“Pass the Hat”

Summary

Podcast Summary: “Pass the Hat”

The Tony Kornheiser Show – October 27, 2025

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Tony Kornheiser and his regular panel (including Chris, Jim, Nigel) unpack the rapid firing and high-stakes world of college football coaching, focusing on Brian Kelly's sudden exit from LSU. The show balances humor, sharp commentary, and the sadness of losing former NFL center Nick Mangold. The discussion moves fluidly into the latest NFL narratives, the evolving culture of booster involvement in college sports, and a detailed look at the World Series with baseball insider Buster Olney. Michael Wilbon joins the show to dissect college football’s volatile coaching landscape and the trends emerging in the NFL’s eighth week.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Remembering Nick Mangold (00:55–03:31)

• Tony remarks on the passing of former Jets center Nick Mangold at 41 from a rare genetic kidney disorder diagnosed in his rookie year, marveling at medical advancements but reminding listeners of medicine’s limits.
• Chris adds: “There is a sense now, I think a broad sense among people, that we can fix anything … so when something like this happens, you’re like, wait, what?” (03:06, Chris)
• Tony pivots to the evolving role of AI in medicine, noting both its promise and ethical concerns.

---

2. The Firing of Brian Kelly & College Coaching Carousel (04:16–14:13)

Tony reveals the main story: Brian Kelly fired from LSU, in the shadow of other notable high-dollar firings across college football.

• On buyout culture: Texas A&M paid Jimbo Fisher $79 million to walk; LSU owes Kelly a similarly massive sum.
  “Okay. So they're going to end up paying Brian Kelly ... 51 or 52 [million]. What? It doesn't matter. It's a lot of money.” (04:40, Tony)
• On Kelly’s motivations:
  Tony is critical—“He left [Notre Dame] for the most selfish reasons in the world … to enrich his own reputation by winning a national championship, which he didn’t win at Notre Dame.” (06:18, Tony).
• Panel humor:
  “Well, I won’t attack him, but I do not. I do not like him. He’s a hugely chest guy.” (07:17, Chris)
• Fan pressure & NIL era:
  The guys note booster impatience—fans chant “Fire Kelly” in the stadium; big donors are called on to contribute to buyouts. “I have a friend who knows about this and said... [they're asking] Can you put up a million? Because we want to get rid of this guy.” (10:28, Tony)

Notable Quotes

• “Would this have happened this year if all these other guys had not been fired? ...I think that created a circumstance that allowed you to think, let’s just fire him right now.” (08:03, Tony)
• “Because of NIL and the portal. Because everybody gets paid and you demand you win now.” (10:09, Tony)

Timestamps:

• 00:55–03:31 — Nick Mangold tribute and medical science advances
• 04:16–14:13 — Coaching firings, LSU & Brian Kelly, changing culture

---

3. Booster Culture & Unsustainable Buyouts (10:09–11:30)

• Rapid escalation in booster-driven coach buyouts, with donors acting more like investors seeking returns. “The directness of—you said we needed two million for this kid or this coach so that we could compete for the national championship. Where’s my return on investment? Like, I think it’s so direct now.” (11:05, Chris)

---

4. The NFL Week 8 & Shifting Trends (23:55–28:26)

With Michael Wilbon joining, focus swings to the NFL:

• Wilbon and Tony review teams sliding under the radar (e.g., Indianapolis), discuss coaching impact, and lament overly reactive sports discourse.
• Wilbon: “The discussion around all these teams in this sport ... too often reaches the level of stupid. Even though really smart people are sitting around the table, the discussion itself, it gets off the rails.” (25:35, Wilbon)

Quick Hits:

• Philadelphia Eagles: They beat the teams they’re supposed to beat, no extra credit.
• Indianapolis Colts: Emerging as a surprise with a 7-1 record—“If I was doing a power ranking, I would have Indianapolis one in mine.” (27:11, Tony)
• Cincinnati & the Jets: Wild, high-scoring games with defense losing out.

---

5. World Series Deep-Dive with Buster Olney (30:33–44:56)

Baseball brains collide as Buster Olney joins Tony for a comprehensive preview of World Series Game 3:

• Series deadlocked (1–1): Both Toronto and LA Dodgers “got what they wanted” from the first two games. (31:06–32:14, Buster)
• Pitching strategies & bullpen trust: Dodgers’ “circle of trust” for relievers is alarmingly small; they need length from starters.
• Toronto tactic: Work deep counts, get Dodgers starters out early to reach the weak bullpen.
• Yamamoto’s dominance: Not seen back-to-back postseason complete games since 2001.

  “24 years. Curt Schilling, 2001—Shohei Ohtani was 7 years old the last time we saw a starting pitcher throw back-to-back complete games in the postseason.” (35:56, Buster)

• Max Scherzer’s role: Can he still dominate the Dodgers' loaded lineup?
• Game 3 pivotal? Buster: “It might not be. ...Their vulnerabilities will still be there ... this could be a seven-game series and Game 3 is not pivotal.” (39:05, Buster)
• Clayton Kershaw question: Will sentiment put the struggling vet into a low-leverage spot?

  “He’s hoping that there’s a good moment, which, let’s face it, that means maybe they’re down 10-2 … or up 8-1.” (40:29, Buster)

• San Francisco Giants hire a college coach (Tony on risk): “There are no shortage of people you can call in baseball who will say to you, man, college coaches don’t work in pro ball. It is a separation of church and state.” (41:52, Buster)

Memorable Exchange

• Tony, on the Dodgers' cold-blooded approach:
  “It all comes down to can you help us win? And Clayton Kershaw understands that because he’s been part of that evolution.” (41:32, Buster)

---

6. Lighter Moments & Listener Mailbag (47:01–55:41)

• The show wraps with listener emails, ranging from trivia, parenting anecdotes, culinary adventures (fine dining in a grocery store), to tales from abroad.
• Musical interludes by the 502s, with humorous and warm commentary from Tony.
• Panel riffs on pop culture, Mick Jagger (father of eight!), and the show’s own long-running in-jokes.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Brian Kelly’s LSU Tenure:
  “Brian Kelly’s out there for Brian Kelly. Right? Is that fair?” (06:18, Tony)
• On Modern Coaching Turnover:
  “I don’t think they’d have fired him without this atmosphere, this churning atmosphere of firing coaches. … Because of NIL and the portal. Because everybody gets paid and you demand you win now.” (09:53–10:09, Tony)
• On the World Series:
  “You are just sitting there and looking the other way when the starting pitcher comes to the dugout because you need him to go another inning.” (33:48, Buster)
• On Baseball’s New Managerial Frontier:
  “There are no shortage of people you can call in baseball who will say to you, man, college coaches don’t work in pro ball. It is a separation of church and state.” (41:52, Buster)
• On Coaching Stakes at LSU:
  “LSU just to me is sort of comical. All of college football is sort of comical in the way that people act as if it’s their … birthright to win a national championship every couple of years.” (20:36, Wilbon)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 00:55–03:31 – Nick Mangold tribute, advances in medicine and AI
• 04:16–14:13 – Brian Kelly firing, college football’s firing frenzy, NIL, and boosters
• 23:55–28:26 – NFL Week 8 reactions with Michael Wilbon
• 30:33–44:56 – World Series breakdown with Buster Olney: pitching, bullpens, Game 3 expectations, Clayton Kershaw’s status, and Giants' coaching gamble
• 47:01–55:41 – Listener Mailbag and closing anecdotes

---

Tone & Style

Tony Kornheiser’s signature blend of wit, skepticism, and nostalgia pervades the show. The panel maintains a conversational, sometimes irreverent tone, freely admitting what they don’t like (or don’t know) and dropping in pop culture asides. The discussion is frank—with critiques of the business of sports and its disproportionate booster involvement—and compassionate when addressing mortality and legacies.

---

For those who missed the episode:
You’ll walk away with a sharp, comprehensive sense of why college football feels off-kilter, how big money is distorting the game, insider context on the World Series' chess match, and plenty of entertaining sidetracks—the classic Tony Kornheiser experience.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we will talk with Michael Wilbon about Brian Kelly getting fired by LSU and what we learned in Week 8 of the NFL. Buster only calls in to give his thoughts on the World Series as we get ready for game three tonight in la. But first, commerce. Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Buster Olney]

It was like the day I met Pitbull at the 2016 All Star Game in Miami. And he came up and a friend of mine, Adan Burke, pulled Pitbull away and said, you greatest fan is right over here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I met Pitbull. Thank God.

[Buster Olney]

He said, I understand you're my greatest fan. I'm so glad he didn't say what's your favorite song of mine? I didn't even know who he was. He gave me this complicated handshake. It was just awful. I didn't even know what to do.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Tony Kornizer show is on now. Tim Kirchen is a jewel. He's a jewel and every single time he comes on, something happens that makes us so happy. Chris is with us today.

[Chris]

Hello friends.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Thank you. Jim's here, Nigel is here. So I'm gonna, I'm going to dispense with the sad news first because I, I, I don't want to, I, I'll just get to it first. The death of Nick Mango.

[Jim]

Oh yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The seven time Pro Bowler. A guy who can make a case for the hall of Fame. Yes. Center for the Jets. Seven time Pro Bowler in 11 years dies at 41 of apparently what I'm reading is a rare genetic kidney circumstance. Okay. That was diagnosed in 2006. It is 2025. That's 19 years. That was his rookie year in the NFL. The I say this in all sincerity because I've just had occasion to sort of deal with this, not myself but to think about Stu, stuff like this. Medical advancements are astonishing. They are astonishing. That which when I was growing up was common procedure is so far gone. It is so much easier to do everything now. The ability to heal someone or attempt to heal someone is extraordinary and gets better every single day. Every single day. Yeah, like, you know, there's not, not a lot of improvement technologically in baseball. I love baseball, but it's sort of the same game. Operations are not the same game. Medical science, not the same game. Daily advances. And you know, this is, you know, just a terrible genetic hand that you're dealt that you would know this so many years ago and you would not be able to find a cure for him specifically.

[Chris]

And I Read. I did not know this, but I read in his obituary that he had gone public and had asked for a.

[Jim]

Donor, kidney donor, a couple of weeks ago. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You'd think that would be possible.

[Chris]

Right? But to your broader point, though, and I thought of this when my father was passed, was very ill, repeatedly. There is a sense now, I think a broad sense of, among people, that we can fix anything. Yes. Virtually anything. Maybe not pancreatic cancer, but virtually anything else. So when something like this happens, you're like, wait, what? Because there are limits to what we can do.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And that's true. But you look at it and you. You know, it. It's. It's jarring in its way. I played golf yesterday with a doctor, a friend of mine, and we were talking about. He was saying, what you can do now with AI Now, I'm not a big fan of AI because of the abuses of AI. Okay. But he says what you can do now is you have the ability to go into someone's body with AI and look for markers for certain things that you can then fix that you would not have seen without this, which is sort of incredible and remarkable. And I'll get off the Nick Mangold thing and get to what I think is the biggest story of the day. It's just me, that's. Brian Kelly gets canned.

[James Carville]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Brian Kelly gets canned at lsu. And he gets canned because. Because he didn't win. Not only didn't he win, you know, on Saturday, Texas A and M, which, by the way, canned a guy a couple of years ago, Jimbo Foster, to pay him off. 50 million.

[Chris]

Jimbo Fisher, $79 million. I only know because my entire extended family are Aggies. 79 million to go away.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. So they're going to end up paying Brian kelly. LSU is 51 or 52. What? It doesn't matter. It's a lot of money. Yeah, it's a lot of money. So Texas A and M with a guy that nobody had ever heard of when he was hired. Mike Elko from Duke. Yeah, you kidding me? Duke, they play football, right? So they go in to LSU in Death Valley and score about 40 points in the second half.

[Chris]

And did you watch the game?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I watched a lot of 35 straight.

[Chris]

Even in the first half? Even in the first half. It was very. LLSU was at 18, 14 at halftime.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Chris]

But it was very clear. Now I'm a homer because, again, my wife's family, but to me, there were a couple plays. Marcel Reed, the quarterback for A and M, throws an interception in the end zone. Then the A and M. An AM kid drops a clear interception on the goal line for lsu. Like it seemed, A and M was, I thought, demonstrably bad, better in the first half. So it was not. I don't think it was a surprising result.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So here is Brian Kelly. What a lot of what was said at the beginning of the year is he's in his fourth year. And in their fourth year, Nick Saban won a national championship at lsu, Les Miles won a national championship at lsu, and Ed Orgeron won a national championship at lsu.

[Michael Wilbon]

Go Tigers.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, so they expected Brian Kelly to. Because Brian Kelly got a lot more money than those guys in their first deal. Yeah, you know, and Brian Kelly, you know, kept saying, I'm here to win the national championship. This. This is the part that bothers me about Brian Kelly, who. I don't know. I. I mean, I know people who know him, and I'm not going to attack him here, but I will say things that I believe to be true. Brian Kelly coached at Notre Dame. You can win a national championship at Notre Dame because they've won national championships at Notre Dame. It's doable. And he left and basically said, I can't win a national championship at Notre Dame, but I can at lsu, and that's what I'm going to do. He left for the most selfish reasons in the world. He said, I want to win a national. He didn't go to LSU because there was something about LSU he liked. Come on. He went to LSU to enrich his own reputation. I'm not even talking about his wallet. Enrich his own reputation by winning a national championship, which he didn't win at Notre Dame. But don't tell me you can't win it at Notre Dame. Don't give me this academic stuff. We can't get people. Stop, Stop. Notre Dame can win, has won, will win again. A national championship. So Brian Kelly's out there for Brian Kelly. Right. Is that fair?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm not saying.

[Chris]

Well, I won't attack him, but I do not. I do not like him. He's a hugely chest guy.

[Jim]

Feels like an attack.

[Chris]

Yeah. Well, there you go.

[Nigel]

But you see that even over the last, you know, six or seven weeks, just the privilege of the fans and, you know, even when you get. Then the. The stadium chanting, fire Kelly.

[Tony Kornheiser]

When they lost. Yeah, when. When they lost that game on Saturday night, I said, I can't believe he'll last till Sunday morning.

[Chris]

I'm surprised it took 24 hours.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It was so evident they were going.

[Chris]

To Fire Stadium in the fourth quarter. I mean, there's nobody.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They, it was so obvious.

[Chris]

They might. They were.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The people who were there at the.

[Chris]

End were chanting, fire Kelly. He was visible, audible.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But. And my, my overall question is this, would this have happened this year if all of these other guys had not been fired? Because I think that created a circumstance that allowed you to think, let's just fire him right now. I mean, Oklahoma State, okay, UCLA fires a guy in the third week. Virginia Tech. These were teams that have competed for national championships in our lifetimes. They fired guys in the third week. Oklahoma State fired Mike Gundy, the greatest coach they had ever had, who 10 different times won 10 games. They fired him after three games. Then Florida fires a guy and Oregon State. There are so many Penn State was guys. Penn State, the big one was James Franklin. There are so many high level guys from high level schools being fired that I think LSU said, why not? I don't think they would have said it five years ago with somebody. They didn't fire Edwards around the middle of season, did they? I don't fire Les Miles in the middle of the season. They want.

[Jim]

Didn't Oswald go there?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chris]

I mean, Mike Gundy went to Oklahoma State, didn't he? Yeah, yeah.

[Jim]

I mean, and Brian Kelly, even though his accent sort of changed once he got down there, was not from there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And you're Boston. Yeah. And Ryan Kelly had no business being down there. On some level, it's the same. Who was the guy left Wisconsin, went down there to Arkansas, a Big Ten guy. And it didn't work.

[Chris]

That's right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It didn't work in two or three years. No, not.

[Chris]

It was, it was after Barry, a.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Big thick guy who's now back in the Big Ten at Illinois. Right. I mean, I think he's back in the Big Ten, but it doesn't work.

[Chris]

Bioma.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Oh, yeah, right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Big guy.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So it doesn't work. But I don't think they'd have fired him without this atmosphere, this churning atmosphere of firing coaches. And why? Because of nil in the portal. Because everybody gets paid and you demand you win now.

[Chris]

And I think, look, the 79 million that a and M's boosters paid out to, to, to Jimbo, the 49 million that the Penn State boosters paid out to James Franklin, I think that has an impact too because it's like, well, they paid out just as much money before, like our boosters can. We'll buy them out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I have a friend who knows about this and said, said to Me, yesterday. Guys I know are getting calls. Can you put up a million? Like LSU guys? Can you put up a million because we want to get rid of this guy? How much can you put up past that?

[Michael Wilbon]

Y.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Because they, They're. They're obligated. Yeah, they're obligated. Why are they making deals that give you such a buyout?

[Chris]

Well, but I, I mean, think about it.

[Jim]

That's gonna end, right? Like those big.

[Chris]

They have to regulate it.

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Let's say you're a Michigan donor and you've paid. What did Bryce Underwood get? 12 million to go there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

To go.

[Chris]

Okay, you've paid 12 million. So let's say you put 2 million into that. Now you're like, well, I just. Where's my $2 million investment? Why aren't we winning more? I mean, I think it's like this. Yes, of course, big rich people have given a major football programs forever. But the directness of you said we needed $2 million for this kid or this coach so that we could compete for the national championship. Where's my return on investment? Like, I think it's so direct now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's amazing.

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Nigel]

It's just when you think about that return on investment, you look at where they've been the last month and the cost of those losses and the public nature of them, and you look at what they have next week with the surging Alabama, you want to go. How can you try and turn that loss in of, you know, not just the loss in the record books, but the, the money owed, the buyout into a positive when you're trying to go up against the surging Alabama?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Brian Kelly is 64 years old. He's young enough to coach again, to have a nice run again. Yeah. Is he going to get a job? Someone want to hire Brian Kelly?

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Chris]

I bet he gets a job. Not in sec, Right. But I bet he gets a job. There's only. I feel like it's like, it's like ML. I feel like it's like Major League Baseball managers, they just recycle the same guys over and over again. You know what I mean? It's like the same.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Like Brian Kelly's record's wonder.

[Chris]

He was a great example.

[Buster Olney]

Right.

[Chris]

But he goes to Arkansas, he fails. Oh, now he's at Illinois, but he's a good coach.

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Nigel]

He does the different that levels. You don't have to sit on someone's bench as the offensive coordinator or something for a year before you get the next job.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just amazing.

[Nigel]

What's great is you If I. I type into the Google search bar like top and immediately starts to complete top candidates to replace.

[Chris]

Oh yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And. And he's not going to be the last one that gets fired at all. He's not going to be like, I'll bet you there are people at the University of Texas saying what are we doing with this guy Sarkeesian? Is he really. Is he worth it? I don't know that he's worth it. Arch Manning isn't as good as he said. So why don't we get this stuff happens.

[Buster Olney]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you see they fired Billy Napier after a win.

[Chris]

Did you see Sarkeesian's agent had to put a thing out yesterday about the NFL.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Chris]

Yes. Sarkeesian lashes out at report of his interest in NFL. They basically said like were not. It was Diana Rossini reported that representatives for Texas coach have let NFL decision makers know he would be interested in potential head coach openings, including the Titans. And then they put out a thing saying absolutely not. I always wonder how the leaking of that stuff go. Like, I mean it's all just for people who don't know. It's all strategically. I mean it's not. It's not like she just found this information out. But yeah, they're six and two.

[Jim]

But as you say, the team's having.

[Arsh Manning]

To pass the hat.

[Jim]

The boosters. I think the only the one I would smile the Most at is SMU because they would just have to make one call. Hey, can you pony up 50 million?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sure. Because they lost. They lost the other day. Smu. I was very surprised at that.

[Chris]

Fighting Chuck Todds.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They lost smu. Yeah. So anyway, I should tell golf stories, but we're out of time. I'll tell them when.

[Jim]

You played well though, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yesterday. No, I've never had a hole in one.

[James Carville]

Well, never.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There's only one person at this table's had a hole in one.

[Chris]

Well, sir, are you looking at me?

[Jim]

It's not me.

[Nigel]

Little cut pitching.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back with Michael Wilbon. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Arsh Manning]

What's going on? I'm Arsh Manning, Vori athlete and college quarterback. Whether I'm running, training, traveling or just unlining at home, I love doing it in my core shorts from Vuori. With a breathable boxer brief liner. They're quick to dry, super versatile and stand up to even my most intense training sessions. Plus they come in three inseams and a ton of colors. Ready to try a pair? Go to vuori.com arch and get 20% off at checkout. I think you're going to love them as much as I do. That's V-U-O-R-I.com arch and get 20% off your first order. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 and free returns. Have a great day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. These are the 502s. The note that we get from the 502s is that last summer you graciously played two songs that I submitted from the 502s. The bandmates were ecstatic, especially the bass player, Nick Melishenko, whose dad is a little they have a new album, Easy Street. They've given Permission to play two songs A 502s are a big beach folk band from Florida known affectionately as the Happiest Band on Earth. They described his first song, Night like this, as being a sun drenched, beer in hand, fully in the moment, and finally feeling like yourself kind of song. Captures the essence of pure relaxation, presence and personal joy. The core values of what their newest album, Easy street represents. The 502s play in Michael Wilbon who needs to hear this? This is from Father Aaron Waldeck in Kansas City, the official Catholic priest of this show. Growing up in Kansas City, one of the best things I got to do as a young baseball fanatic was visit the Negro League's Baseball Museum a handful of times, had the privilege of meeting the late great Buck o' Neill multiple times, and the Hattie signed for me. As a reminder of the honor, I had to meet one of the greatest baseball figures and ambassadors of all time and greatest men, period. I recently stumbled on assigned baseball I obtained as a child at a minor league game held here in KC where they honored Buck. Listening to Wilbourne over the years jogged my memory and I didn't realize I had a real treasure on my hand. Buck signed the ball at the game that night, but there were some other signatures, including one Fergie Jenkins. As a child I was unfamiliar with Mr. Ferguson Jenkins, but after years of hearing Wilbourne talk about his greatness, I just realized how lucky I was to have met him on the same night when I got to meet Mr. O' Neill once again. Tell Wilbourne to keep shouting about his heroes. It turns out they're real and the young baseball fan in me is grateful to him for such an honor. In retrospect, how do you feel about that? That's cool.

[Michael Wilbon]

That's great. That's great. I got and spend some time with Buck o' Neal several times, Tony, both in TV studios and then just socially after the tapings. And it was amazing. Amazing. And I'm talking about 30 years ago. And obviously I've gotten to. Not obviously, but Ferguson Jenkins goes to a lot of Cub things, including spring training games and about, I don't know, about eight years ago, maybe 10 years ago, when young Matthews said to me, dad, we've never had a pitcher as great as Jake Arrieta, have we?

[Tony Kornheiser]

What?

[Chris]

What?

[Michael Wilbon]

I said, come with me. Let's take a little walk to the outfield. Because I knew that Fergie was there. I'd seen him. And we go out and we just sit and talk to Ferguson Jenkins for 20 minutes. It's one of the great things I've ever done. And so you know, Tony, how I feel about Ferguson Jenkins and his wife and just, you know, having grown up, being able to go see him pitch against Bob Gibson, against Steve Carlton, against, you know, I mean, it was just, just a great thing. But Buck o'. Neill, Buck o' Neill is one of the important figures in the game ever. And he lived a. Just a long, productive, exemplary life. And good for him that he got to get. To get that from Buck o'. Neill.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's nice. So we will, we will explain at some point why your horse, you have a horse throat. But we will get to something else. And this is news judgment. If I were doing News judgment on SportsCenter, for example, if it was me with my particular background, even taking into account that the NFL is predominant, it's more important than everything else. Even taking that into account and understanding, you know, that Rogers against Green Bay has a certain sex appeal to it. Even with all that, I certainly wouldn't have put the Cowboys second like I just saw. But even with all that, I'd have put Brian Kelly fired number one. I would have. What about you?

[Michael Wilbon]

You know what, Tony? I thought about that last night when I started reading the details of the buyout and 50 plus million dollars and all of that. My first instinct was the same as yours. I would leave with Brian Kelly. But you know what tone you're looking for viewers. And you, you. I don't mean trolling viewers. I don't mean trying to get them. You have on Monday is going to be probably your biggest viewership day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

For SportsCenter. And so I would lead with the NFL. I might leave with a grab bag and Then Brian Kelly would be second. But I hear you. Not only do I not do I hear you is sitting in a room as it used to happen. I probably could be talked into it to leading with Brian Kelly, particularly if I had any way of spinning it forward, you know what I mean? So I wouldn't be opposed to leading with Brian Kelly, but I'd probably lead with the NFL.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So we'll start, we'll just start with college since we're there and there's a lot of things we can talk about with college. Indiana rolling up scores. Kurt Signetti, I don't know about this guy. Vanderbilt winning a game, getting into the top 10. Alabama closing late. Really big deal. A two point conversion. That really was really good with all that. I would go with, with Brian Kelly in this regard. A and M goes in. I mean, everybody tells you you've been there. Everybody tells you Death Valley on a Saturday night is the toughest place to win for any opposing team. Texas A and M comes in there, scores what they'd score in the second half. 30, like 30 on LSU. What do you make of the whole, like, let's talk about Brian Kelly. Now. That, that to me, that's failure. That's, you know, four years. That's failure.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, that's how it's defined there because people have won championships within that fourth season and that's how they define it and it's not going to change. So I get that. And they're going to fire. I mean they're going to, they have the same outrage that you have. Plus, because they're going to get rid of them. I. LSU just to me is sort of comical. All of college football is sort of comical in the way that people act as if it's their. Somehow it's their birthright to win a national championship every couple of years and they don't do it and they chase it and they wind up paying people tens of millions of dollars to buy them out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

So I don't know that LSU is going to go find a coach right now. Nick Saban's not walking through that door.

[Buster Olney]

Nope. He's not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Nope.

[Michael Wilbon]

So I don't know. I don't know what LSU thinks it's going to do to put itself back in that circle. And it'll be fun to watch. And where Brian Kelly will go, he'll go somewhere. Maybe he won't go to one of the Power 4 schools. Maybe he will because there are plenty of Power 4 schools who would be happy finishing 9 and 3 with an occasional 10 and 2. Now, they're not going to pay him as much. He's not going to have quite the glory that he would have at lsu. But I don't expect Brian Kelly to stop coaching unless he gets a wildly paying television job, which is possible.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I agree with that. I think he will certainly coach again. I'll ask you this. We. We talk about this a lot, and then I'll get off. College football. Kurt Signetti clearly had, you know, some sort of inferiority complex because he was coaching at jmu, which nobody, except for, you know, people who live in Richmond or Washington know about. And he comes in and he brings essentially D2 players with him, and they're really good, which makes you wonder about scouting, makes you wonder about coaching, makes you wonder about all of these scouting services, because these are D2 players, basically, and they're good. And then he rolls it up in conference. He did it to Illinois. He just did it on Saturday to ucla. Ucla. It may not feel like a conference team, but they're in the same conference at the moment. What are your thoughts on that?

[Michael Wilbon]

Good. Indiana is a great story. Indiana is the best story in our conference.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

And Signetti. The coaching matters in college football more than any other sport.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Agreed. Agreed.

[Michael Wilbon]

And so you can have a guy who, if he has got a certain amount of creativity and boldness and innovation, like Signetti and, and. And arrogance. I mean, he's an arrogant dude. Then you better. You better figure out a way to stop him. Now, he's not going to take over the conference because Ohio State is not, you know, going anywhere.

[Buster Olney]

But.

[Michael Wilbon]

And they're not playing this year, which is too bad. But they'll play, I guess, in the big. In the big.

[Tony Kornheiser]

In the conference final, right?

[Michael Wilbon]

Conference final, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

So, you know, I'm interested to see who can stop. Who can sort of put a stop to Signetti. Is there anybody that can come up with something this season? I don't think so. Looking at the games they have left, I don't think anybody can stop Signetti. And I think it's good. I think it's great for the conference.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So we have been. I mean, if you are a red zone watcher, as I am, you have been treated for the first seven weeks of the season to fabulous games, fabulous endings. Yesterday was sort of a dud, even through the Sunday night game, to me. But. But in terms of trends, three teams were impressive yesterday, and these are three teams that we looked at. We've looked at this year saying what's wrong with them? Buffalo, Baltimore and Philadelphia. Right. And they were impressive yesterday. Any thoughts about any of those teams?

[Michael Wilbon]

I mean, not that are overwhelming. They're going to force me to make declarations. I mean, yeah, they won. They won yesterday. I don't know what. I don't know that that means anything going forward for the Ravens, I mean, without Lamar Jackson, they came off a bye week. They treated it as a playoff game, which it was. The Bears had. Despite the screaming and hollering you'll hear on every football show, the Bears had no particular incentive. They just won four in a row. They're not going to. The Bears are good enough to be a six or seven in a row win team. They're just not that good. They'll go back to the drawing board. Maybe they'll beat Cincinnati and Minnesota the next two weeks. They'll win six or seven. But Philadelphia looked like, you know, against the Giants. They look like the Eagles team.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Because of. Because of Saquon Barkley. They look like they did what they know. Chris Rock says you don't get credit for doing what you're supposed to do. That's what Philly's supposed to do. No, no, no. No special credit for them. Who was the third team?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Buffalo. But they played Carolina, so, you know.

[Michael Wilbon]

Carolina was ab hundred. So Carolina's not terrible. They're not. And Carolina beat the daylights out of the Cowboys, who people in our network have in super bowl contention.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Unbelievable.

[Michael Wilbon]

So, you know. Well, but this is. That's my point. This is the discussion around all these teams in this sport, the discussion too often reaches the level of stupid. Even though really smart people are sitting around the table, the discussion itself, it gets off the rails and it's just.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Too dumb to consider there are two teams that. Well, there's three. I would add Seattle, but Seattle had a bye week last week, so there's. They're not in the news. But there are two teams that played yesterday where you look up and you go, hmm, hmm. New England and Indianapolis. Indianapolis is killing it. They're averaging over 30 a game. They got a guy that this dope in New York thought couldn't play at all. Daniel Jones, and he looks great. And New England. That's coaching. That's coaching. Right.

[Michael Wilbon]

We already knew he was a terrific coach. Got to an AFC championship game in Tennessee. But I don't want to go too far on New England. I mean, you know, they've had a light schedule.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right. They haven't beaten anybody. Great. Well, Buffalo, but nobody else.

[Michael Wilbon]

They look really good. Yeah, I don't. I don't find the need to declare anybody yet. Nobody's emerged. I'm not looking at any Montana Young, Rice, 49ers team.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, you don't think Indianapolis is. Is in the state of emerging?

[Michael Wilbon]

I do.

[Tony Kornheiser]

7 1.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's one thing it's not emerged. It's not emerged. Yeah, they look good. If I was doing a power ranking, I would have Indianapolis one in mind.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They got a great running back. Their quarterback has been. They're scoring so many points.

[Michael Wilbon]

They look great. They look great. I want to see just what happens once people get a handle on how it is they want to play them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

And that should be happening in the next week or two. We're just reaching the halfway point.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. No, you're right. You're right about that. You're right about that. The one game that stood out to me, just because it was fun to watch was Cincinnati and the Jets. Here's Cincinnati. It doesn't matter who the quarterback is. They can score 38 and lose. It's unbelievable, isn't it, son? Flacco was terrific. They scored 38, loss next week.

[Michael Wilbon]

I want that continue because the Bears are in Cincinnati next week. So I'd like to have that. Continue that trend one more time.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They. When. When Burrows healthy, they score 42 and lose.

[Michael Wilbon]

At some point, you're paying two receivers, you know, $100 million. So that ought to be the case.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's just. Yeah, but what about the other side of the ball? The Jets?

[Michael Wilbon]

They didn't want to pay. They didn't want to pay Trey Hendrickson until they.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, just.

[Michael Wilbon]

And they didn't want to pay. They were going to have a rookie hold out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

They were going to have a rookie hold out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. All right, I'll get you out of here in this, and I'll see you later. Thoughts on game three tonight in the World Series?

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, Tony, it's just a matter. I. I just like watching it. I, you know, I don't cover enough baseball anymore, and I don't watch enough out. I don't watch enough American League baseball. They have a real handle on sort of every American League team. Oh, I see. Out of a little bit during the year, I know more about the Dodgers playing the Cubs. Thank you. You know, starting out the season, actually playing the Cubs in Japan. So. Look, look, look, the Dodgers are a monster.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Michael Wilbon]

Go a long way to determine what's going to happen in the Series.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, we just lost you for a second. So we lost that Thought we did. You mentioned starting pitching. Is that what that was about? Yeah.

[Buster Olney]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

But they got. You can't let them get to the bullpen. The Dodgers are going to have to get no. 6 or 7 out of. Who's a glass out of that glass.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Now's got to go seven. No, you have to. You have to trade today for. For a reliever. Your relievers are so bad.

[Michael Wilbon]

They're so healthy. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right. I'll see you later. I'll see you later.

[Michael Wilbon]

All right, Tom.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Michael Wilbon, boys and girls, bad throat and all. We'll take a break. We'll talk much more about the World Series because we'll bring in Buster Olney. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show. Once again, These are the 502s. This is a song called Sweet Tooth, and it is a slightly buzzed on aperol spritz at 4pm track. These lyrics tie in. I don't know what that is. Tie into Easy Street. Through a flirty, feel good, almost daydreaming lens, they capture the carefree, head spinning rush of a moment that feels too good to be true. It's nice. Lovely writing. The band is on tour with dates in Houston on the 30th of this month. Thursday, Austin on Halloween night, and Dallas the next night. Which is what? Saturday night?

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Chris]

Austin's not a big. Not a big college town, not a big music scene.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Anyway, Michael, if people like the 502s want to send us their original music for us to play, how do they do it?

[Nigel]

Send us your music by emailing it to jingles@tony koenizershow.com and they play in.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Buster Olney, who can milk cows and he can make bagels and he can successfully grow vegetables. That's a difference from me. He can successfully grow vegetables and probably has been to more concerts than Kirkjun, probably because most live people have. All right, it's the World series. It's tied 1 1. I guess nobody should be surprised at that. I get. But what are your thoughts? What did the. Did the first two games tell you anything that was unexpected?

[Buster Olney]

You know, Tony, I can't remember a situation like this in a World Series where you go away from the first two games, the World World Series, feeling like for both teams, they got what they wanted. Yeah, of course you'd want to win both games. But if you are the Toronto Blue Jays, you have demonstrated that against this tremendous Dodgers rotation, you can dent the starter, you can get into their bullpen, you know, against Blake Snell 100 pitches in five plus innings. And then they got into the bullpen. And the vulnerability that we see in the Dodgers, that was manifested in game one. And then if in game two, if you're the Dodgers, you feel like, okay, Yoshinobu Yamamoto demonstrated that even against this Toronto lineup that's really good at fouling off pitches and put the ball in play, you can absolutely dominate. You know, in his last six innings in game two, just 59 pitches and going, you know, for, and wind up getting a complete game, I think both teams come west being like, okay, we can get this done.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I agree with all of that. I sat there on game one and I was involved in a small text chain at that moment. And after Snell, who by the way, looks like he hadn't slept in four years, like he has a newborn.

[Chris]

He has a newborn. Man, he looked rough.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wow. So after he like 31 or 32 pitches in the first inning, I'm just typing furiously. I said, he's not going six. They're going to have to go to the bullpen. This is not going to work out. And that's, that's that the explosion of runs, that's, I mean, you don't have to be a great baseball fan, you to understand that the task of Toronto is to get rid of the Dodgers starter. Right. That's their task 100%.

[Buster Olney]

And you know, we talked in the last two months of the regular season about how, man, the Dodgers bullpen is a problem. It's a real issue. And that has only been exacerbated by the fact that Alex Vestia is not their left hander. For the Dodgers is not pitching in this World Series. The circle of trust for Dave Roberts, the Dodgers manager, is too, it's too deep with Blake Trinen and Roki Sasaki. And Roki Sasaki's only been in that role for what, you know, four weeks as the Dodger closer. So we don't know how long that would last if he were to have a, you know, an ugly outing. So yeah, if you're Dave Roberts, you're not managing like we've seen so many folks manage in recent years, where you're going with a parade of relievers. You are just sitting there and looking the other way when the starting pitcher comes to the dugout because you need him to go another inning.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. And if you're the manager of Toronto, you are saying to every single hitter, stand up there and foul off as many balls as you can. We're, we're talking about a Pitch count here, because that's our reward later in the game, right?

[Buster Olney]

100%. Look, Alejandro Kirk in that first game, saw 17 pitches in his first two plate appearances, had eight foul balls. And I'm working on ESPN radio during the series and Eduardo Perez sitting in front of me. Every foul ball, he's looking back just shaking his head like, man, this is the worst case scenario for the Dodgers, for Dave Roberts to have the Blue Jays working counts like this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

To this point, Yamamoto went over 20 pitches in the first inning. And I thought, oh, my God, this is going to happen again. The way he got out of like six, seven, eight, nine, like 10 pitches. And how did he do that?

[Buster Olney]

Well, it's interesting because you do not see pitchers in this era very often try to intimidate opposing hitters by going high and inside. The turning point in that game may have been when George Springer came up for a second plate appearance and Yamamoto hit him.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He hit him. Yes, hit him.

[Buster Olney]

And he goes down in the dirt. And after that, it's almost as if that high inside fastball opened up the strike zone for Yamamoto and the rest of the game. You know, this Blue Jay team had been so great at extending at bats in Game 1, all of a sudden they're resolving at bats quickly and they're not getting to that splitter that he was throwing, which is, you know, one of the best pitches in baseball. It's as if Yamamoto told them, look, you can try to cover my off speed stuff on the outer half of the plate, but you might pay a price because I'm willing to throw inside in a way that we just don't see these days.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, and he ends up with his second straight complete game. And I guess, you know, you live in the moment and you don't have that sort of historical lens to look at, but it's been so long since people threw two complete, right? So long.

[Buster Olney]

24 years. Curtis Shilling, 2001, right. Shohei Ohtani was 7 years old the last time that we saw a starting pitcher throw back to back complete games in the postseason.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So. So the starting pitchers in game three, on a personal level, to me, are very intriguing because I love Max Scherzer. I mean, I love him. I don't know what he's got left. I mean, the, the outing that he had, I guess, in Game 4 for Toronto the last series, it was fine. I mean, he went five, whatever he went, he yelled at the manager. That was all fun, that was theatrical. But he gave up a few runs as well. And. And I Think people are missing the fact as everybody talks about what a great lineup Toronto has, The Dodgers are better hitters. They scored more runs in the regular season. What are, you know, what are your thoughts on Scherzer and going through this lineup, a lineup he knows very well, obviously.

[Buster Olney]

Yeah. And of course, it's a lineup that he faced back on August 8th. If you remember that we had that matchup of Clayton Kershaw and Max Scherzer. Two guys make a speech in Cooperstown. And in that game, Scherzer did, okay, six innings, two runs allowed. Mookie Betts did a home run off him. Ohtani got a couple hits off him. But generally speaking, Scherzer was really good. That feels like a million years ago. Because Scherzer had been battling injuries down the stretch. He pitched on September 24th. That playoff outing against the Mariners is the only time he's been on a major league mound since September 24th.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Buster Olney]

And what was remarkable about that game against the Mariners, and I covered it, was that in the postseason, of course, there's so much adrenaline for hitters and there's so much anxiety. And it manifests in the hitters, you know, attacking, swinging aggressively. And in that game, Matt Scherzer slowed it down to take advantage of that, you know, that instinct of the hitters to swing. He threw his curveball 10 times and through 10 strikes like he's throwing the ball in the low 70s while the Mariners hitters are looking for 150 miles an hour. And that worked for him well, I think against the Dodgers hitters who know him well, he's not going to be able to do that. And it's interesting, the top of the Dodger lineup, I mean, Tani Betts and Freeman are all future hall of Famers. They have struggled so far in this postseason. Generally, they have not done that well. It'll be really interesting to see in this game the adjustments they make against Scherzer, someone they know well. And on the flip side, Tyler Glasnow has been dominant.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, he has.

[Buster Olney]

Here pitching in Dodger Stadium. Great curveball. You would assume that, you know, he's going to, again, try to get the Blue Jays to swing at pitches out of the zone the way they did in Game two.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, we all, you know, we're sports writers and we are conditioned to saying this, that, oh, game three is going to be pivotal. But it might not be right. It might not be these teams. This might be two teams that, because their styles are so contrasting, that this could be a seven game series and game three is not pivotal. Right.

[Buster Olney]

100%. And because those vulnerabilities that we see will still be there. You know, Dave Roberts has got to try to get through these next three days, play it. The games three, four and five played on consecutive days with that really small circle of trust with his bullpen. And on the flip side, I think no one's thinking that the Blue Jays staff is this, you know, it's anything close to what the Dodgers is. We don't know if their bullpen is going to be effective. Louis Varland has been a guy that John Schneider has called on and I think all but one game in this postseason because again, circle of trust is very small. So I agree with you. Yes. You know, it's not as if, if the Dodgers win tonight, we think, okay, they're going to roll through because Dave Roberts is going to have to continue to manage around that bullpen core. And on the flip side, you know, Blue Jays aren't considered to be one of the best teams we've seen.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I agree. I agree with all of that. You know, it leads me to this. The last outing Clayton Kershaw had was terrible. But there's a sentimental streak to Dave Roberts that is obvious. Do you think we will see Kershaw at all in this series?

[Buster Olney]

I do. As Dave said yesterday when he was asked about this, he's hoping that there's a, you know, a good moment, which, let's face it, that means maybe they're down 10 to 2.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. Or up 8 to 1. Yep.

[Buster Olney]

You know, he. This has been an opportunity. If Clayton Kershaw was viewed as an effective pitcher at this time in his.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Career, he'd be in there.

[Buster Olney]

Let's face it, he would be in that circle of trust. Yeah, because they need him. But that hasn't been the case. And I say this, you know, I actually had this conversation with folks on the Dodgers staff at the beginning of this series when Dave Roberts took over. You know, there. There's that initial thing, especially for a young manager, where you got to try to please the player and you got to work with the players. Well, the Dodgers now become more cold blooded than any other team in the idea that, you know what? We're going to play the person who gives us the best chance. Managers will say that, but that's not always the case. I think part of the reason why Boba Shed is playing is because he's been one of the Blue Jays guys that core and he wants to play and they want him to play. On the flip side with The Dodgers. It all comes down to can you help us win? And Clayton Kershaw understands that because he's been part of that evolution.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, no, I get all that. I'll get you out of here on this. It's an entirely different subject. And I'm interested in your thoughts, because mine are, you know, I really think this is a dicey thing that the Giants have hired a college coach to be their manager. What are your thoughts on that?

[Buster Olney]

It's utterly fascinating because it feels like that it's going to go really, really well, really bad or really, really bad. And Buster Posey, you know, in. In his second year as head of baseball operation for the Giants. This is a big chance to take. And there were. You can. It is. There are no shortage of people you can call in baseball who will say to you, man, college coaches don't work in pro ball. It is a separation of church and state. You just don't see teams hire that guy. They feel like they don't connect much. In the same way that when Bill Belichick was hired to be the head football coach at unc, there were so many people said, yeah, that ain't gonna work. You can find those opinions in baseball. The one thing I would say is, and I don't know Tony, but what you hear from people who do know him, like Max Scherzer, the. Yeah. And they are best friends. And he's like, he's going to be great. You hear that? Tony's really smart. He's excellent at motivating, and who knows, maybe that style, now that we're starting to see players get younger and younger and younger and guys who are drafted one year play in the big leagues the next year, maybe there's a better chance of that working than ever before. And the Giants are at the front edge of a wave.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I hope it works. I would say this. You know, there's. Every clubhouse has a few Manny Machados, and they look at this kind of thing and they go, are you kidding me with this? Right?

[Buster Olney]

100%.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I don't know if.

[Buster Olney]

Exactly. Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There are some Giant. Got to be some Giants who are exactly like that.

[Buster Olney]

And yet it comes down to power dynamic. It comes down like you're a college. You know, you're a college coach. And maybe it's not as. This is not as pronounced as it used to be, but if you're a college coach, everything runs through you, Right? In professional sports, it's the opposite. Every. Everything runs through the star of the team, who typically is the highest paid guy in the team.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good luck. With Rafael Devers on the San Francisco Giants. Good luck. I mean, I'd love it to work. I would love it to work. It sometimes it's been tried in football, it's been tried in basketball, and sometimes it works. It's never been tried here in baseball. It's never been tried.

[Buster Olney]

Right, right. That's 100% right. You know, we've seen Pat Murphy go for coaching in college, but he went through the Padres farm system and worked with a, you know, worked as a special assistant in the front office and then as a coach. I mean, there was a long ramp.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sky's never been in a dugout. It's never been in the dugout for one game. Right? Not one game.

[Buster Olney]

And so now you have a situation where this person's making a transition from being a head coach of a successful college program with a really distinct reputation. The way that he does things going into a group of professionals. It'll be fascinating to see how they perceive.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Great story. It's a great story. All right. Enjoy the rest of the World Series. Thank you for being on. We will. We will beg for you to come back at some point. Thanks, Buster.

[Buster Olney]

Thanks, guys.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Buster. Only boys and girls. We'll take a break. We will come back with email and jingle. I am Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. It's a lovely mailbag themed by James Bogg. We're appreciative of that. Thank you very, very much. Want to do the Bethesda bagel ad?

[Jim]

Bagel sandwiches today? Very excited. Well, maybe not everyone gets one, but that's me.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Clapping, excited.

[Jim]

Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop one in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say. No reason to get excited. The thief, he kindly spoke. There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke but you and I, we've been through that and this is not our fate so let us stop talking falsely now the hour's getting late. It's Michael, Philip Jagger and a bunch of friends. Pretty good.

[Jim]

No, that's.

[Chris]

That's Robert Dillon.

[Jim]

Yeah. Robert Zimmerman.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm sorry. And then.

[Jim]

And then covered Jimi Hendrix.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Jim]

Jimmy Sicken.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's covered by Jimi Hendrix.

[James Carville]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. Not covered by the Stone. Yes, I. An example of dementia.

[Nigel]

Gabriel moment.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is what I'm. Yeah.

[Nigel]

Dylan.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Gabriel.

[James Carville]

Tone.

[Chris]

You may know this. My wife told me this last night about Sir Michael Jagger is that he has eight children from five different women. Did you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Are you aware of that? I was not aware of that.

[Chris]

I mean, I can't say I'm like super surprised.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I was not aware of that. Yeah, I was not. I was not. Thanks to our guest today, Michael, Wilbon and Buster. Only thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and Odyssey. Get the show through Apple. Please leave us a review. I got that wrong.

[Jim]

That's a rare.

[Nigel]

This is one for Chris you all day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[James Carville]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is one from our friend Harry Hawkins. Oh, who says, Dear Dr. Tony was at a wedding in the area this weekend that was hosted at both Columbia and that other club down Connecticut Avenue. How's that work for World Peace? Stopped by Bethesda Bagels on Saturday morning. We love them. Perhaps you will as well. Anyway, on the whole Monday, I was listening to the show sitting on the tarmac at National Airport after a two hour delay. When you read the email about Dawson Leary's house being put up for sale, I rewound and eagerly explained to the woman to whom I will soon be related by marriage that she had to listen to the email. After the initial confusion when she heard the news that the home of the title character in one of our favorite shows was now for sale, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. She turned to me and said, oh, now I get it. Now she finally understands why I listen like a degenerate, proving once again that the connective tissue of this program knows no bounds. That's your show too.

[Chris]

It's only 3.25 million. The house.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's a real house?

[Chris]

Yes, in Wilmington, North Carolina.

[Jim]

Can't believe you haven't bought it yet.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And.

[Chris]

And you don't know that I haven't.

[James Carville]

So.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So that was the house in the show.

[Chris]

It was the house. Dawson, James Vanderbeek is very ill. Oh, yes, but James Vanderbeek. Yes, and his. It's his. It's. It's a high school drama that revolves around a love triangle between Dawson, who's like the nerdy writer type. I didn't see any. I didn't see any connection myself in it. This guy named Pacey, played by Josh Jackson, who's had probably the most successful career post, and then Katie Holmes plays Joey, who is their mutual love interest.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Michael, did you watch that show?

[Nigel]

I was a little bit ahead of my.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Too little? Yeah.

[Chris]

Too little for that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[James Carville]

He was too young.

[Nigel]

Okay, so would this be 20 years ago? Like how the kids are watching the Summer I Turn.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, Summer I turned pretty.

[Chris]

Yes, 100%.

[Nigel]

Which you're also watching.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Peter O' Brien in Clonmel in County Tipperary in Ireland. Just a quick note to thank you for the podcast. This is in Ireland this time of year with heavy emphasis on football and baseball. Definitely my favorite. Looking forward to a rant from Jason checking for obscure college results on Sunday morning. Suddenly out of nowhere, remembering old names from the past, from Reginald's vast network of acquaintances and erudite baseball conversations with your fine group of experts. Also wanted to add Wednesday's musical content was wonderful. The little girl singing Reginald's intro, a new dance song, and to top it off, the Slappy boys. Thanks for being one of those things I look forward to every week. Isn't that nice? Danny in Noma. N O M A Where is Noma?

[Chris]

North of Massachusetts Avenue.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, so that's here in D.C. that's here in DC.

[Buster Olney]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Dear Dr. Grandpa, since the new game is naming all time great single came game performances, let me direct your attention to the professional debut of one Ebby Calvin Nuke Lelouch. 18 strikeouts, a league record. 18 walks, also a league record. In addition, he hit the sportswriter, the public address announcer and the bull mascot twice. All league records of their own. Not too shabby even for the Carolina League. Shohei ain't got nothing on Can I.

[Chris]

Can I tell a quick bad parenting story related to pitching? My son who's 13 was on the bump bump in the final inning yesterday.

[Nigel]

Nothing but curves, two outs.

[Chris]

He strikes both kids first, two kids out. He then proceeds to walk. Three hit a kid walk, another kid pulled. I went and sat in the car.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, yeah. Mark Spina. Fisher's Indiana. Not Fisher's Island, Fisher's Indiana. Lechesaree Grandpa Hofwaff. Captain Ron if the new game is a great two way baseball game, I have two words for you tonight. Tony Cloninger. Yes, I am aware of this. Grand Slams. On July 3, 1965 against the Giants in Candlestick Park, Tony pitched a complete game. He gave up 7 hits, 3 runs and 5 K's in a 173 win. He went 3 for 5 at the plate with 2 grand slams and 9 RBI. Not too bad. As a trivial aside, one of the runs he gave up came on a dinger from opposing pitcher Ray Sadecki. The game was 141 at the time, so Tony was cruising. And then there's this time of game 242. That was baseball. 17 to 3, 242amazing from Ken Lettsler one best one day performance in sports on November 13, 1943 Sammy boy threw four touchdown passes. Its Redskins defeated the Detroit Lions. Nice. Not earth shaking, but Sammy also played safety, intercepted four passes, recovered a fumble and punted long kicks. One went for 81 yards, others were for 66 and 54 yards. He was on the field all but 1 minute and 35 seconds. That's. You got to put that up there. Passes Mark Corriere in Ellicott City, Maryland. James Carville doing a Jerry Jones accent was pure podcast gold. More of that please. Joe Defoe, St. Simon's island in Georgia. Dr. Tony has ever loved the show as LSU graduate from 60 years ago, class of 65 burst out laughing when James quoted the classic cheer already popular back then. Rah rah re. Kick him in the knee. Rah rah ras. Kick him in the other knee.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, I know that one.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You and Michael need to come further south sometimes to our great golf courses.

[Nigel]

Yeah. Get some Southern soul.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that would be nice. Zach England in Las Vegas Let Tim Kirchen know I've got two tickets to the Eagles at the Sphere in Las Vegas on February 28th. He can have one of them when he turns me down. Let Nigel and Michael know if they can get to Vegas. We'll go. Andy from Apopka, Florida. Somebody let Kirchen know that Yellow Card has a new album out and is currently touring. I never heard I know what a yellow card is, but I didn't know that there was familiar with a group Yellow Card Tony Beeson this upcoming Thursday, October 30th will mark my 61st successful circumnavigation of the sun. As such, I've made a rather unusual and hopefully fun birthday request from the woman to whom I'm related by marriage. I have planned to have a formal sit down fine dining experience at my local grocery store. Unlike the descriptions I've enjoyed over the years of the refugee Safeway, my local Dorothy Lane market is always well stocked and the customer service is second to none. The store managers have agreed and frankly laugh delightedly at my request and have wholeheartedly given their approval and support. At roughly 5:30 on the evening of the night of the 30th, which is Thursday. Yes, yes. I will appear in my finest suit accompanied by my long suffering wife who has already started her perpetual eye roll at my latest extravagant notion. We will choose from a variety of steaks in the incredible meat department. See attached photo and it shows. Wow, that's a long Row of meat. Store employee has agreed to grill whatever our selection is in front of our eyes. We will then proceed to a table with our finest china candle and formal flatware given to us by our parents on our wedding day that is almost never used. My question to you, good sir. What is your recommendation for a wine pairing with an A5 Waigu ribeye five.

[James Carville]

Wow.

[Nigel]

What would you say you're probably gonna go with the. Yeah, you could go with a nice cab Sav.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Arsh Manning]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Something like a thick bodied.

[Nigel]

Yeah, you want something that will stand.

[Chris]

Up to that Bartles and James.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Something like that Vanilla Ryan Grove in Falling Waters, West Virginia. Walmart doesn't sell Neccos individually. What are we even doing here, people? Yeah, it's a big box in Nekos.

[Nigel]

I want to know more about these steaks. This could be you. Hundreds of dollars.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right. But worth. It's his birthday. Come on, he's paying for it. Bobby Godfrey, Greetings from the Galapagos Islands.

[Buster Olney]

Wow. Sure.

[Tony Kornheiser]

As we sail around on the beautiful National Geographic Gemini, I was hoping to hear Carville bet on Isabella Island U or Espanola State. Without his guidance, I really have no idea how to play these islands. Maybe one of these tortoises, boobies, penguins or iguanas knows Reginald can help me out. I'll have to ask. I should note that I've learned from the Ancient Mariner and did leave the albatross as we saw alone. Although I will share photos of them below. This is fabulous.

[Jim]

Is that right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's fabulous. Stuff from Bobby, a haiku from Shad for dog parks, yoga pants, dog park, texting guy treats lady, all at the dog park. And he has pictures of his own dog, I assume. And Tim Creek, Fort Collins, Colorado. Please let me preemptively state that Steelers jerseys this week might be worse than history league. They were awful last night. They were hideous.

[Chris]

The gold with the tan.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They were hideous. They were hideous. I'd rather see them in oversized medical scrubs. I'd rather they let 5 year old kids finger paint on blank white T shirts and add numbers made out of duct tape. The NFL should be ashamed. Yet they were just.

[Nigel]

I think they got the inspiration from Jason's betting show and his terrible.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I gave Matt Williamson. Matt Williamson was said to like hoodies.

[James Carville]

Oh, okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I said, Matt, take. Take this hoodie. Never let me see it again.

[Nigel]

Required to wear it every day of the office.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Take this hoodie. You know, so he's. He's got.

[Nigel]

It's good on you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jason's. Jason Was thrilled, though. Yes. It's great placement.

[Jim]

Product placement.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right, we will take a break.

[Jim]

No, that's it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's it. That's the whole show. That's the whole show for us. Another dimension moment for me. Can I tie my shoes? Should I take my golf club? Oftentimes, if you're out on your bike, T, everyone is always to wear white. Let's try this.

[James Carville]

Your line, just say it as I say it. Say your line exactly as I'm about to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, sure. Would that it were so simple. Would that it were so simple.

[James Carville]

It's a lazy kind of day Sit by the pool, soak in the rays and if you need me just go away Unplugging my phone Deadlock my door and I'm gonna spend the next 24 slowing it down Soaking it in and wasting away Just like the bubbles in my beer all my worries have disappeared and the longer that I sit here the better I feel? Been eating a night like this? Feeling good as a feeling gets A night like this Been admitted since I've been my best Just like the bubbles in my beer all my my worries have disappeared and the longer that I sit here the better I feel? Been needing a night like this I've been needing a night like this Let the world fade away all the craziness can wait. Cause I. I'm on my way to a very, very important day. Just me and you A beautiful view and a dinner for two. All that I need is your company to be at peace. I've been needing a night like this Feeling good is a feeling Is a night like this Been a minute since I've been my best? But just like the bubbles in my beer all my worries have disappeared and the longer that I sit here, the better I feel? Been needing a night like this I've been needing a night like this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Here we go.

[James Carville]

At the end of the week when the glass looks half empty A little son and a good woman Are really all I need to fill it up for me I been needing a night like this Feeling good as a feeling A night like this Been a minute since I've been my best and just like the bubbles in my beer all my worries have disappeared and the longer that I sit here the better I feel Been needing a night like this I've been needing a night like this I've been needing a night like this I've been needing a night just like this. Take us home.

[Michael Wilbon]

Sam.

[James Carville]

She smells like dandelions on a Sunday afternoon. Just the essence of her presence is enough. To make me swoon and when she takes a sip with those ruby red lips I wish I was the strong inside her apple sp she so fine I give contact high Every single time she strolls by oh hey hey oh my Wasting no more time I don't even know her name But I don't waste her love I crave her looks laced with sugar cane I've got a sweet tooth for the girl she looks the way I look when I'm in my Sunday best Except she looks that good the second she wakes up and takes a breath if she was chocolate cake there was served a meat first I'd ask for seconds Then I'd eat the whole damn thing she so fine I get her contact every single time she strokes by oh my mind waste no more time if I'm the jungle she's the king if I'm asleep then she's the dream if I'm the drama she's the beat she's the air I hope to breathe I hope that all the slumbery while Underneath the mango trees Our tongue skin do the tango as we bring the life of fantasy I followed her all afternoon since I saw her across the room I don't even know her name But I know it's her love I crave her looks so it's with sugar cane in any way you slice the KK I know it's her love I crave for God I've got a sweet tooth for her she so fine I get a contact every single time she strolls by oh hey hey on my mind Ain't wasting no more time she so fine I get a contact h Every single time she st my I don't even know her name But I know it's her love I crave her looks amazed with sugar cane I've got a sweet tooth for the girl.