do for the majors, the golfer that wins the whole thing gets about 19% of the overall potential. And there's also all sorts of bets like who has the best score on day one, who has the worst score on day one. That makes a, you know, a percentage of the pot, 1%. And so you auction off every golfer. And the case in the majors, we do every golfer the top 50 and then we do the rest in loss of about five. And you know, you're having an open auction so you don't know the size of the overall pot. So from a modeling perspective, you're trying to, you know, dynamically Price, what, how you think this person is going to do and what size you think the pot is going to be overall to figure out how much you're going to spend.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So let, let me go to the two majors that were won by people nobody had ever really heard of. Guys in their 30s had been around for a while but had not won. Aaron Rye won the pga, and then just recently, Ryan Fox won the British Open. What, what effect on a Calcutta do people winning that really nobody probably bet on individually or did they?

[Jeff Ma]

Well, so that's the thing, like we have in the case of Aaron Rye, I think he was top 50, so I think he was still auctioned off by himself. But Ryan Fox was in what we call these groups where he was grouped with like four or five other golfers. And, and, you know, it's kind of like a little bit of like a throw in or a grab bag or something like that. So it does, you know, the guy that owned Ryan Fox made quite a bit of money in that Calcutta because

[Tony Kornheiser]

he was a long shot, I would imagine. I mean, I mean, not only was a long shot, but he played fast. Everybody liked that. Let me go back to the World Cup. You said it was a liquid market and people were basically betting with their hearts and not their heads. Was. Did you get any sense of people betting with their heads? I mean, was Rufus involved in this? That. Did he like Spain? Did he like France? Did he like England, Argentina? I mean, what was your sense of World cup betting?

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah, Rufus was very involved with it. And, and, you know, there's these new things called prediction markets. I've been talking about them since last year, and they'd be coming into a lot of prominence. And so, you know, Rufus, I think, had, you know, multimillions of dollars at stake on every single game that was out there. And really, I think he made a, you know, like what you're trying to do in these markets is try to, you know, even, even in soccer, there's exact outcomes that you can bet on. So you can bet on, like, Spain to win by one, one nothing and things like that. And oftentimes Rufus, in these bets is taking the other side. He's taking like the no on some of these things because people think that the certain outcomes have a much more likely, you know, probability of happening than they actually do. So Rufus is taking the no. And Rufus has been. We just talked about this on about the process this week. You know, Rufus had, I think, $39 million of volume on the Open Championship. And because of all of these different, you know, prediction markets. He's able to get down a lot more money than he ever was before.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is fascinating to me. And when you say 39 million, I mean, my head explodes when something like that happens. Did you bet the World Cup? Did you do it yourself? I would never.

[Jeff Ma]

Casually than anything, you know, I had a few friends that were really experts. I don't, I don't know anything about soccer. And I probably share a bit of your attitude about soccer also. Like why, why are they diving? Why aren't they slow scoring? Is that guy really that hurt? He seems fine. Oh, he is fine. That's great. It looked like he needed to stretcher a minute ago, but now he's split back playing. So, you know, like I. But, but, you know, it was, it was on and went. And there's something fun to watch. I mean, it's nice to have some, some, some money on it. So, yeah, I bet a little bit of it here and there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I wanted to talk, I wanted to talk to you about this for about a month. Brendan Sorsby, the Texas Tech quarterback, and what happened to him that he was allowed by the NFL to become eligible for a supplementary draft, except the NFL said we're not going to have one this year and they encouraged him to apply to the draft after this college football season, the next one. He appears to be being punished for gambling, which he has admitted that he had tremendous gambling issues while he was at college. Even betting on his own team. I believe not against his own team, but betting on his own team. What are, what are your thoughts about what has happened to Sourcebee and what should happen to athletes who bet on their own sports?

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah, I think it's hard, right, because he obviously made a mistake. He obviously should be punished. I think that, you know, the idea that he could play right away at Texas Tech or even just, you know, get out of college and not be punished, I do think he needs to punish. Now, obviously it's tough because there's not no overall, you know, governing body of any of this stuff. The main issue to me, and I think we talked about this a little bit in the fall, is that there's just not enough education right now for these athletes. And we're, we're a bunch of hypocrites because we're out there talking about sports betting. Sports betting is in everyone's faces. It's on advertising and the marketing dollars that are being spent. And it's so easy to just download an app and start betting. And no one's educating people as to, you know, the fears here. Now again, an athlete should know better,

[Jason La Canfora]

so he should get punished.

[Jeff Ma]

But I also think that we need to be doing a much better job educating everybody of, of the, you know, the perils of this, right? Like you got like a kid, teenagers, like with all of these different things that are out there, are able to get access to this stuff. And you know, I mean, obviously with the, with the nine and the seven year old that I have, I'm thinking all the time about like, how do we, how do we get ahead of this and make them educated and make them understand that this isn't a winning proposition. Most people don't win. And beyond that, obviously from an athlete perspective, if you do this, you can jeopardize your future.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Would you limit the type of betting that is allowed now? I mean, it's one thing to bet on games and outcomes of games and first halves and stuff like that, but what is called a prop bet, these very small things about individual athletes and what they will do in a very small area, would they seem to be the ones that create the problem? Would you restrict them or do you take the whole package and just say no, just teach people what they're doing?

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah, I mean, I think the challenge is if you restrict them, they're still like the black market, there's still the illegal gambling. So you're not going to get rid of these things. Totally. Certainly having some level of what can be bet and some oversight because again like a lot of these sportsbooks are a bit predatory and what they're offering from a betting perspective and the reason they offer a lot of these bets is they can make a lot of money off of them. Like people, you know, do want to bet these things that are recreational betters and the more stuff they have, the better. You know, there's not again like this, this thing was rushed into the US and everyone's now trying to make as much money as they can right now. So there's not a lot of thoughtfulness about exactly what you're saying, which is like, how do we create an environment that is safe, an environment that cannot be manipulated. But I think again, it's like anything that you create a lot of restrictions around, it's not going to solve every problem.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know how it works, but I mean, I don't think we have even hit close to what we're going to hit in terms of these prop bets, in terms of not necessarily NFL or NBA players, but marginal players trying to cash in because they, they don't make enough money to sort of insulate themselves against the betting. Don't you think that's going to happen?

[Jeff Ma]

I mean, it is happening. I think the reality is that we are catching people now because of the fact that it's legalized. I think in the past, these things weren't caught. I mean, there's been a lot of, like these, these sensational tweets on Twitter about when, like, Jackson Coyvin wins and like some better bet, you know, a couple million dollars on him and that

[Tony Kornheiser]

million dollars on him, that, that, well,

[Jeff Ma]

the better is actually making more money than Koivan made for winning, you know, the tournament.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Jeff Ma]

And so those types of. Again, these are like sensational tweets. These are the things that ultimately you worry, like a Jackson Koivan is not going to jeopardize his future. But there are other golfers or there are other, like individual sports are tough because, yes, they can be manipulated. And to your point, you know, an individual and a prop bet can be manipulated. So, yeah, I think you're right to be concerned about this. I think the, the, you know, the positive is that so far people are, are getting caught. And so hopefully these are going to be cautionary tales that make people less inclined to do this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. I mean, I do, I do think that the technology now, you know, when you use a phone and you have these apps that you go through, they're going to catch everybody. They're going to catch everybody who does that because there's going to be a paper trail, right? There is.

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah, there's a paper trail. There's Kyc, there's all of that. So I mean, you know, you got to be very, you got to be kind of dumb to try to do this at this point, like, especially on like the, you know, the insider trading stuff and that kind of thing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's what I agree with that I would. Good luck with your clubs, the tailor made clubs. I hope they work. And, and you're going to come back when it's time to do sports, right? Betting.

[Jason La Canfora]

Yeah.

[Jeff Ma]

Can we talk about one other thing, Tony? This, this, the charity event that we're doing. Yeah. Oh, one of the worst.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Jeff Ma]

One of the things I do and I love if we get you and Michael out there, but like at the end of August, August 29th and 30th, I actually called Greg Garcia, invited him to it, but he, he only responds to me when he wants a discount at a trune club, which is what he, what he often does. So, you know, the guy's touring with Nate for gods and is asking me for $20 off of tee time at a Hilton Head course that we run. But, you know, we, we, we do this charity event up in Napa at Silverado and it's for.

[Jason La Canfora]

We do it in benefit of two groups.

[Jeff Ma]

One's the Napa Valley grape growers who support all the farmers in Napa. And the other is Connolly Ranch, which is a great charity that helps educate kids about food and where food comes from. And the events at Silverado, which obviously is a championship course, they just got their tour event back for not next year, but the season after. We play 36 rounds of golf, we get some of the best wineries out there. We have a Vitner's cup where the actual winemakers play with three people and they, they're kind of playing against each other as, you know, team teams. And you know, the. One of the wineries we have out there is a winery called McDonald's. They're one of the hardest cabs in

[Jason La Canfora]

the world to get.

[Jeff Ma]

They have a 13,000 person waiting list. You buy a cab from for 300 bucks, you could, you can resell it right away because people just can't get it. But you can buy these things if you're on the mailing list and resell it for 3, 4x. Right away that guy, Alex McDonald is going to play and give away a bottle of his wine to all the people that play with him. And you know, we have a bunch of other wineries are coming like Harlan that, you know, the Harlan family is coming. They make some of the most expensive cabs in the world. So if you guys want to come out the 29th and 30th and play together, I'd love to activate the Littles that are out there to come, you know, come join this. But you can go to golf with access.com and see all the events that we do. And this is one of the events. And love to activate the littles for this.

[Michael Wilbon]

Lovely.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's lovely. That's great. Thank you, Jeff.

[Jeff Ma]

Yeah, thanks, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jeff Mobb, boys and girls. Wow, that's great, Michael. Silverado is a big time course, isn't it?

[Michael]

Big time.

[Jeff Ma]

Now I need a full.

[Michael]

What's in the bag, though?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Can you even imagine how much money that is for a bottle of wine? It's gonna be. So you want to play with that guy? You want to play with that guy? All right, we will take a break. We will come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Show Announcer]

I'm pretty Confident talking into a mic. Hey, I'm doing it right now. But home projects, I second guess everything. Is that noise normal? Is that water damage? Who do I even call? That's where thumbtack comes in. Just upload a photo or voice note and it uses AI powered search to match you with the right top rated local pro. So instead of guessing, you get clarity and can hire with confidence for your next home project, try thumbtack. Hire the right pro.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Today you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. Oh, here comes Tony's mailbag. Got your emails, faxes and your notes. Here comes Tony's mail bag. Gonna read some for all of you folks. Gonna read some for all of you folks. That's Biff got. And attention must be paid. Attention must be paid. You want to do the Bethesda bagel ad?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes, Bethesda bagels. We love them. You as well. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled. And got a note here from Patrick Smith in Annandale, Virginia. This coming Saturday, he has tickets for the 7pm Banana Ball game at Prince George's Stadium. That's Savannah Bananas.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're very good. I mean, very entertaining. Sell out everywhere where they go.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. He says it's also the summer of Little. So there's only one thing more thing for him to do. Celebrate summer of Littles at the banana ball game. Please tell any and all Littles the banana ball game to meet him at 5pm at the pregame plaza. He'll be wearing his Calvert Woodley Home of La Cheeserie shirt. And I also want a very special wish, a very special birthday to me mom who's turning 85 years old today. Happy birthday, mom.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Absolutely lovely. Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say. Oh, don't it hurt deep inside to see someone do something to her? Oh, don't it pain to see someone cry? Especially when someone is her silence is golden. But my eyes still see the title of the song is Silence is golden. It's the Tremolos. And Nigel didn't think I knew that one. And I had to work it out. I had to get all the way to the end in my head with the lyrics. But then I got it and I said silence is gold in the Tremolos. Thanks to our guest today, Jason Lock and 4 and Jeff Ma thanks to the as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify And Odyssey. If you get show through Apple Podcasts, please leave a review.

[Michael]

You would not have seen this. One of the Savannah Banana pitchers came out and did Phantom of the Opera and then threw out the first pitch.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Really?

[H]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean, who. Who they. Everywhere they go, they sell out huge, right? I mean, people enjoy that.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. Yeah, people really.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're great players. Obviously. Yeah, you couldn't.

[Michael Wilbon]

Is it Kerry Wood doing stuff with them now?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, he did that one thing. He threw out the first pitch behind his back or over his head or something like that. From Adam Jameson. The title of this is Tim Kirchen National Treasure. And it just says thank you.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And that's because of Tim and the urinal story. Yes, from Tim. What we love, we love. From Tim Knobloch. I recall an interesting bathroom encounter was watching a podcast being recorded, enjoying a great breakfast. There was a break from recording. I took off for the restroom down a long, ugly looking hallway while focusing on my bladder. A man stood next to me. I didn't look up. First words out of his mouth. So what do you think? Wouldn't the hallway look better if we had a mural painted on the walls? Do you know of anyone? I had honored to be standing next to an angry orange man. Not sure what to say, couldn't think fast of us, so I just said, no, that's from Tim. In Granite Falls, North Carolina, formerly Rockville, home of Madison Bumgarner, who now plays a lot of pickleball, apparently from Dave Maer. I hope I pronounced that correctly. In South Euclid, Ohio. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about Tim Kirchen's encounter with Glavin, Maddox and Smoltz at the urinal. I had a similar experience shared with me by a colleague who visited a bathroom at a NASCAR event and happened to spot Paul Newman in the next urinal. The college colleague exclaimed, my God, you're Paul Newman. Newman replied, yes, I am. I would shake your hand, but I'm busy at the moment.

[Michael Wilbon]

And by the way, can I just say, for all the people that want to send meeting famous people stories in the bathroom, we're done with it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, we're not doing it anymore.

[Michael Wilbon]

I think we.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Here's one. In the early 70s, I was at an Italian restaurant in Fort Lauderdale when I visited the men's room. Jackie Gleason was next to me at the urinal. I didn't say anything, but should have said how Sweet it is. DG Ben York from Santa Monica, California. Do you think that if eight years of corn cost $30 in 1988 Ray Kinsella would have still built the field which shoeless your plate again would. Father and son shared one last catch. It's a lot of money, isn't it? From Delton Vereen in Spartanburg, South Carolina. As I was listening to the podcast today while driving to my dad's place on the South Carolina coast, I had to stop the podcast and rewind it to make sure I heard correctly. When you said that you spent $30 at a roadside stand for four tomatoes and eight years of corn yet. Tomatoes, tomatoes. That's what I did. It was this corn, a special organic heirloom non GMO bicolor variety only found in your neck of the woods. The tomatoes must have been as big as Softballs are pretty big. Did you buy the tomatoes by the pound? Maybe the proprietor was holding his thumb on the scale when he weighed the tomatoes to inflate the price. I grew up with a guy whose family had a produce stand and he told me they never published prices and would look at the car the customer was driving when deciding on what to charge. That's good. Maybe you should invest in an old beater car just to have for trips to roadside produce stands. How about an old Subaru? We know how much you love Subarus. Here's a haiku for corn and tomatoes from Shed. I think you were charged what they thought you could afford. Dynamic gouging was a lot of money. $30 of corn and four tomatoes again from Tyler. Must be from Tyler in Strathmore in Alberta, Canada. Please let Tony know that my local grocery store is selling ears of corn for 64 cents each and that's 64 Canadian, so around 45 cents for you. You can get a lot of corn for 30 bucks. I'll cook you up a couple of years for the Labor Day weekend, Tyler. Yeah, I mean the corn is just white corn. It's not like multicolored corn. It's not golden bantam or any. No, it's just plain old white corn. This is from Will Smith. There's a lot of Will Smith's out there in Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania. Purchased today, $4 per dozen. Yellow and white mixed sweet corn, homegrown, picked an hour ago by a married couple who grow locally. Bedford, Pennsylvania. Walmart parking lot. Wilbon can pick you up to a dozen Midway on his two hour car ride to Pittsburgh. My family of four has the following birthdays. 10, 4, 7, 11, 123 and 9, 9.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, that was very good.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Numbers from Brandon Borzelli in Lebanon, New Jersey are now running some Sort of racket akin to something from Goodfellas. You call for Matt Crook to be DFA in the morning. By afternoon he's been dfa. He's terrible. It's terrible. What day is the Lufthansa heist? I want to be sure to be at Idlewild Airport on time to get you the key. From Greg Lerner in Scarsdale, New York on Monday. She show you mentioned you had played poorly with your high school friends, but that you had a 43 on the back nine in your final round. I'd like to suggest a new addition to the TK lexicon, but first, a little background. A year or two ago, at the behest of Harvey Stenger, you reached out to a fellow Binghamton alum named Charlie Weissman. He wasn't home, but you recounted on the show your highly amusing exchange with his wife, who took your message having no idea who you were. Like you, Charlie is an avid golfer. A quite high beta golfer. I'm guessing that last weekend you might have shot what at our club we call a weisman. A Weisman being any nine hole score that is ten or more strokes higher than the other nine in the round. My guess is that you were good for at least one wiseman every few rounds. I'm offering you a shorthand way to describe your day at the links. Keith Mitchell got a lot of press for his Wiseman 4129 during the first round at the US Open. Yeah, 4129 is a very big difference. I had a 43 and I. It wasn't 10 or 12. I mean, before that I was around 50, 51, 52. I don't know that it was 10. John Erickson in San Diego, you read lyrics of your Sylvain and we got no mention of clowns in my coffee. Was it clouds in my coffee or clowns in my coffee or crowds in my coffee or grounds in my coffee? Nobody knows. From Alex Lau, New York City. Your reference to Kate Cavalli wilting on Wednesday show made me realize how much you refer to pictures as plants. If I didn't know I did that. If Strasbourg was the orchid, I guess that makes cavalier fiddle leaf, fig plant and the gnats bullpen, the colorless flowers that have been dead for five days. That the bodega down the street from me is still trying to sell ficus to Nick. From Cameron. Dear Dr. Captain Farmer Hofwaff, greetings from the 19933 of Bridgeville, Delaware, which I know. Chuck and Roxy, episode 220. As you may recall, I have the privilege of being the father to the young Mia Steel Cameron, who sang Reginald's theme song that Nigel now plays as at least once a year and you refer to as the Bill Grant version.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, you know, we've actually got that. You want to hear that real quick? Sure, yeah. Sean, do you have that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sure.

[H]

He's a monkey he sees he's scratching Watching his iPad Smoking and laughing Hanging with Gil Grit tap tap Pat Marsh purple attacher Nigel's going to the zoo, zoo, zoo Nigel cut the bites by two Sometimes he throws poo, poo, poo but he's had too much Johnny Walker Blue Fantastic.

[Michael Wilbon]

So great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The letter continues. We ventured across the day bridge to our nation's. Yeah, did. She shouldn't say Bud Grant.

[Michael Wilbon]

They says Bill Grant, Bill Grant.

[Tony Kornheiser]

At least she doesn't say Biff Grant. We ventured across the Bay Bridge to our nation's capital he went to zoo, zoo, zoo to meet Reginald. I attached pictures for News Channel 8 showing Mia her stuffed version of Reginald made by Roxy, the same one that you have minuses banana Sentos sent to her bite loyal little John Miller. She was so excited to take her Reginald to meet Reginald. As you can see in the pictures, when I asked her what her favorite part of the zoo was, she told me seeing the baby elephant was cool, but meeting Reginald with my Reginald was epic. An interesting, interesting side note. While we were there, we did see Reginald meeting with Christopher Nolan, Kerry Russell and Chris Solitz. Apparently, Reginald is in talks to star as Rhett Butler in a remake of Gone with the Wind opposite Carrie as Scarlett o'.

[Michael Wilbon]

Hara.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Soliza's banking the whole project. Thank you for an old orange man's podcast making my daughter's first trip to the National Zoo unforgettable. And there are lovely pictures. Very, very nice.

[Michael Wilbon]

That's great.

[Michael]

Oh, and I just heard back from Gary from my dad's chips. The event will be Saturday, August 1st at the Fresh Market in Rehoboth from 11 a to 2pm Try the Chicken salad and croissant deal while you're there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And one more from Jordan Chance in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, formerly of Lindenhurst, New York. Dear Dr. Tony, it's so thrilling every time we get to hear you describe your Eulet High School reunion weekend quote. This year Richie Pollard had to clean because he was new to the group. I'm picturing a house of fraternity brothers with their feet kicked up shouting, hey, pledge, you missed the spot while watching Richie scrub the floors. And not a group 78 year old, mostly retirees from Long Island. If you're out on your bike tonight, everyone, as always, do wear white, okay?

[Jason La Canfora]

We wound up 5 and 11. Not very good. But there were some worse than us. I guess that's one positive way to look at it. We weren't the worst team in the last lake.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, it is.

[H]

Running through my ear. I'm just jumping at the costco to find the biggest lawn chair I fly around, you stay at home I sit and wait for the days when I can tell each and stone I'm driving you're on my mind I wake up, you're the light that shines you you call me, I clear the room it's all here. I do it all for you. I can't let go. I can't let go. I can't let go. I can't let go. It's underwhelming waking up alone I'm taking pride I'm driving, you're on my mind. I wake up, you're the light that shines. You call me, I clear the room, it's all here. I do it all for you. I can't let go. I can't let go. I can't let go. You want me and I need you this space between going to come right through you want me, I need you. I'm going to see you soon. I can't let it go. I can't let go. I can't let it go. Yeah. I can't even get the soul I'm hanging on by a thread I'm getting all in my head it's everything that you said it all comes back to me. I hear the sound of your voice layered with noise I can only pick out the sound of you. I can only pick out the sound of you. I can only pick out the sound of you you you. I can only pick out the sound of you. I can only pick out the sound the sound, the sound. I remember the days when you wanted me and I was just a ghost stuck between those and the ones in my head were the worst out a struggle and just a craw you are an angel of grace. I should never have wasted the patience you gave to me. I always run from the good things cuz I've seen them in me they break apart so easily. I can only pick out the sound of you. I can't only pick out the sound of you you, you. I can only pick out the sound I can only pick out the sou. Sa.