“Prepared for a siege”

Summary

The Tony Kornheiser Show

Episode: "Prepared for a siege"

Date: November 5, 2025
Host: Tony Kornheiser
Guests: Michael Wilbon, Chuck Todd, Larry Keith, (with “Reginald the Monkey” football picks)

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Overview

This episode captures quintessential Tony Kornheiser: a mix of sports banter, personal storytelling, and a deep dive into the nostalgia of great sports journalism. The featured interview is with Larry Keith, longtime Sports Illustrated editor, about his memoir chronicling the golden era of the magazine. Regular guest Chuck Todd joins for NFL picks, interspersed with trademark banter, while recurring comic relief comes from Reginald the Monkey. The episode opens with a comedic story about Tony's water outage, swings into NFL talk, analyzes the cultural impact of Sports Illustrated, and closes with nostalgic listener mail and trademark musical signoffs.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Tony's Water Outage Saga

• [10:00] Tony recounts his home losing water, prompting panic and late-night faucet checks.
  • “This kept me up all night because I was afraid she had opened up every faucet, and if the water came back on, there'd be this explosion of water. And it cost $10,000 on the next bill.” — Tony ([10:29])
• Advice from neighbors, Michael, and a call to 911 unfolds, peppered with Tony’s neurotic humor.
• “So I was prepared for a siege. Okay, I was prepared for siege.” — Tony ([12:33])
• Resolution comes at 5:15 a.m. when water returns, but Tony’s bemusement remains.
• Light banter about the temporary logistics and aftermath (e.g., sediment in pipes, running appliances, neighborhood repairs).

2. The Value and Nostalgia of Fall Golf

• [06:00] Extended back-and-forth between Tony and Michael about recent rounds at D.C.-area courses, with vivid autumnal imagery.
  • “I played three of the most beautiful courses in this area in Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area... This is the best time. It's the best looking fall golf.” — Tony ([07:19])
• Reflections on playing styles, club selection, and the peacefulness of the season.

3. Sports Roundtable: NFL, Ratings, and Sports Media

• Tony and guests discuss NFL overtime games and a listener correction about Pete Carroll’s decision (continuing Tony’s “memory failing” bit).
• Conversation on U.S. sports ratings: World Series Game 7 outdrew NBA Finals Game 7 by 33%, surprising the panel.
  • “Baseball crushed the NBA. Yeah, crushed it. Which I wouldn't have ever thought.” — Tony ([08:58])
• Global viewership and the nature of fandom (Japan, Latin America, Europe) are debated.

4. NFL Picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald the Monkey

[23:40] onward

Chuck Todd’s Picks

• Dissects last week’s losses and provides new picks with analytical banter.
  • “You gotta assume they [Colts] bounce back here, so. I’d rather be at the Colts than the South.” — Chuck ([27:19])
• Addresses home vs. road favorites, the nature of team resilience, and coaching decision-making.
  • “You play to win the game. Hello. You play to win the game.” — Tony ([26:04], quoting Herm Edwards)
• Tony keeps count of Chuck’s faith in road favorites, ribbing him throughout.

Comic Relief: Reginald the Monkey

• Chuck visits the “zoo” for Reginald’s picks, delivering absurd jokes and anecdotes (Reginald running for a non-existent “Ward 10” D.C. council seat, with Rita Moreno’s endorsement).
  • “There wasn’t any voting in D.C. and there is no Ward 10. So this wasted all the celebrity endorsements…” — Chuck ([38:12])
• Reginald’s picks are delivered through elaborate stories about old photographs and famous personalities, blending sports and parody.

5. Feature Interview: Larry Keith on Sports Illustrated and Sportswriting

[41:37] onward

Early Career and Joining SI

• Keith narrates his journey from a local North Carolina paper to national recognition and joining SI.
  • “I applied at Sports Illustrated when I was still at Carolina… three days later I was hired.” — Larry Keith ([44:29])

Editing Legends and Magazine Operations

• On editing giants like Frank Deford and Dan Jenkins:
  • “Frank was not one of those who liked or needed to be edited.” — Larry Keith ([47:15])
• Explanation of the “horses for courses” SI culture — matching writer strengths to assignments.
• The anticipation of the Sports Illustrated cover: the most important decision each week.
  • “...that would be a cover story for us and we’d put the three of you on the cover.” — Larry ([48:53])
• Behind the scenes of famous stories, including the George Plimpton/Sid Finch April Fool’s hoax and breaking investigative pieces.

The Decline of Print Journalism

• Tony and Larry reflect on the demise of the print magazine, missed opportunities (ESPN purchase), and the end of a “dream job” era.
  • “His children, my grandson, will never understand what I did for a living. They’ll never understand the lure of being a sports writer. They'll never know what print is...” — Tony ([54:40])
• Larry on the limited future for sportswriters, loss of physical media, and shifting reader habits.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On SI’s Glory Days:
  “Sports Illustrated was ... the most important thing that anyone could read about sports. More important than your local newspaper. More important than anything on television or radio anywhere.” — Tony Kornheiser [41:37]

• On Editing the Greats:
  “Frank [Deford] was not one of those who liked or needed to be edited.” — Larry Keith [47:15]

• On Modern Sports Journalism:
  “What will become of sports writers? ... The sports writer with a press card stuck in his cap and gnawing on a stogie. Those days are gone.” — Larry Keith [55:47]

• On SI’s Missed Opportunity:
  “At one time we were offered the opportunity to buy—are you ready for this? ESPN.” — Larry Keith [53:11]

• On Tony’s Water Crisis:
  “I went to the Safeway. I picked up two jugs of water. Why am I doing that? To give the dog water and also to flush toilets.” — Tony ([11:49])

• On SI Covers:
  “I wrote 19 cover stories and some of those cover stories were because of the event—the Final Four cover, the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird cover...” — Larry Keith ([48:00])

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [04:50] – Correction on NFL overtime game/Pete Carroll memory confusion
• [06:41] – Golf tales and autumn leaves
• [08:35] – College football playoff/NBA/World Series ratings chat
• [10:00–16:00] – Tony’s water outage saga
• [23:40] – Chuck Todd’s NFL picks segment starts
• [37:12] – Reginald the Monkey’s NFL picks
• [41:37] – Larry Keith interview begins (SI legacy and memoir)
• [48:00] – Inside SI covers and famous stories
• [54:40] – End of the print sportswriter era
• [57:07] – Listener mail highlights and running show inside jokes

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Memorable Moments

• Tony’s unique approach to household crises: neurotic, methodical, always ready for a siege.
• Nostalgic, heartfelt discussion of SI’s impact and lament for vanished careers in print.
• Reginald the Monkey’s “D.C. political campaign” and celebrity backers.
• Chuck Todd and Tony’s ongoing bit about road favorites in NFL picks.
• Mailbag stories with personal connections across generations and listeners discussing Halloween “potato” handouts.

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Tone Summary

The episode is a blend of nostalgia, self-deprecating humor, and fond reflection—classic Kornheiser. The banter oscillates between irreverent (water troubles, monkey picks), analytical (sports ratings and NFL debates), and poignant (the fading era of print journalism). The show feels like a conversation among old friends, deeply informed and rich in both sports knowledge and life experience.

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For new listeners, this episode is a perfect showcase of Tony Kornheiser’s wit, warmth, sports expertise, and the unique mix of humor and heart that has defined the show for decades.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll get football picks from Chuck Todd and Reginald the Monkey. We'll also talk to Larry Keith about his memoir of his time working for Sports Illustrated, the greatest sports magazine of all time. But first, let's do some commerce, boys and girls.

[Michael Wilbon]

Mint is still $15 a month for premium wireless, and if you haven't made the switch yet, here are 15 reasons why you should.

[Tony Kornheiser]

1.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's $15 a month. 2, seriously, it's $15 a month.

[Chuck Todd]

3.

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No big contracts.

[Tony Kornheiser]

4.

[Michael Wilbon]

I use it.

[FanDuel Announcer]

5.

[Michael Wilbon]

My mom uses it.

[Larry Keith]

Are you.

[Michael Wilbon]

Are you playing me off? That's what happening, right? Okay, give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront.

[FanDuel Announcer]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

15 per month equivalent required.

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New customer offer first 3 months only.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com previously on the Tony Kornhauser show and a Gold Star Harmonica.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes, I did not know you had it in you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't. I've never played the harmonica. I cannot play the harmonica. I was always jealous of people who could play the harmonica, and I probably just bought one or took one from a friend and stuck it in the cape. And I've never.

[Chuck Todd]

Just in case.

[Tony Kornheiser]

In case. In case something happens and somebody needs someone to play the harmonica, I could give it a shot. This is General George Washington, and you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. And so the rest of the story from Norwegian Soft Kitten. Finally, the case of the missing Gold Star harmonica is solved. As you may or may not remember, when you played bass for us on our winter tour of 91 and 92, you brought your cape along for the tour because you like to wear it from time to time on stage because it gave you an enigmatic, almost mystical vibe that was utterly fabulous. On the day we were heading out to start the tour, Glenn's grandfather approached to say goodbye and wish us well. And then Glenn's grandfather presented Glenn with the grandfather's Gold Star harmonica, saying, this old boy has kept me company thousands of time over the years. Maybe it'll keep you boys company as well. Tears welled up in Glenn's eyes over this touching gesture. The harmonica did keep us company through the long hours in the tour van, and by the time we were three weeks into the tour, Glenn got it into his head that he was a good harmonica player and the band needed to utilize this newfound skill of his. Glenn's suggestion was that the harmonica would work well as part of our 10 minute ballad, Copper harbor, that's about a Civil War veteran who suffers from ptsd. Neither you nor Alan cared for this idea because we never played Copper harbor live, because it's pretty depressing song and not well suited for a raucous concert. Imagine the angst you and Allen felt when nearly two hours into our show at Slippery Rock University, Glenn suddenly began to strum the chords to Copper harbor that night. We've been totally rocking it out up to that point, but Copper harbor dropped a pall over the crowd within five minutes of the commencing of the song. Fans started streaming out of the auditorium. And that's when the concert took a turn for the worst as Glenn then broke into a four minute harmonica solo that turned Copper harbor from a ballad to a dirge. By the time the harmonica solo concluded, the venue was nearly empty. While you were perturbed with this turn of events, Allen was furious. Heated words were exchanged on the van back to the hotel in tension filled our hotel room that night. The next morning, as we were packing up, Glenn couldn't find the harmonica and Glenn accused Allen of pilfering it. Alan stridently denied any knowledge of what had happened to the harmonica. That's when you, Tony, said, Alan, you're not going to let that chump accuse you like that, are you? The fire had been stoked. You need to apologize to me, Alan hissed at Glenn before Glenn could reply. You, Tony, said Glenn, you should punch Allen right in the throat for taking that tone of voice with you. It was on, and for the next five minutes Glenn and Alan fought, throwing roundhouses, tackling each other, breaking a chair and a lamp and creating mayhem. All the while you, Tony, kept shouting out things like rip that clodhopper's lungs out and sock that clown in the gut and other phrases to goad us on. Eventually, Glenn and Alan tired. The fight ended. We tidied up the room, packed up our things. With a grin on your lips and a flourish of your cape, which you were wearing that day, you announced, ken State, here we come. You can keep the harmonica, Tony. Glenn is dreadful at playing it. It's so brilliant. It's just so brilliant. Glenn and Alan Nor Regent Soft kit. Yes, it's just love it. It's too brilliant for work. Yes, thank you, Glenn. We got some mail about the Raiders Jaguars game, which I said that Pete Carroll went for two to win the game and maybe I said he went for two to win the game and I implied it was in regulation. It was in overtime those 16 seconds left in overtime.

[Chuck Todd]

Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He Went in overtime. And, and I think what I said was, what's the difference between being 2 and 6 and 2, 5 and 1.

[Chuck Todd]

Exactly.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I agreed with the notion that he would go.

[Michael Wilbon]

Way to stay strong.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, well, okay. I'm doing my best on this, but I, I didn't, I thought I would have said overtime because I knew it was an overtime game. Yeah, it was the first overtime game of the year, so I knew that. Okay, a couple of things.

[Chuck Todd]

Well, it couldn't have been because wasn't there a tie? Didn't Dallas and Green Bay tie?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did they?

[Chuck Todd]

Yes, I believe.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. So I think they said at the time it's first overtime game. So maybe I'm. Maybe I heard that. Or maybe I have no memory. I think people understand I have no memory. So there is this thing going on between ESPN and YouTube. Oh, right. It's something I don't understand at all. I've read stories about it. I do not understand it. Michael, you do not.

[Michael Wilbon]

Not reading those company wide emails.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I don't. I don't understand it. Not. No, I never got, I've never gotten an email from ESPN because I've never accessed my email account. I have millions of emails. I've never looked at them. I'm not going to urgent read. Now. It does seem to me like I don't know anything about YouTube. I don't know. I mean, it just seems to me that if you. That if I owned a company that produced a product, I would not allow some other company to use that product for free. I would not do that. Which I think is the essence of this. But if it isn't the essence of this, someone can tell me. I don't care. Guy of cable. I don't have YouTube. But I was talking to Chan last night. Chan was upset because Chan has YouTube. Oh, right. Michael, he's a YouTube. Yeah, he's got. YouTube.

[Chuck Todd]

Impacts him in a huge way.

[Larry Keith]

Then.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So he said to me, you know, I couldn't get pti. I couldn't get pti. And I said, oh, we weren't on. He goes, what, you had the day off? Oh, okay. So now we're moving forward with that. And as a result of that, I got to play golf with Michael. Now we got to play. Yesterday we had a 10, 20, 10, 20, 10, 20 tee time. And we were joined by Bill Boyle, who's a lovely guy, really nice guy to play with and a really strong player. He played, he played on the national championship team at Wake Forest. Well traveled golf, a team that was captained By Curtis Strange. Oh, right. Okay. They won the national titles. He's a very.

[Chuck Todd]

He comes with credentials.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So he and Michael walked the course, had a good time, right?

[Michael Wilbon]

A great time.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And you had a few birdies.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, we. We both played well.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it was very windy, though. It was tough to play. And they. And the greens were like running, you know, 15 and 16. They were just so fast yesterday. And you know, I. And I wrote in the cart with a fellow named Jim Lawrence, who's my age and a better player. Look, he hit the ball well. Yes, I drove the ball well. I played fine. I had a few terrible shots. I always have a few terrible shots, but mostly I played okay and hit the ball into the air and get.

[Michael Wilbon]

A great par in the fooler.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it was successful. I part some par threes.

[Chuck Todd]

The last time you went out, you got some tips and it seemed to improve. Did you. Did.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. I missed a few shots, but I am trying. I don't know if Michael saw this. I'm trying to take the club back further, raise it up and swing through it, swing down on it. And I hit some good shots. So I had a good time. I played in the last couple of weeks. I played three of the most beautiful courses in this area in Washington, D.C. baltimore area. I played Caves Valley, which is lovely. I played Woodmont south the other day with George Solomon. Had a lovely time. Lovely time. And then played with my son on Columbia, which looked great. I mean, you know, this is the best time. It's the best looking fall golf.

[Michael Wilbon]

Nothing like it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it's just we don't get enough of it here.

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, you can play later, but it takes a while to actually feel like you're getting the treat.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The leaves turning and coldness, you know. Yeah, I could have done without the wind yesterday. The temperature was fine. It actually, the course was crowded for Tuesday. It was very nice. So I will tell you the events that led up to that. Hey, man, I should probably talk about the NFL trade deadline and the college committee poll, but I'm not going to. You know, I mean, you. You can pick that up maybe on PTI today. I hope we talk about. Not the NBA. I've reached that point where baseball's over and it's the tyranny of the NBA and I don't want to, you know, I don't want to do it.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, it's fun to think about the matchups with the college playoffs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's ridiculous. That's in. That's in March and April. It's. You Know it's the beginning of November. I couldn't. I tried to watch. I couldn't. That's good. Anyway, that's. I'm having baseball hangover at the moment.

[Chuck Todd]

Well, it's just great. World Series.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it was great. Yeah. And the ratings just. Just. Chris Soliza sent me something.

[Chuck Todd]

Oh, I haven't seen it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chris. Eliza said the game seven high rating for baseball. Game seven, World Series high rating, had 24.7 million people watching game seven, NBA Finals. Game seven, high rating, 17.5. Baseball crushed the NBA. Yeah, crushed it. Which I wouldn't have ever thought. No. Because you hear in your head constantly, NBA, NBA, NBA. Okay. Anyway, so if that's true, that's 33% more people watching baseball.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's a big crowd about global impressions. Just to think about what the Japanese market was, how they were consumed.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. Yeah, right. And Latin America. Yeah, sure.

[Chuck Todd]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, I don't know.

[Michael Wilbon]

I was thinking about the impact of three players on the Dodgers in particular.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, but. But basketball is a global sport and is consumed all over the world, so I don't. That may cancel each other out. I don't know. I don't even know if it's true what Chris said. I don't even know. But it made me happy. Yeah, it's great news. Yes. I love to watch the baseball.

[Michael Wilbon]

It fits your worldview.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. So on Monday afternoon, we had finished doing PTI. It was about 5, 25, 25. And I still. I was going upstairs to go to put on the stuff to take off makeup. So you put on this foamy junk and then you use water and you take off makeup. It's easy to do. Takes two minutes. When Carol said to me, there's no water in the house, I said, what? There's no water in the house.

[Chuck Todd]

Problem?

[Tony Kornheiser]

There's no water in the house. And she proceeded to open up a couple of faucets and nothing came out. This kept me up all night because I was afraid she had opened up every faucet, and if the water came back on, there'd be this explosion of water. And it cost $10,000 on the next bill.

[Michael Wilbon]

But you overcorrected 40 at the rudding toilet.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. I went around the house at 2 in the morning and 4 in the morning in case I forgot to close every faucet.

[Michael Wilbon]

But it does make sense that you want to try and, you know, target each faucet to see if this was a localized for one bathroom, one kitchen area.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I had no idea how this had happened. Nobody in the house had any idea how this had happened. So I wondered if when the gardening people were here, they cut something, which has happened to us out at the beach. They cut the cable line. So I called Finn, who I love, who made me fin, said, you can come and stay at my house if you want, if you don't have any water, which is really sweet. And Finn said, no, there's. There's no line like that.

[Michael Wilbon]

Water is not delivered in the same way as cable.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's not how water works. Water works differently through pipes. It's. No, don't worry about it. Said, okay. So then, you know, I. I called you, called Michael and you. What was your advice to me about water?

[Michael Wilbon]

I don't remember.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, you said to go to pick up buckets of water, to go get jugs of water. Because, look, let me establish this. First of all, if you're going to lose something in your house and you have the choice between the water or the electricity, always take the water. Yeah. Never lose the electricity, never lose the power, never. So this was about your life. Yeah. This was going to be a concern for as long as it lasted. I had no idea how long it would last. And Michael said, pick up. So I went to the Safeway. I picked up two jugs of water. Why am I doing that? To give the dog water and also to flush toilets. There was some back and forth as to whether or not you put the water in the toilet bowl or the toilet tank. I assumed it was the tank.

[Michael Wilbon]

Tank, that's where the water enters.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Somebody said to me, somebody who I talked to, and I don't know who. No, you put it in the bowl. And I just sort of thought, no, that doesn't make any sense. Put it in the tank. So I was prepared for a siege. Okay, I was prepared for siege. And then I went. Before I did that, at any point.

[Michael Wilbon]

Did you try calling up, I don't know, the water company?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, I'm going to get to that now. So I went around the house, the street. I went around the street looking for people who were home to ask if they had any water. And I got to one house, A couple of people weren't home, but I got to one house, and people in that house said, no, we don't have any water either. And Matt Williamson, who was working that day in place of Nigel, Matt Williamson went across the street to a house and they didn't have any water either. And they said they had called the water company. So I called. I didn't really know what to do. I called 911 and as soon as they answered I said, look, this is not an emergency, but my house has lost water. They said, okay, we will put you through to the water company.

[Larry Keith]

Oh.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I waited, you know, five, six minutes, whatever it was, but I wasn't going to get off the phone. I got a guy at the water company and he said, yeah, someone else had called from that. We don't know what it is. We'll, we'll send a crew, but it's going to take a long time because we have to send a crew, then they have to determine what it is, then we have to survey it and send another. So it's going to take a while.

[Michael Wilbon]

Anyway, but at least it's information.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. And I gave him my number. I said, could you please call me back when you. When there's not resolution, but when there's a steps forward. Yeah, when, when we're moving. And he said, maybe. Yeah, maybe.

[Larry Keith]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. They did. He ultimately did call back. Oh, good friend. So then I'm walking the dog and then there's activity on my street and there's water trucks and stuff like that. And I see a couple of guys who recognize me and you know, I give them hats and I say, are you gonna. And they say, no, no, we can't do this. There's nothing. Our job is to identify things. Then you call Ms. Utility and then they send out a truck and they send out people to do this. And so this is now 8 o' clock at night. So we have had no water for three hours. It's 8 o' clock at night. And I said, well, when do you think any goes? Morning? No, you know, middle of the night or morning, it's not. Okay. So then the guy calls me back when they have a plan and he says that a couple of streets away down your street, a water main appears to be broken. We're going to send some people out. And he says, and it's a very smart word that he uses, he says, typically that means you can't hang him on a script. Typically. Typically this takes between 8 to 10 hours to fix. So it's 8 o'. Clock. So 8 hours is what, 4 in the morning? 4am yeah, and 10 hours is 6 in the morning.

[Larry Keith]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I said, so now? And he says, no, we started the clock at seven, we started the clock at seven. So it goes back one. So it's going to be three in the morning or five in the morning. I can't sleep. I mean, you know, I don't Know what to do. It's the same thing that happened as Michael remembers in Hurricane Bob. Right. So Litwin and I, we just couldn't protect the house.

[Chuck Todd]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

The only difference is that you actually have answers to this now. And with this happening at 5pm it's sort of the best 12 possible hours out of water.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Except I couldn't. Yes. Right. You know, I understand that the first.

[Michael Wilbon]

Wave of concern, making sure everything is turned off if and when it does come back on.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Michael Wilbon]

So once you have those. Once you have that secured. Yeah. You can sleep.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sure enough, at about 5:15, I hear in the toilet in the bathroom, bubbling and gurgling and, you know, even though I had poured in a bunch of water, Michael also brought over water as well. Two big water, you know, and. And so I turned on some things. Now when you turn on water and hasn't been on, there is a blast. Oh, yeah. And it's not the color you want to drink.

[Larry Keith]

No.

[Chuck Todd]

You want to let those, like, you let it run for a while.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, you got to let it run. And you might want to run your.

[Michael Wilbon]

Washing machine as well because sometimes there's a sediment that comes out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I didn't want, you know, I wasn't going to drink this. I wanted to give this to the dog or anything like that. But, you know, but. But it, it is resolved. Although I don't know how, you know, I don't. I don't understand any of it. And it doesn't mean that today at 5 it won't go out again. I have no idea. I have no idea. I don't even know how many people on my street were affected. I.

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, the amazing thing is I drove by in hours after the water was back, you know, you drove by that spot. It's like nothing ever happened. The. The pit was completely filled in, smoothed.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Over and our street was closed for a little while and stuff like that. So it was, it was. It made me laugh because there's. There were these. Those red pylons, you know, when the cones. Traffic cones. Yeah. And said road closed. And there was a guy on the street and he was delivering for Amazon or somebody or food or whatever it was. And I. I knew the road was closed. And so he goes right down to where the road is closed and it says the road is closed. And he turns around and goes the other way. And then he tries it again, thinking that somehow he can get through now. And then he had to turn around again and leave.

[Michael Wilbon]

Is he just waiting for you to.

[Jim]

Turn to go away.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I thought the guy said no witnesses. Yeah, it was gonna knock down the cones and go through anyway. So that's my story and I'm sticking to it. And we'll have Chuck Todd. That's right, Chuck Todd. When we return. Yes, and I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Jim]

Tony Kornheise.

[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

This is the Tony Korneiser show. Fall cooking season is the best. Cozy nights football on in the background, something sizzling on grill or roasting in the oven. But between busy weeknights and tailgating weekends, finding time to make a really great meal can be tough. That's why Omaha Steaks is a total game changer. You'll want to stock up on their fall favorites. Some perfectly marbled ribeyes, juicy burgers, or a batch of their chicken wings for tailgates. Everything arrived frozen, neatly packed, ready to cook. Just throw the steaks on the grill and honestly, I think you'll find that they will be some of the most tender, flavorful cuts you ever have. Buttery, juicy, perfectly aged. And having them right in your freezer means you can pull together an incredible meal any night of the week. No grocery store run required. Omaha Steaks deliver heartland quality food right to your door. USDA certified tender steaks, burgers, seafood, even comfort meals and desserts. Every bite is backed by their 100% money back guarantee. And they've been America's original butcher since 1917. Bring home the legendary flavor and everyday convenience of omaha steaks. Visit omaha steaks.com for 50% off site wide during their semiannual sale. And for an extra $35 off, use the promo code Tony at checkout. That's 50% off@omaha steaks.com and an extra $35 off with promo code Tony at checkout. Terms apply. See site for details. I need. We need to consult our grilling officer here. Yes. Do you concur that fall cooking season is the best?

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, I love it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you? Is that something?

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, you're still holding on to the summer, so you still got the grills fired up, but now you're beginning to think about those stews, those roasts that you're talking about. Like.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. So I've had Omaha Steaks over the course of the last 15 or 20 years. I like them. Yeah. Yeah, I like them. In fact, I have. What I use as a seasoning on anything I cook is an Omaha steak seasoning. Really? Yeah. A lot of pepper. I don't know that it's a lot. It tastes fine to me.

[Michael Wilbon]

Garlic.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I've changed how I cook. I still use time.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, you use the timer?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I use timers. I'm not like Michael, who doesn't use timers and uses a thermometer. I don't do that.

[Michael Wilbon]

The day starts the decision as to what you should defrost for that evening's dinner.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, but what I. What I do now is I Only put seasoning on one side. I put it on the first side that's going to go on the grill.

[Larry Keith]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I don't do it on both sides.

[Michael Wilbon]

I mean, there's two theories as to whether you season early or when you want to season later, even after you cook. So depending on what some of the granules are in that seasoning, some of them will burn if you put them over high heat.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. So I don't know what I'm doing. I mean, it tastes fine. My food tastes fine to me. That's all that matters. Not tastes fine to someone who was a good cook, but it tastes fine to me, so I'm happy with that. So, Omaha Steaks. This is the Tony Kornheiser show. We played these guys the other day. This is Crown of Smoke. George Malay, his brother is in this band. We like this band. Yes. First song we heard was. Sounded like the Eagles. So this is actually called Crown of Smoke by Crown of Smoke. And it plays in Chuck Todd and I need to say this week's picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald the monkey are brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. And Chuck was talking last week about maybe taking all the home dogs. Right. So I went back on this. There were five home dogs. You went one and two on this. But only two of the five covered. Do you. Do you ever look back and. And make evaluations based on that stuff?

[Larry Keith]

I do, but I didn't this week. I will admit that I didn't do that, but. Okay. Drowning my sorrows. But the worst personal football weekend I've.

[Jim]

Had in a while.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, explain.

[Larry Keith]

Well, the Miami Packers. The packers lose to Carolina. Lambo.

[Jim]

Lambo, Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Terrible.

[Larry Keith]

Wearing some hobo. I mean, you know, and in theory, I like the throwback idea, but when you see it in practice, I'm like, use the Chicago Bears practice uniforms. Like, I didn't understand that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Larry Keith]

And then, of course, you know, another hurricane season ends.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Larry Keith]

You know, and it's like they. I'm still just. I'm still like, what? Let me just ask you, what would you do, Coach Kornheiser? You have. It's a tie game. You have. The other team has kicked the ball off to you. You have 25 seconds. This is college football rules, where the clock stops after every 10 first down that you get. You have. You get the ball with 25 seconds left in the game. Game is tied, and you have one timeout. Again, college rules.

[Jim]

Not pro rules.

[Larry Keith]

College rules. What do you do with 25 seconds left? Tie game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What do you do? I try to throw the ball. Yeah.

[Larry Keith]

You don't take. You don't take a knee and just play for overtime, huh?

[Jim]

No, that's what this guy did.

[Larry Keith]

Tony, he took a knee.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, this is Chris.

[Larry Keith]

You know what? You know, we had a lot of Miami fans want him to do. Take a knee.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it's.

[Larry Keith]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He has lost games, making unbelievably bonehead decisions at both Oregon and Miami. You can look this up. He really makes terrible decisions, but he's a grad.

[Larry Keith]

You know, here's what's really frustrating.

[Jim]

I thought about this.

[Larry Keith]

If I were his boss, I'd be like, you know, you really love the school, the players love you. You do a good job, parents really respect you. You create. You know, you help kids become men. But you got to win football games, dude.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I know. I.

[Larry Keith]

That's what we spend the money on. Sorry.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I would analogize to Michael Loxley. He, you know, he loves Maryland and he recruits very well.

[Jim]

Good guy, too.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. I'd fire him. He don't ever win. He doesn't ever win in October and November when you play in the Big Ten schedule. He doesn't win. He's four.

[Larry Keith]

What did Her Edwards say about football?

[Jim]

You play.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Play to win the game. Hello. You play to win the game. Anyway, so you were three and four last week. Not great. 30, 33 overall. And we got a whole new slate. And we'll start with the Thursday with the Sunday game in Berlin. Everybody, I'm gonna be told to take.

[Larry Keith]

A knee here soon if I'm not careful.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But anyway. Yeah, well, everybody's looking forward to the game in Berlin. Atlanta is getting six and a half versus Indianapolis. I will just put in my own two cents here. Indianapolis just lost. They're going to want to win this game more than they wanted to win for a while. And Atlanta stinks. They do. I mean, every single time they win a game, somebody says, oh, it's a good young team. They got a great defense. Michael Penix Jr. He's really. No, they stink. They're not any good. And that's a big number. Six and a half. I don't know that being in Berlin means anything one way or the other, but who you got?

[Larry Keith]

Do you think the NFL feels bad they accidentally sent a good team? Like, can you imagine?

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Larry Keith]

This was meant, like, they. They said this one over.

[Jim]

Yeah.

[Larry Keith]

Colts, Falcons. Let's send them that one. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Because nobody thought the Colts would be any good. No.

[Jim]

And now, like, oh, my God, we.

[Larry Keith]

Sent a One seed.

[Jim]

What are we thinking?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Retract.

[Jim]

Retract.

[Larry Keith]

No, I, you know, I am nervous. I would not bet this game because you just don't know. Now they handle the travel, but. Yeah, you gotta bet on. I mean, the Colts after their first. After their first sort of dumb, you know, bad day. Jones game. Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Larry Keith]

And you gotta assume they bounce back here, so. I'd rather be at the Colts than the. Than the South.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This was the Daniel Jones game that Sam Darnold had last year, but then he had it again. Then he had it the next week, but now he looks good. Yeah. So you don't know. Okay. Baltimore. Baltimore is a road favorite over Minnesota. Minnesota just had one of the great wins of the season. They beat Detroit at Detroit. J.J. mcCarthy looked like he did. He might be good down the road. Baltimore coming off a buy, I believe, minus four and a half against. In. Against Minnesota.

[Larry Keith]

Yeah. It's a. Not really a buy, but they were the Thursday night game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right. Okay.

[Larry Keith]

Ten days they had the many. That mini buy. I. I'm. Look, they. Every game's playoff game for the Ravens right now. Right. There's no. There's no margin for error. And. And with Minnesota with their win. No, I will. I will. I. I will take the Ravens here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. You will take the road favorite. New England is at Tampa Bay. New England is 7 and 2. 7 and 2. Now, most of the teams they played are dreck, I'm sure, but they're still seven and two in total. Turnaround with Mike Vrabel. Tennessee, you know, great job firing Mike Vrabel and. And Drake May at Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay, I believe, is coming off a bye. Tampa is a pretty good team. It's a very interesting. It's a very interesting game to me. New England is getting two and a half. Seven and two. Who you got?

[Larry Keith]

Yeah, and Tampa's still got a. It feels like everybody is injured every week, right? There's always somebody going off the field. Well, I think they also lost a running back. Right. They've been dealing with that. But this does. This is the first good team the Patriots played, right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. Yeah.

[Larry Keith]

Because they've been playing a lot of. Well, other than Buffalo. Right. They're one big win, but that's a.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Division game, so it's different.

[Larry Keith]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Larry Keith]

Boy, I really want you to take the. I think they want you to take the pats here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Larry Keith]

Making. Making Tampa. Tampa that short favorite. Give me the. I just think the Buccaneers find a way to win. Give me them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Larry Keith]

Two and a Half. It's short. Short. It's a field goal.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Give me the L. A. Rams are at San Francisco. Both won last week. San Francisco still has quarterback issues. You know, is it Brock Purdy? Is it Mac Jones? Their defense was good. Christian McCaffrey was really good. The Rams are a better team. The Rams have a better quarterback. Matthew Stafford. The Rams. I don't know if Naku is playing, but I think Naku was playing. The Rams are a road favorite at San Francisco. Division game teams that have been in the super bowl in recent years. The Rams, if you like them, three and a half.

[Larry Keith]

It's a lot of points on the road, but remember San Francisco won this matchup earlier, three or four weeks ago.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yep.

[Larry Keith]

I think it's like a six and a half. It was something like a bigger underdog because this was the assumption that Mac Jones was a big step down. Is there a difference between Mac Jones and Brad Birdie in your mind?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No more. Nope. Nope.

[Larry Keith]

Is this just Shanahan? He could take any. As long as you're a serviceable quarterback.

[Jim]

Right.

[Larry Keith]

Jimmy Garoppolo. Mac Jones is. He just. His system works with serviceable quarterbacks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Seems to. Seems to know what he's doing. But so does McVeigh. So does McVeigh. They coach together. You know, they were assistant coaches when Gruden was, you know, was the head coach in Washington. They've all done very well, as has LaFleur.

[Larry Keith]

It's of course, the Gruden tree.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, yeah.

[Larry Keith]

Yeah, of course it is. Give me the. Give me the Rams here. I just that. Let's assume San Francisco doesn't sweep.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is the second out of two where you've taken the road favorite. Just I'm pointing out. And here is the third one. Detroit, which lost to Minnesota, is at Washington, which I don't believe has its quarterback. I don't believe it has its starting quarterback. Again, this is a huge number. Is eight and a half. This a really big number for a team that was in the NFC championship game last year. Was it against Detroit? Was. And beat him. It's a big number. What will you do?

[Larry Keith]

Well, it's. Imagine that number in Detroit. We'd be in double digits.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Larry Keith]

And I'd have a lot more difficulty taking Detroit there laying that many points. But you got to think Detroit's going to bounce back. Hard to imagine they. They don't win this with a little margin. It feels like the. Feels like the commander season is over.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Does. Certainly does.

[Larry Keith]

I mean. Yeah. With. With him going out. Do you bring him back this year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't, I mean, I don't, I don't know what the extent of the injury is. I mean, I don't know how long you're supposed to stay out of. Not as, it's not as throwing. Look, here's, here's the thing that people need to realize as everybody wants to blame Dan Quinn. And Dan Quinn gets up in the morning and sees everybody blaming him and says, okay, I'm not stupid. I'll blame myself. It's easy to do. It's an easy second guess for everybody. This guy's now injured. Three different body parts. Three different ones. He's an injury prone guy and if you watch the games, given the run pass option, he runs, he likes to run. I don't know. Feels like Robert Griffin to me. What do you think?

[Larry Keith]

And, and you did, as you just said three times. RG3. As the first thing I thought of was, yeah, now we've got jaden Daniels injured. 3. I mean it, it just, he's, you know, you, you sit there, you look at a guy, you're like, boy, is he too skinny for the NFL, right? You're not 100. And maybe it just, you know, this can work in college, but it, it, it, you can't take these hits as a pro.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's really good too. He's really good. Okay, we move on. Pittsburgh is at the LA Chargers in the Sunday night game. Pittsburgh's getting two and a half. These are two teams that you cannot believe in. Neither Pittsburgh nor the Chargers. You cannot believe in them. So who you got?

[Larry Keith]

Imagine how many Steelers fans are gonna be at that, this game in la.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh yeah, they'll own it. They'll own it.

[Larry Keith]

Oh my goodness. The terrible pals will be everywhere. Weirdly, I feel like that in, in that sense I did. I'm not trusting Pittsburgh to win two in a row. They just won a game. I didn't think they should have won against me too. They got a whole bunch of, you know, things went their way and this or that, the Tomlin luck, whatever you want to call it, but give me, give me Harbaugh and a dick or field goal there to win it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. All right. And another two and a half point game. This is the Monday night games. Pretty attractive matchup. Philadelphia at Green Bay. Philadelphia had a buy last week. Green Bay had a terror. I cannot. Well, you're the packers fan. I cannot overemphasize what a terrible loss that is to Caroline. I don't care what Carolina's record is. Carolina Stinks. And it's at Lambeau. And the packers scored what, two points?

[Larry Keith]

What they didn't, they didn't punt but like twice. I mean, they just, you know, they gave it up on downs a bunch of times. They kept trying to put Leflore out. He's. He's sort of out cuting himself.

[Jim]

I agree it's strange playing.

[Larry Keith]

I think he needs to bring in a new, bring in a play call. You know, you get to this point where go be the head coach or go be the play caller, you're not doing both anymore. So you know, he's not on a hot seat yet. But him as play caller, I think his is. His future is in doubt. That said, I, you know, the packers get up for big games. I think they care about this game. I think the only good explanation you can have for this Carolina debacle is that they've been looking ahead to this Eagles matchup.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Larry Keith]

This is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Makes sense.

[Larry Keith]

Had the packers not lost when this couldn't matter in here. The packers had not lost. Well, there's that. But this would have been a one seed game, right? This would have been a very. And it still may end up being an important tiebreaker game in the playoffs. So I, I think the packers are going to be up for this game. I think they care about this game for, for, for so many reasons, but. And now I think they need to win this game. At least the Vikings beat the Lions for divisional needs for the Packers. But I'm going to take the Packers.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And just I will remind you, you took all three road favorites. Just so you know. All three.

[Larry Keith]

Okay, well, you said, I mean, look, turned out that trend didn't matter last week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, did not. They're only two or five, so.

[Larry Keith]

Okay, I can't sit here. There were nine actually total, by the way. There were nine across the whole dogs. Across the whole.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I'd enjoy yourself. We'll talk to you next week.

[Larry Keith]

All right, guys. See ya.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chuck Todd. Boys and girls, if we gave you Chuck Todd alone, that's enough. It's more than enough. It's great. But we give you a monkey. Nigel to the zoo. Reggie swinging from the bar. We give you a monkey.

[John Sink]

Let me see who Reggie likes after.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Chuck Todma and the car and a half.

[Larry Keith]

Thank you.

[John Sink]

In other words, throw your poo the Vikes fight too. Yeah, he's throwing a quadruple DK salute.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, who taught him that.

[John Sink]

Johnny Walker.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Balloon? It's Kyle Kettleson. That's brilliant. It really is fantastic.

[Chuck Todd]

I'm sure I Get a ton of emails saying, where's the original?

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's great. All right. So Reginald had his customary 1 and.

[Chuck Todd]

2, 1 and 2 week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's now 10 and 17.

[Chuck Todd]

Yeah, he's having a real tough time getting over 500. And I went down to the National Zoo and it was a chaotic night down there. Election night. And I think you aware he was running for the Ward 10 council member.

[Tony Kornheiser]

In D.C. know about that?

[Chuck Todd]

He has some problems with that one. There wasn't any voting in D.C. and there is no Ward 10.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Chuck Todd]

So this wasted all the celebrity endorsements he got, including Oli Kozig, Gio Gonzalez and the one he was so proud of, Rita Moreno.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Rita Moreno, yeah. Good one.

[Chuck Todd]

That was the good poll. But all went to waste and the blame has to go to his campaign manager, Jim Zorn.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chuck Todd]

So they were having harsh words, but he took a moment of berating.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Zorun Black.

[Chuck Todd]

Took a moment from yelling at Jim to come over and go to these matches with me. The first one was the Vikings at home getting four and a half versus the Ravens. And I don't think it's gonna be surprised anybody showed me an old photograph of him barbecuing in a flat out blizzard wearing nothing more than a. Than shorts and a T shirt. And who was dressed the exact same. Right next to him. Bud Grant tells me he's going to take the Vikes with the four and a half. Now the next match we gave him was the New England Patriots getting two and a half at Tampa Bay. And this was another old photograph Reginald showed me of him reenacting the battle of Bunker Hill as one of the Colonials. Which disappointed me obviously. And in that he was joined by Sam Bam Cunningham, Victor Kayam, as you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Might remember his team and owned the razor company.

[Chuck Todd]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Remington. Yes.

[Chuck Todd]

And John Havlicek tells me he's got ties to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did you give him the Washington game too?

[Chuck Todd]

I did give him the Washington game, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What's his thought about that?

[Chuck Todd]

Well, he looked a little upset, but then he showed me a picture of him sledding in a four person toboggan. Well, three people and a monkey alongside Wayne Fonts, Bill Lambert and Lou Whitaker. Tells me he's got ties to the Detroit area and he will take the Lions.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's going with Chuck on that one.

[Chuck Todd]

Going with Chuck on that. No faith in Washington.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's hard to. It's hard to at the moment. Yeah. You know, I'm not saying they've collapsed so you lose your quarterback.

[Chuck Todd]

So what Chuck said It has the ring of truth to it that feels like the season's over.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Indeed. All right, that's great. This week's picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald the Monkey have been brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. When we come back, we will have Larry Keith, who used to be the number one guy at Sports Illustrated, did all the hiring, did all the firing, did all the editing. You know, he's got a book out about Sports Illustrated which is. It's just the greatest. It's no longer. But it was the greatest magazine ever about sports and you hung on it every single week waiting for it to be delivered to your house by the mailman. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[John Sink]

Wanna go back to the people?

[Tony Kornheiser]

People remind me, this is John Sink. This is a song called People that Remind Me of. I appreciate how Tony has supported original music on the show for all these years. You guys have put my songs on the show before. I appreciate that that. I'll be playing my original songs, including six new ones at Old Parish House on 4711 Knox Road on Saturday, November 8th at 7:30pm I'll be there with friends in the tiny band and we'll be joined by Tom Ruggieri on sax, Paul Goldstein on drums that night. It's a few place blocks down the road from Lido's in College Park. We'll be playing this song, the people that people remind me of. Big favorite of fans written in 1979, John Singh Michael. If people like John Sink want to send in their original music for us to happily play, how do they do?

[Michael Wilbon]

Send us your music by emailing it to jinglesonycornizershow.com okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It plays in Larry Keith. Larry Keith ran Sports Illustrated and has written a book called Touch Them All My Life and Career at Sports Illustrated. Look, Sports Illustrated was. And I'm an old man. But in the 50s and 60s and 70s and 80s and into the 90s, was the most important thing that anyone could read about sports. More important than your local newspaper. More important than any other magazine. More important than anything on television or radio anywhere. It was the most important thing. How did you get there and how did you rise up the chain? Because I mean, like I remember, for example, I remember Peter Carey as a managing editor, Mark Mulvoy as a managing editor. Describe how you got there.

[Jim]

Well, it actually started very early. When I was in high school. I won the state sports writing award here in North Carolina as A sophomore, my father called the sports editor of the local evening newspaper, Ron Greene, and said, hey, Ron, you ought to hire my son. He just won this award. Well, Ron Green very kindly did. And I worked as an intern at the Charlotte News for six years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ron Green is one of the all time great sports writers. He is.

[Jim]

That's exactly right. And the Charlotte News had a tradition of great sports writers. And that's why my luck began very, very early. I worked with Ron Greene and Max Mulliman. This was the newspaper that had also employed Furman Bisher and Sandy Brady. Just some terrific writers. And I was very, very fortunate to be there. I applied at Sports Illustrated when I was still at Carolina. I was sports editor of the Daily Tar Heel and sports director of wchl, local radio station. And they said, well, you can come up for an interview, but you'll have to pay your own way. And I said, how dare you? I will not pay my own way. Of course, I couldn't afford to pay my own way. Then I took a job instead at a local radio station here in Charlotte and won a national award, National Headliner Club award for Public service broadcasting. That got me a free trip to New York. And when Carrie Kirkpatrick, who went to Carolina and had become a friend, called and said, hey, are you still interested in working at Sports Illustrated? I said, absolutely, I'm coming to New York. If they give me a call, I'm ready. Well, they did give me a call. I took the bus from New Jersey on a Sunday morning into the offices of Sports Illustrated, and three days later I was hired.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Now, so if you're a contemporary of Curry's, then the stars at Sports Illustrated at that time would have been Curry and Dan. Dan Jenkins and Frank Deford and Mark Cram. Right? That would have been the lineup of stars.

[Jim]

Yes, that's. That's a pretty good batting order. And that's. That is exactly who I was working with. I got to tell you, I. I was in awe of the place. When the Lee Frazier fight was scheduled to take place, I was going to watch it at Hunter College in New York on closed circuit. The closed circuit broadcast went down. I had been at the magazine for really less than a year, so I couldn't watch the fight. Instead, I went to Sports Illustrated offices just to hang out there to see how the magazine closed this big, big story. So, yeah, I was a fanboy of Sports Illustrated.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But you became an editor, right? More so than a writer. Why did you do that? Why did you change to editing? And when you edited These people who were so great, was it easy or hard? Like if you wanted. I can imagine Dan, I mean, if you put a pencil to Dan's work, I can imagine Dan wants to light your pants on fire.

[Chuck Todd]

So.

[Jim]

Well, fortunately, I never got to experience that. My, my association with Dan was when he was a college football writer and I was his college football reporter and he introduced me to chicken fried steak in Oklahoma when we were there for the Oklahoma Nebraska game. But since you mentioned it, Mark Fram said this magazine has horses for courses. And that was his advice to me. And that led to me being very happy first as a writer, being more of a news writer than a. What they called a bonus piece writer. I wrote 30, 35 stories a year. I summer edited when the baseball editor was away in 1979. And after doing that, they asked me, hey, you know, you're not bad at this. Would you like to be an editor? Well, I had lived and died for the opportunity to be a writer, but I decided to become an editor at that invitation. Found out that the pay was a lot better, by the way. And one of the people I edited was Frank Deford's very well known story called the Rabbit Hunter about Bobby Knight. Well, my contribution to his story was the headline. Otherwise you're right, it just went on through. Frank was not one of those who liked or needed to be edited.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Frank is just completely, completely brilliant. You share this it was everyone's dream job to go to Sports Illustrated. I mean everyone, all young sports writers wanted to go to Sports Illustrated. I know I did. You turned out later in my life that I had everything said and it wasn't going to work. But it was everyone's dream job. I had a couple of stories in Sports Illustrated, freelance stories and I was as proud of them as anything I've ever done. I would say that the, the biggest thing for Sports Illustrated and the great anticipatory moment was what's the COVID What's the COVID Did you ever have anything to do with covers? And, and how big a meeting was that when you decided what's the COVID.

[Jim]

Well, I, first of all, I wrote 19 cover stories and some of those cover stories were because of the event. The Final Four covered the Magic Johnson Larry Bird cover in CWA Final Four as an editor, it was a little harder to get on the COVID And two stand out. One was the Boston College point shaving scandal. We announced ourselves as insurance salesmen to get inside the Federal Strike Force headquarters at the FBI in New York and the papers that we got Henry Hill, the fixer, the mobster, the mafioso. To sign, to agree to do the story with a freelance, with one of our staff writers. They told the FBI guys that we were insurance salesmen.

[Larry Keith]

Well, no.

[Jim]

He was signing a contract for $10,000 to write the story. When Peter Ueberoff became the commissioner of baseball, as you recall, his predecessor, Bowie Kuhn, had dismissed from the ranks of baseball Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle because of their association with gambling casinos. I think they were writers, greeters. And Commissioner Q made a speech. Excuse me. Peter Ueberoff made a speech at the New York Baseball Writers Club in January of one year. And after the speech, I went up to him. I was. I was the outgoing baseball editor and was about to become the assistant managing editor. And I said, commissioner Ueberoff, would you like to be on the COVID with Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays? And he looked at me, what are you talking about? I said, if you have any thought at all of bringing them back into baseball, that would be a cover story for us and we'd put the three of you on the COVID So that also took place. And being involved in situations like that was terrific. I also edited a swimsuit issue, but Gil Rogan, the managing editor, selected all the pictures.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I can imagine Gil doing that. I can't imagine, like people who are listening to this, I don't know how old they are. And I mean, I cannot stress enough the importance of Sports Illustrated on the. On young sports writers, people like me that knew all their lives, that's all they wanted to do was write about sports. There are untold famous stories. But I would think, and Larry, I will ask this. I think I. Look, thought about this last night. I thought the most famous Sports Illustrated story ever was the George Plimpton story on Sid Finch, the made up Zen picture. And I wondered if you felt the same way or if you had another one or two that you thought were bigger than that.

[Jim]

Well, that's, that's a big one. And it's one that always comes up. And I confess that I was the. I was the baseball editor. And so because George was not on staff, the story was actually handled by the outside text editor, Myra Gelbass. And when he submitted the story, I said, this won't work in a thousand years. I said, our readers are far too sophisticated to believe that a guy wearing a boot and a barefoot and, you know, playing a French horn could throw 168 mile per hour fastball. Well, that was in the story. And the story ran and everybody Bought it hook, line and sinker, including Tony, the New York Times, who were so upset that they thought the Mets had given us access and given this exclusive story to us that they jumped all over the Mets PR guy to say, why in the world we cover you every day, etc. Well, we got a phone call from radio station in Chicago W I N D asking us about the story. And the phone call came in to me and I could not admit that I was the one person who said it will never work because clearly, clearly it worked for everybody everywhere.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, it did. I mean, it did. As a result of that story, which is of course emblazoned in my mind, I did a story for the Washington Post Sunday magazine about an invented baseball team that was going to come back to Washington that very year. And it turned out to be like a 12 part series. And people did believe it. And the other paper in town at the time, the Washington Times, wrote about it and was outraged that they didn't have the story. And I just thought, have you ever heard of George Plimpton? You ever heard of Sports Illustrated? I'm stealing here, that's what I'm doing. You were, you're there for the glory days. Obviously nobody could see this coming. Did you have a sense of when the media began to change, when print began to change, when magazines were not going to work anymore? And did anybody there ever say, let's just make this into a television show, let's keep the franchise but change it out of print? Did anybody ever say that?

[Jim]

Well, Sports Illustrated attempted television and it never really worked out for us at once. At one time we were offered the opportunity to buy. Are you ready for this? Espn.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Really?

[Jim]

And we, yeah, for. As I recall, it was for a.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'd have finally worked for you. That would work. It'd be good.

[Jim]

Well, that's another story I'd love to tell my attempt to hire Tony Kornheiser. But the reckoning that we saw coming was very distant but perhaps visible as my career progressed. I was involved in magazine development. Just as an example, I was involved in magazine development and was put in charge of a magazine called Leisure for Time Inc. I was still at Sports Illustrated, but they asked me to edit a magazine called Leisure. And we did a couple of issues. Each one got better. The first one was so good that the, the editor in chief of Time Eeks had called me into his office and said, Larry, if we were going to launch this magazine, you would definitely be the managing editor. And I looked down and said, if he said well, we decided not to launch your magazine or to get out of magazine development. So that was a very strong indication that the belts were tightening. And that was in the mid-1980s.

[Tony Kornheiser]

See, I mean, I have this feeling, you know, I say this to my son all the time, that his children, my grandson, will never understand what I did for a living. They'll never understand the lure of being a sports writer. They'll never know what print. It's just, you know, I mean, what will. Larry, what will become of sports writers? What will become of them?

[Jim]

Well, unless they get a job at the Athletic. That's a very good question. ESPN magazine, which was very good on. Under the editorship of a former Sports Illustrated editor, John Papanek. Folding, it's. It's certainly a dying breed, but there's still kids, young men and women who aspire to cover sports. But it looks like it's going to have to be either digitally or television streaming. Whatever. The sports horse writer with a press card stuck in his cap and gnawing on a stogie.

[Larry Keith]

That's.

[Jim]

Those days are gone.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, so, I mean, I get this. You know, you talk to people who just watch the PTI show their whole lives and now they're 35 years old or something like that, and the questions are always the same. How did you get into television? I go, I hate television. Do you understand this? I have no respect for telegram television. I don't want television. I can't turn it down. But stop. And then, you know what I mean? Like no one, right? You know, we're dinosaurs. Larry, thank you so much for being on the book is called Touch Them All My life and Career at Sports Illustrated. Larry, Keith, thank you so much.

[Jim]

Good luck with Tony. This was terrific. I really appreciate it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good, good, good. All right, we will come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser. 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 mailbag. Gonna read some for all of you folks. Gonna read some for all, all of you folks. Biff. God, we like him. We do. We like anybody named Biff.

[Chuck Todd]

Attention must be paid.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Attention must be paid. You want to do the Bethesda Bagel? Ass.

[Chuck Todd]

Yes, Bethesda Bagels.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We love them.

[Chuck Todd]

You will as well. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area near Shoe. Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's going to be it for us today. Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say, let us be lovers. We'll marry our fortunes together. I've got some real estate here in my bag, so. So we bought a pack of cigarettes and Mrs. Wagner pies and walked off to look for America. That's Paul Simon. And that's brilliant.

[Chuck Todd]

It's about as good as it gets.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's just brilliant. Thanks to our guest today, Chuck, Todd, Larry, Keith, don't forget to check out Larry's book, touch them all. My life and career at Sports Illustrated. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcast, Spotify and Odyssey. If you listen through Apple, please leave us a review.

[Michael Wilbon]

New month, new code for Johnny O. Get your holiday favorites now. I'll set the new coat up later with our friends, but TK Gold star.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Gold star, gold star.

[Michael Wilbon]

Give it a try.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. From Blaine. Blaine Volpe in Washington, D.C. first time emailer, longtime listener. The reason I'm actually a longtime listener is because of my father, Scott. This week, Thursday, November 6th, is his birthday. That's tomorrow. We're not on tomorrow, so we're doing it now. I struggle what to give a guy who loves to yell at the screen while he watches his sports and sips a la Bat blue. But I know he listens to you and he's a devoted little so I hope he hears this. As a former sports journalist, my dad would tell me incredible stories of the games he covered in the newsrooms he was in. My dad introduced me to PTI and then to your podcast. As I moved to D.C. i learned all the rules of almost every sport, not just to keep up with my dad, but to be connected. And I'm truly glad I did. We don't see as much. We don't see each other as much as we'd like. But when I listen to the Tony Kornheiser show, I feel really connected with my dad and I think about all the incredible memories we have built around sports, whether he was at my middle school volleyball games trying to teach me to skate or the many Pittsburgh Penguin games he went out of his way to take me to. So thank you for creating the opportunities for people to feel connected and to feel nostalgic. That's a very nice scene. That's lovely. From Ricky, Herb or Herb in Barnegut, New Jersey. I've seen the potato trick or treat fad and as a 41 year old man, I can't trick or treat anymore. But if I did, and there was an option of a raw potato or Almond Joy, I would take the potato. In fact, I take a bite of the raw potato right there and enjoy it way more than Almond Joy. My guess as to why you got no trick or treaters is because your house is mentally flagged by kids as an Almond Joy house. Legit. The worst possible candy. I like it. What can I say? From Ramsay Shuaibar or Ramsay from San Diego. I'm sorry for butchering the last name. I love KitKats. I hate almond Joy. Perhaps we can organize a trade type of situation.

[Michael Wilbon]

I think you're trading with the kids last night at dinner.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I wanted. Yeah, I tried to take chocolate bars.

[Michael Wilbon]

You tried to take.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I tried to take. Well, your wife gave them.

[Chuck Todd]

Taking candy.

[Jim]

A lot of them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Alex Cloninger Professor, Department of Mathematics, UC San Diego the connective tissue of the show is really strong. I emailed last week about Tony Cloninger and mentioned that I was certain of my my relationship to him. That evening, I received an email from fellow Little Marilyn Jackson about the genealogy. After sharing a few details, she was able to determine Tony Cloninger is my fourth cousin three times removed removed. How about that? We trace back to the same ancestor, born in 1751 and one of the first people to have the name Cloninger with a C change from Cloninger with a K when his father traveled over from Germany. So huge thanks to Marilyn and also to the show Littles. Helping Littles is really an amazing, amazing thing. From Jim in Lutherville who says Commodore Tony, last Friday's podcast, you and Michael asked if I banked it when I set my record on the Rehoboth Funland skeeball machine. Fourth from the left. Yes. I don't play golf, but I know about the yips. Anything but a bank shot crushes my score. So I bank every time. Once you banked, you can't go back. Hey, Tony, that might be T shirt worthy. Once you've banked, you can't go back. Use the code from Jeff Simpson in Arlington, Virginia. On Monday's podcast, Michael made a reference to the novel Name of the Winner.

[John Sink]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

By Patrick Rothfuss.

[FanDuel Announcer]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

Still waiting on book three.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Discussing your cape. My ears immediately perked up because I'm in the middle of reading this very book right now on my Kindle. I'm about three quarters of the way through. I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I just have one question. If I read Name of the Wind while drinking a glass of Chateau Cambon, do I become an honorary member of the Kornheiser family from Eric Carlson in Morgantown, West Virginia. I want to join John in the Marinex Rage Rage for being snubbed by his high school Athletic hall of Fame while his bona fides clearly merit consideration. Mine. Well, I lettered in football twice, I think, and participated in track. My fastest time in 100 meters was slower than the record set my freshman year in the 110 high hurdles by a future UCLA football captain and ESPY nominee. That guy's in why not me and why not John and Mamaronek? From Noah Ehrenberg in Clarksburg, Maryland. Hello old sport. It's the official diving coach of the Tower Tony Kornheiser Show, I think. Never really got an answer on that, but I love this new thing of the best game ever. My freshman year in high school I was on the JV team and our starting punter got hurt on the first punt. So to my surprise I happened to be the backup. I was given three more punts in that game. The first kick backwards, the second snap was too high, flew over my head in the back of the end zone for safety, but the third kick went a whopping 22 yards. Needless to say, I was not the punter for the next game. From Joe Morrison in Orlando I feel like the emailer from Monday is on to something with the TK board game idea. One thought I would like to add would be that instead of collecting $200 for every passing go every time you pass the bank, you collect a sweaty crumpled dollar bill from a male stripper. Apologies if he was imagining a more family friendly game from Scott Gurney and East Selkirk in Manitoba in Canada. Not sure the kids in your neighborhood will be excited about going trick or treat. Trick or tubering next Halloween considering all the potato growing advice you've received on the bumper crop you're sure to produce as a result, you'll be handing out taters by the bushel. Still not convinced? How about pairing them with a nice bottle of Beaujolais? I understand you just ordered a case. Please tell Dave J is retiring soon to eat it. What did we have last night? Tater Tots. I haven't had them in so long I ate about 30 of them. They're so I took them from the kids. The kids turned around, I took them from the plates.

[Michael Wilbon]

I just love I serve you dinner and both items go. This is better than I thought it would be.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Better than I thought chicken burgers were Chicken burgers. John Juback in Pittsburgh I wonder what the winner of the E. E. Cummings Poetry Prize receives A shift key? Yeah, he. He never had capital. It was all lowercase. From Bill Matfeld in Fort Mill, South Carolina. I changed clocks on the microwave, my oven, a cheap wall hanging clock, my car, my scuba diving watch, and two Ventura watches. That's seven timepieces. Thought you'd like to know. I've never been Cheryl. Oh, yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

No way. All those.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All those clocks are set up from share to haiku. Now introducing the Kornheiser collection of homeless man Chic. I look like a homeless man? Apparently. Patrick Sitter, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Okay, Sparky, here's my shot at the special pile. I live a couple of minutes away from an executive golf course here in Sioux Falls. Nine holes, three par fours, six par threes only two sand traps, one water hazard. None of them are really in play. I'd like to invite you to come play on a Tuesday morning. That's because the green fee for its senior on Tuesday mornings. $11. I'd be graciously willing to spring for that as long as you don't show up dressed up like a homeless person. What do you think, special pile?

[Michael Wilbon]

I don't know.

[Tony Kornheiser]

P.S. we'll negotiate the card fee when you get here. And one more from Dan Goldring in New York. New York. I was in the. I went to high school with a kid named Billy Goldring. Oh, really? I wonder if they're related. I was in the car with my 17 year old son on Saturday morning listening to Friday's show after the open. The boy says, that is literally the oldest thing I've ever heard. I say, which part? The part where he's upset about the early tea time change? Or the part where he forgot what time the barbershop opens? Or maybe the part where he's skulking around Columbia so that no one sees his denim. Maybe the part where he makes sure to use inside mail slots at the post office rather than the outside boxes so that no one steals his mail. Or the part where he goes to the bank in person, adds up all of his checks, and then uses actual change to round up to the next whole dollar amount. He says, yes, all of those parts. Thank you for continuing to bring the generations together. If you're out on your bike tonight, everyone is always to wear white. Yeah, we both have so much in common.

[John Sink]

We both love soup and we love the outdoors.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We love snow.

[Larry Keith]

Peasants. Sam.

[John Sink]

Crown of life in my head I realize Heavy weight of heavy toe Crush my spirit, my soul super hope I slowly die a shadow heart of broken light Echo sand and broken rock Dust and my heart turns to D Sam Lost in shadows fading light Another lion of the fight Broken heart, a broken vow Proud of smoke I said somehow Sam in my head I realize.

[Larry Keith]

A.

[John Sink]

Heavy weight, heavy toe crush my spirit Wanna go back to the people that people remind me of I wanna go back to the people that I love I wanna go back to the people that people remind me of I wanna go back to the people that I love I get tired of the people TV in my hotel room yeah I get tired of the truck rolling by.

[Larry Keith]

Side.

[John Sink]

I don't give a damn about what town this is.

[Jim]

Just give me.

[John Sink]

The highway it let me fly away Cuz I want to go back to the people people remind me of I wanna go back to the people that I love I wanna go back to the people people remind me of I wanna go back to the people that I know I get tired of stopping at gas stations I guess Tired of the little beside I don't give a damn if we're getting close Whatever this town is it ain't mine.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I.

[John Sink]

Want to go back to the people people remind me of I wanna go back to the people that I love I wanna go back to the people people remind me of I wanna go back to the people that I know I get tired of explaining that where I'm from I get tired of thinking it clear I don't give a damn if you can on a Thursday I can't wait till I get out of bed come out I want to go back to the people people remind me of I want to go back to the people that I love I want go back to the people people remind me of I want to go back to the people that I All that I know all that I love.