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Tony Kornheiser
Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll talk to Chuck Todd as he makes his weekly football picks against Reginald the Monkey. We'll also talk to Mark Feinsand about Juan Soto's deal with the Mets and the rest of the big news coming out of the winter meetings. But first, let's do some commerce. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. This is the Omaha Steaks Read. Nothing delivers comfort and joy quite like the unrivaled quality and taste of Omaha Steaks. It's guaranteed perfection in every single bite. And right now you can save on unforgettable gifts with 50% off site wide@omahastakes.com plus score an extra $30 off with the promo code Tony. With five generations of experience, they consistently deliver the world's best steak experience. And the gifting experts at Omaha Steaks have made it easy to deliver the perfect gift with thoughtfully curated gift packages featuring gourmet favorites from legendary steaks to mouth watering desserts and more. Save 50% off site wide for a limited time at OmahaSteaks.com plus our listeners get an extra $30 off with the promo code Tony. So use the code, people. That's 50% off@omaha stakes.com and an extra $30 off with promo code Tony. Minimum purchase may apply. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Thursday Night Football is on, and it's only on prime video. This Thursday, west coast rivals collide as the Los Angeles Rams visit the San Francisco 49ers. Join Al Michaels, Kirk Herbstreet and Kaylee Hartung for this exciting matchup. Coverage begins at 7pm Eastern with football's best party, TNF tonight presented by Verizon live from the Bay Area. Not a Prime member. Not a problem. Simply sign up for a 30 day free trial and you can cancel at any time. It's the Rams and 49ers at 7pm Eastern on Thursday Night Football. And it's on Prime Video restrictions apply. See Amazon.com Amazon prime for details. Previously on the Tony Kornhauser Show.
Chuck Todd
I was surprised that he got more.
Tony Kornheiser
$765 million. This is double what Aaron Judge signed for. Aaron Judge has 58 and 62 in recent years. This is double that. This is $5 million. What do you make of the fact that The Yankees offered $5 million less and he took. He took the five and went to the Mets? What do you make of that?
Nigel F. Feinson
This is General George Washington and you're.
Tony Kornheiser
Listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. And it doesn't matter what Wilbon makes of it because Wilbon doesn't care because it's a New York team. But we'll find out what Mark Feinsand makes of it. Yes, we'll have him on later.
Nigel F. Feinson
He was busy over the weekend.
Tony Kornheiser
Mark Feinsand, very busy. Busy. You got. Now all the dominoes start to drop, like Max Freed goes to the Yankees and Nolan Aronado is on the market. And so there's a lot of stuff going on in baseball.
Nigel F. Feinson
Nigel Feinson and I finally have a text chain.
Reginald the Monkey
Well, that was a great text chain. Yeah, I. I was not a great part of it, but yeah, I woke up this morning and saw lots of questions about Blake Trinen and Wanda Su. So hopefully we'll get to all of that today.
Tony Kornheiser
I don't care. I no longer care about Finnegan. I no longer care about who's the other reliever that they dumped. Hunter Harvey. Yeah. Yeah, I don't care.
Reginald the Monkey
Which one was Big Country.
Tony Kornheiser
Well, that was Bryant Reeves, a basketball player.
Reginald the Monkey
Okay.
Tony Kornheiser
There was another one. Yeah, but he was. That wasn't. Or the original Big country was Brian Reeves.
Reginald the Monkey
That's right.
Tony Kornheiser
So. And I should acknowledge that we are joined today, not necessarily for the air, because I don't want to spring that on him, but Tyler Taylor is a investigative reporter at WBAL TV in Baltimore and he has connections to people from the PTI show like Pen Daniel. And he went to St. Andrews. St. Andrews with Kate. Right, Your classmate of Kate, who is Michael's sister in law. And we have all of these things and it's an interesting name. Tally Taylor. And I said, not Ollie Taylor. And he gave me that blank look that anybody under the age of 60 would give me because he doesn't know who Ollie Taylor was. Ali Taylor was a guard on the Nets before the merger and the ABA Nets. He was in the backcourt with John Roche and Billy Melchioni and people like that. Ollie Taylor. That's how I remember that. Anyway, let me get to a couple of things. One sort of weird thing happened yesterday. I get a call and my phone rings and it says, no phone available. No number available.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah, it's always off putting.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. What does that mean?
Nigel F. Feinson
But don't say spam.
Tony Kornheiser
It doesn't say spam, but it says, no number available or call. Call, not whatever it is. And I go, what's this?
Nigel F. Feinson
Is it a 202?
Tony Kornheiser
This guy. It's no.
Reginald the Monkey
There's no note, there's no caller id.
Nigel F. Feinson
I didn't know, you know, an Auto generated.
Tony Kornheiser
No, no caller id. So I go, hello. And it's Mitch Levy. Oh, I said, what are you, Are you underground? You know that you don't have no caller id. So it's Mitch Levy and tells me he's in Arizona, by the way. Mitch has bought a small home, he said, in Arizona, in Scottsdale, like right near Wilbon, North Scottsdale. Not only, not only right near Wilbur. This is so amazing. Like Wilbon figures in everything that I do because Mitch says, I bought, you know, in North Scottsdale or Scottsdale or whatever. And I said, it's right near Wilbon. I explained where Wilbon lived. Wilbon lives. It's not Shadow Creek. It's the other one. Shadow Creek is in Vegas. Whisper Rock. Wilbon lives in Whisper Rock. So then Wilbon calls on an entirely different subject to tell me he just had dinner with the socialite. I said, allen is in Arizona.
Reginald the Monkey
Of course he is.
Mark Feinsand
What?
Tony Kornheiser
Alan was just in Florida the other day. How could he be in Arizona? So I write Alan physical therapy. I go, you're amazing. And he goes, not really, you know, but he's out there. Anyway, anyway, anyway, so Mitch says he's out playing golf. Mitch is a pretty good player, you know, Mitch, single digit player. And a guy comes up to him and says, are you Mitch Levy? Like right out of the box, are you Mitch Levy? Well, somebody. I sort of understand that because of television. I sort of understand that with me, but Mitch was on radio for a million years in Seattle. Mitch was not on television. And he goes, yeah. And he goes, okay, I have listened to you all the way back to when WTM started. I listened to you with Tony on that show and it made me laugh every day when you did this. Mitch then proceeds to tell me a story. I don't even. I say this a lot. I am unburdened by memory. I just don't remember anything really except rock and roll lyrics. So he said that every day on the show on wtem, we did a poll and we asked people to call in. I don't remember this. I don't remember a poll. I don't remember asking people to call in. He said, and Tony didn't like it when people asked how you were doing. I said that absolutely banned from the Tony Kordizer show because just get, you're on the air. Just sing what you want to. Don't. Let's not dance.
Reginald the Monkey
Long time, first time. How you doing?
Tony Kornheiser
Care about any of that hocus pocus? Turned on the radio, you know, and so I didn't remember soliciting phone calls. It's been so long since I solicited phone calls because I realized they're awful. They're just awful. I mean, you have four or five people who call every day who are pretty good or entertaining and everybody else is awful. Right. You know, so I'd much rather have emails because they're just smarter and they're better.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah. Do you remember when I first started with you?
Chuck Todd
No.
Tony Kornheiser
I don't even know who you are.
Reginald the Monkey
It was a while ago and we debated should we take calls. We talked about it on the air and we said, all right, yeah, open up the lines. We took one phone call. We all just said, yeah, we're not doing that.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. So anyway, Mitch, every day, according to this fellow, every day we would have a poll. And I would say at the end of the poll with some statistical question. It wasn't necessarily on the air. It wasn't. I mean, you could call in, but the conceit was that other people were getting in touch with us in, you know, contemporaneously. Right.
Nigel F. Feinson
But this was eight to 10 years before the Internet show.
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, yeah. Oh, sure. So there was a poll, and he said every single day I would say to Mitch, well, what were the results of the poll? And Mitch would say, every single day. You're not gonna believe this. It was split dead evil. And I would laugh and Mitch would laugh and this guy would laugh and he remembered it. I remembered none of this. So I said, so then we had a very pleasant conversation where Mitch reminded me I mentioned something about the grandchildren. And Mitch said, do you not remember that I was at your house? And I said, yeah, it was at a couple of years ago. He says, no, it's about six or seven months ago, I think must have.
Nigel F. Feinson
Been after last year's Thanksgiving.
Tony Kornheiser
I didn't remember that again, either something's wrong with me or I'm simply gleefully unburdened by memory.
Reginald the Monkey
Now, if I said the following words to you. Du lang, Du lang. Du lang. Du lang.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, do lang doodle. He's so fine. Yeah, no, yeah, I know all of those. As you know. I know. Anyway, that's the mid story I wanted to get to. I also took a Covid shot yesterday. Went and took yet another cover shot in my left arm. Oh, in my arm. And you told me to keep raising and lowering my arm. Yeah.
Nigel F. Feinson
Just for the comedic effect.
Tony Kornheiser
I don't have. I have not had any particular pain. Now it's almost 24 hours.
Nigel F. Feinson
Did you wake up in the middle of the night feel. Feeling feverish at all?
Tony Kornheiser
No, No. I woke up in the middle of the night feeling hot because the dog was sleeping on my head. Yep. Yeah. But, no, I didn't know. So I think it's good. I mean, but it always leads me to believe. Is there anything in the vaccine? Or did they just stick a needle in my arm for no reason at all? Anyway, so this time I want to get to a larger point here, and this is about Tom Boswell. Tom Boswell is going to be inducted, recognized by the Baseball hall of Fame for a lifetime of writing achievement. Boz and I worked together for 30 years at the Washington Post. We have a lot in common, but we have things that we don't have in common. What we have in common is we are the same age. And we knew at a very early age that all we wanted to be, all we wanted to be was newspaper sports writers. That was it. Me, in my case, six, seven years old. Boz's case, same way. And that's what we did. Started out on the high school level. Me at Newsday, my local newspaper. Boz at the Washington Post, his local newspaper. He went to St. Stephen's St. Agnes. He played baseball there. Again, same age. Boz went to Amherst smarter than I. Amherst. Went there with a couple of people you might have heard of on this show, Jimmy Steinman and David Eisenhower. He went with them. And Boz, brilliant. We are not close. We have never. We are contemporary contemporaries. I respect him enormously. I assume he respects me as well. But we, even though we did the same thing, we followed a different path. Boz is. And I don't think he'd be offended by this. A baseball poet. Baseball. He saw things in baseball that very few other people saw, and he wrote about them, wrote about them lyrically, and he wrote about them with all the passion that he could summon. And he began writing books like why Time Begins on Opening Day, which he wrote in 1984, when he was. Because he's the same age as I am, in his mid-30s. And he became known throughout the land as a great writer of baseball. He wrote other things, too. He wrote a general column in sports, like I did. You had to write other things. But Baz's true love has always been baseball. He knows a lot about golf. He knows a lot about football. He knows a lot about a lot of things. You have to. You had to be a generalist. But he was also. Baseball was his deal. And he wrote about baseball and loved baseball and went to games and analyzed games. You know, that Bill James stuff. I mean, that's Boz stuff.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
You know, he. Early on, long before anything called Next gen stats, Tom Boswell was looking at numbers and trying to analyze what these numbers meant and who was a good catch and who was not a good catch. And he wrote. He wrote the hell out of baseball. He did. And he went to a million World Series. And he went to, you know, of course, he went to Cal Ripken's Break the Record game. We were all there for that. Now, Boz and I, we, you know, at a Super bowl, we would be writing columns together. And I never asked what he was writing, and he never asked what I was writing, and we never wrote the same thing.
Nigel F. Feinson
Was some of that because you guys didn't share the newsroom because he was working remote even.
Tony Kornheiser
He was the. Yeah. When Boz got the column, when we all got the column, Me and Boz got the column in 1984 or something like that, when Dave Kindred left. Dave Kindred left to go to the Atlanta journal constitution in 1984. And I've told this story before, and Ben Bradley came over to me and said, I'd like you and I'd like Tom Boswell to write the column. And I was writing a lot of Style section stuff, and I really liked what I was doing. And I said, yeah, I really. Thanks. It doesn't really interest me. I mean, I really like the job I've got. I want to stay in the Style section, the sports section, write features. I don't really want to write a column. Ben left two days later. Ben said, so what's the start date on that column? So, because there was. I was going. I was going to write it, but it took two of us to replace Kindred. It took Tom Boswell and Tony Korneiser together to replace Kindred. Dave Kindred was that good.
Nigel F. Feinson
It would take you just to write his holiday card.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Which is a real. Yeah. Which goes on and on forever and ever. So we started to do that, and we didn't stay out of each other's way as much as we just picked different lanes. I mean, that's just what we did. I saw the column as a chance to be funny, to be eclectic and funny and be a wise guy, which is what I was very good at in high school and college. And Baz saw the column with a different calling. And Baz saw it, it was going to be mostly baseball, and Boz was going to devote him. He had already devoted himself to baseball. He's a great baseball look, he's a great writer. He's a brilliant guy, and he is a great writer. He chose to concentrate his writing on baseball. The hall of Fame should have inducted him years ago.
Nigel F. Feinson
If you have not read his piece that I think ran on the Internet yesterday about Steve Cohen and the Soto contract, he should. Nothing like using steel extended art sale metaphor to talk about how you value the potential of a player. And the last paragraph is exactly what you talked about in terms of the poetry and how we all see the game.
Tony Kornheiser
This is who Baz is. Baz in columns would quote the French philosopher lerochefoucault. I would try to make fun of Jerry Lewis. You know, we're just different. We're just different. And we're, you know, again, we're not. We're not. We've never been close. I'm thrilled for him. They should have done this long ago. In the words of Errol Morris, who accepted an Academy Award for the Fog of War, a documentary, his fifth or sixth documentary, his name is announced. He gets up there, he holds the award, and this is his entire speech. What took you so long? What took them so long to put Boz in the hall of Fame? I think he's going to get a chance to talk. I think that's going to be great fun up at Cooperstown. I'm sure he's going to stay at the greatest hotel in the world in Cooperstown, the Odesauga, because he's inducted. He's going to be inducted into the hall of Fame and good for him. And we stand back and we applaud Tom Boswell today. We'll take a break. Is it Feinstein or Chuck?
Reginald the Monkey
Chuck First.
Tony Kornheiser
Chuck Todd. When we return to pick games, I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. This is the Collars and Co Read. They sent me three shirts.
Reginald the Monkey
Oh, that's right.
Tony Kornheiser
They were really pretty.
Reginald the Monkey
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
I have not yet worn them. I just. I haven't. You need to wear them under a sweater. I mean, if you're gonna go out, you can't wear them under a vest because they are short sleeves. I mean, you can, but the whole purpose is to wear them under a sweater. And I haven't worn them yet. And I was looking.
Nigel F. Feinson
Avoid that bunch.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I don't have. I don't have that many sweaters anymore that, you know, the traditional either V neck or crewneck sweater, which.
Nigel F. Feinson
The crew neck on top of which.
Tony Kornheiser
They're gonna look great.
Reginald the Monkey
Right?
Tony Kornheiser
Right. Yes, they were under which rather not. The sweater would be on top, but I haven't gotten to that yet and I look at them and I they're really nice. How'd they feel? They feel great. They're really nice.
Reginald the Monkey
Nice colors.
Tony Kornheiser
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Mark Feinsand
Oh, pure anger.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
This is.
Mark Feinsand
You know, you got me all worked up over the Hurricanes. You know, I just couldn't.
Tony Kornheiser
That's right.
Mark Feinsand
The College Football Playoff and, you know, my rants against the sec. I will say this. I think the committee stumbled into correction. Stumbled into a. Correct. As good of a bracket as I could have come up with.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. I mean, okay, I have two problems with it. I mean, I would have taken Alabama over smu, but that's small. It doesn't make me livid. It's not criminal. It's okay. They had a terrible loss. It's okay. But I think they should be ranking the teams 1 through 12, you know?
Mark Feinsand
Oh, I agree with that, too.
Tony Kornheiser
That's the next step.
Mark Feinsand
I'm totally confused. You're like, arizona State is. What are they, 12?
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. They're low down.
Mark Feinsand
Something like that. And you're like, but they're the four seed.
Tony Kornheiser
Yes.
Mark Feinsand
I don't understand that.
Tony Kornheiser
It doesn't work.
Mark Feinsand
You know, I agree that conference champions give me automatic. That's good. By the way, I messed around. If they go to 16.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
It solves the entire issue. There is almost no controversy. If you get to 16. If you get 16, you'd have one more automatic bid this year. That have been Army. Everybody will have loved that with the aac and you'd have three more at large. And guess what? It would have been Alabama, Miami and South Carolina.
Tony Kornheiser
Not Ole Miss. Not Ole Miss. You would have probably South Carolina over Ole Miss. Okay.
Mark Feinsand
Because Ole Miss lost late. South Carolina one late.
Tony Kornheiser
They were. Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
You know. Right. I probably take. I think they get the call. But then all of a sudden you'd had 5 sec. So Greg Sankey could shut his mouth.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
Shut up. I want that guy to shut up. I can't. He drives me nuts. But he'd get five teams out of 16. Don't you think that solves the problem?
Tony Kornheiser
Well, I mean my experience teaches me that when you have 64 teams in the NCAA tournament, the 65th team is always complaining and the, you know, chairman of or commissioner of their conference is always screaming. Yeah. And I'm tired of listening to it. I just don't want to listen to it.
Mark Feinsand
No, I hear you. But I do think 16 solves the whole thing. By the way, one more rant.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
Can we get rid of the bowl, postseason bowls and move them all to the preseason?
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, they're all stupid.
Mark Feinsand
Put them all to the preseason, then the games actually count.
Tony Kornheiser
So I have a question for you.
Mark Feinsand
Yeah, buddy.
Tony Kornheiser
Cam Ward is one of the finalists of. You know. And Cam Ward's fine. Cam Ward is legit. But how could Shedeur Sanders not be in the finals? He's the. He's going to go number one. He's the best quarterback. How could he not be in.
Mark Feinsand
I'm not 100% convinced he's the first quarterback taken. I think. I think we'll see what happens. I think Ward might be the first quarterback kicking, but we'll see. Some of it may be having to do where Dion wants Sugar to go.
Tony Kornheiser
Yes, I think so.
Mark Feinsand
But, but I mean it's just a class. I mean to put on my political analysis hat when you have two people from the same party that's running, you're going to split vote. We have two people from the same team.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I think, I mean Hunter just.
Mark Feinsand
Got all the votes. And by the way, to Teon's credit, who did he promote?
Tony Kornheiser
He. Not his kid. He promoted the other kid because the other kid played his position, you know, and he related to it better. And by the way, that kid is going to win in a landslide. Genty should and I should win, but could win and should be close. But this kid's going to win in a landslide because this is football's version of Shohei Otani. He's going to win.
Mark Feinsand
Chuck Bed Narik.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, right.
Mark Feinsand
Isn't he the last great two way player?
Tony Kornheiser
So he's going to. He's going to win in A landslide, I think. All right, let's get to games. Games are good this week. They are not like last week. These games are good. Let's start with tomorrow night. The Rams, who looked great against the bills, against the 49ers, who looked great against a weaker team, against the Bears, held them to 4 yards in the first half. 4 yards. More punts than yards. Shut up with them. Will Bond stop? The Rams are getting two and a half. I believe the Rams have already beaten San Francisco in LA this year. I'm not certain of that. They're getting two and a half in what is a very attractive game.
Mark Feinsand
And is it loser leaves town?
Tony Kornheiser
Probably, Yeah, I think so.
Mark Feinsand
Well, I have to say, Shanahan, shut up. A lot of critics, there were a lot of, myself included, who were ready to write off San Francisco, saw that as sort of the back to back losses. This was it. The Bears have been, you know, the new coach, momentum, all that. I'm going to go with the Niners on this one divisional game and you're.
Tony Kornheiser
Going to give the two and a half you didn't give?
Mark Feinsand
I'm going to give. I'm going to give the two and a half. That's a lot. It felt like the Rams played two football games against the Bills, didn't it? I mean, that just, it was a great game, but that just. I wonder if that took something out of them.
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, I'm being. Nigel's holding something up and I can't beat San Francisco in week three. 27, 24. Yeah, I knew they beat him. All right, we'll move on to the obligatory Washington football team game. They're at New Orleans. I don't know if Derek Carr can play. I watched that play a hundred times. I have no idea why he was trying to hurdle anybody on the sideline like that. Made no sense to me. I don't know if Derek Carr can play. Washington is favored by seven on the road. When's the last time Washington was favored by seven on the road? It's like I gotta be 30 years ago, right? You're gonna give seven New Orleans. That's a lot of.
Mark Feinsand
That's a lot of points. But this is kind of a homecoming for Jaden Daniels, right?
Tony Kornheiser
I guess. Lsu, you know, I don't know what.
Mark Feinsand
To make of the Saints.
Tony Kornheiser
They stink.
Mark Feinsand
I know they do, but are they done?
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, right. Well, they're in that terrible division where nobody's ever done right.
Mark Feinsand
And I'm gonna go with the commanders just because I can't bring myself. I. Last week I regret. I think I bet on the Arthur Blanks, and that's among my one and my five losses.
Tony Kornheiser
He's a bozo. That guy's a bozo. Arthur Blank, he had a chance to get Bill Belichick to coach his team. Took two interviews, didn't take him. How's that working out?
Mark Feinsand
Yeah, see, is he good? Belichick, Is he a good coach?
Tony Kornheiser
You hear? He knows what he's doing. Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
So I just want to fix aid the entire NFC south to the commanders.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, here we go. Miami at Houston. Miami's up from two and a half. Miami getting three at Houston. Houston a disappointing team this year, but, you know, conceivably a playoff team. Miami with TUA much better than without tua, but not great, you know, really not great. Miami getting three. That's your team or your youth, who you got?
Mark Feinsand
You know, the Miami Dolphins used to have a fight song, and it was the exact same melody as the Houston Oilers fight.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mark Feinsand
It used to drive me crazy. I'm like, why can't we come up with our own? Or whoever had it first should keep it and the other one shouldn't do it. But it was always. By the way, neither fight song was any good.
Tony Kornheiser
No, fight songs for pro teams is stupid.
Mark Feinsand
It was stupid.
Tony Kornheiser
It's good when you're nine. It's not good after that.
Mark Feinsand
And it really doesn't work anymore with the Commanders when they try to rewrite the word no. Boy, you know, I'm going to fade all the south divisions, they all disappoint.
Tony Kornheiser
So you're going to take Miami in three.
Mark Feinsand
I'm going to take Miami in the point.
Tony Kornheiser
Miami in three against Houston. Here's a game worth watching. Buffalo at Detroit. Buffalo is getting two and a half points. Buffalo just lost to the Rams in a Great game. Scored 42. Highest amount of points all year for a team that lost. Detroit looks like. Looks like the best team. Their plus minus is 183. They are 12 and 1 plus 183. Kansas City's plus minus, a 12 and 1 56. What does that tell you kids? Buffalo getting two and a half at Detroit. I don't think it's a must game for either team. I don't. But I wonder who you take.
Mark Feinsand
This is the super bowl preview, right?
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
This is the script writer. You know, my son buys into the whole. If they're. If there's. If this is a script. In fact, I have a Bills fan, fan in my life who, who's convinced this is the year they beat Kansas City. They're gonna get to the super bowl and lose to any. Has all these curse words.
Tony Kornheiser
Detroit. Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
You know, that. That would be the ultimate sort of, you know, the lovable losers of the NFL. You know, Buffalo was the first team to score, what was it, six touchdowns without a turnover and lose.
Tony Kornheiser
I didn't know that.
Mark Feinsand
It was something like.
Tony Kornheiser
Josh Allen was pretty good. Yeah, he's pretty good.
Mark Feinsand
The ball over. They scored 42 points and they didn't win. I think it was the first time ever in NFL history, something like that. I got. I mean, this is total coin flip, and I'm going to go with the home team.
Tony Kornheiser
You can take Detroit.
Mark Feinsand
I'm just going to take the home team. But this should be 100 points scored, right?
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. And it'll end up being 16 to 13. I know.
Mark Feinsand
It's indoors, though. I mean, it should be. Attract me. Yeah, it should be attractive.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, it's indoors. You're right. You're right. All right, here's another great game. Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Pittsburgh's getting five. Philadelphia has people on their team saying, we can't complete a pass and the receiver hates the quarterback. Now, I think that that actually helps. I do. I think that becomes a teaching moment. But Jalen hurts. Last week, he didn't even pass for 120 yards.
Mark Feinsand
Well, he's a great teacher.
Tony Kornheiser
He's not the best at that. They could bring somebody in who would understand it, but Pittsburgh's getting five. Russell Wilson, much to my chagrin because I said he was done. Russell Wilson's been great. Nobody says MVP because he hasn't played all that many games, but he's been very, very good. And Philadelphia has a great record, but they're. They're, you know, in that Kansas City syndrome of just winning by a little and winning where you go, what's wrong here? Five's a lot.
Nigel F. Feinson
You going sheets or wawa?
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Oh.
Mark Feinsand
Oh, that's pretty good.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Who you got?
Mark Feinsand
And there's no. There's no George. The reason it went up. Pickens is not playing is no Pickens. But I couldn't live on myself if I went against Tomlin getting that many points.
Tony Kornheiser
So you're taking Pittsburgh with five.
Mark Feinsand
I'm going to take Pittsburgh and the five and, you know, and I'd love to. Wouldn't you love to see Tomlin and Sirianni just drop the glove?
Tony Kornheiser
I don't think it's going to happen.
Mark Feinsand
To be a coach that might actually get into a fight with another coach.
Tony Kornheiser
It's possible yeah, it's possible. It'd be wrong to get in a fight with Tomlin and be a mistake. Well, yes, that'd be a mistake. That'd be a mistake. Here's another great game. Two teams on the periphery of the playoffs with really good quarterbacks. Tampa Bay and the Chargers. Tampa Bay getting three at the Chargers. Tampa Bay. Tough team to figure. Baker Mayfield Reclamation project working.
Mark Feinsand
The Chargers don't score points and I thought they would be better at this by now, but they have. It doesn't seem to be anybody that Herbert can throw the ball to that's healthy.
Tony Kornheiser
Right.
Mark Feinsand
And when your best receiver is the new kid McConkey who's. Is he the son of Phil McConkey?
Tony Kornheiser
I don't think so. But I always ask myself the same question. Is he related to Phil McConkey or is he a grandson of Phil McConkey at this point?
Chuck Todd
That's true.
Mark Feinsand
You're right. Well, you know, these are all we have, these little machines at our fingertips that can tell us these answers. You know, maybe Nigel can get us the answer. Before I'm done picking this game, I'm going to go with.
Tony Kornheiser
What machine is that? A space heater. That's the only machine I use in my house. Who are you picking on this game?
Mark Feinsand
I'm going to go with the bucks.
Tony Kornheiser
You take Tampa Bay. Okay. And speaking of reclamation projects, Geno Smith is a reclamation project. He's 34 years old. He's been playing.
Mark Feinsand
I think it's finished. I mean, it's complete, right?
Tony Kornheiser
Yes. He's been playing so well for two years. Seattle has won three games in a row. They're home against Green Bay. Green Bay is, you know, one of those teams that's sort of. If you're going to pick from the outside, Green Bay is a Super bowl team to a lot of people. You have a very young, good quarterback there, Jordan Love. And now a very good old quarterback in Geno Smith. And as I say, Seattle has won three games in a row. Nobody believes in them or that division, but they've won three in a row. Green Bay is a road favorite minus three.
Mark Feinsand
This is likely right now, the playoffs. I think this would be the first round playoff game.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay.
Mark Feinsand
Seattle being the division.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, they win it. Yeah.
Mark Feinsand
It would be a 3, 6 boy. Seattle and Green Bay have played some incredible games. Back in the Aaron Rodgers, Pete Carroll days, it always seemed that these games were super close. I have to say, I hate and I don't know if I'm doing this just to. Just to sort of Give myself a safety valve here or something. But Seattle getting points at home, that's usually a pretty good bet.
Tony Kornheiser
It was with Pete Carroll. I don't know about this guy. I don't know.
Mark Feinsand
You know, every one of their games are always close. You know, you don't. You don't blow Geno out. He always finds a way back into these things.
Tony Kornheiser
Yep.
Mark Feinsand
I'll go. Seattle plus three.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay, Seattle plus three. Good luck. Let's get a better week than last week. Thank you, Chuck.
Mark Feinsand
Yeah, man. All right, guys.
Tony Kornheiser
Chuck Todd. Boys and girls, if we gave you just Chuck Todd, that would be enough. This is Chuck Todd. He's plus 19 on the year. But of course we give you a monkey. See the monkey, he's scritch scritch scratching, sing along Watching his iPad Smoking and laughing Hanging with Bud Grant Tap, tap.
Reginald the Monkey
Tapping on his purple attache Nigel's going.
Tony Kornheiser
To the zoo, zoo, zoo Reginald's got.
Reginald the Monkey
The vice Sometimes he throws poo, poo.
Tony Kornheiser
Poo when he's had too much Johnny Walker Blue so what do you got?
Reginald the Monkey
How did the monkey do last week? He did all right.
Tony Kornheiser
Monkey was 2, 0 and 1. But the monkey's still under 500.
Reginald the Monkey
Still under 500.
Tony Kornheiser
18, 20 and 1.
Reginald the Monkey
But he can see Mount 500.
Tony Kornheiser
He can see it. Yeah.
Reginald the Monkey
We'll see if he can get.
Tony Kornheiser
Depending on whether or not he's had Lasik surgery, I don't know.
Reginald the Monkey
So I went by the National Zoo to have my chat with him. And normally it's a very chaotic scene. This was a low key atmosphere at his flat. He was having a nice quiet night with some friends. A game night. Some of the things they were playing included Boggle, which I know you're a fan of. Boggle Pictionary. And a game Reginald is very fond of called Eat the Grubs.
Tony Kornheiser
Eat the Grubs.
Reginald the Monkey
Not quite sure how that's played, but he enjoys it much. And some of the people I know you're always interested in. Who was there with him? Ken Dryden was there. Neil Degrassi, Tyson and Megan Fox. I think he's trying to console her from a breakup with Machine Gun Kelly. I know you've been watching that story.
Tony Kornheiser
I don't know who these people are. I don't.
Reginald the Monkey
She's an actress.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay. Yes. Good for her. Yes.
Reginald the Monkey
And she just recently broke up with Machine Gun Kelly.
Tony Kornheiser
Who is Machine Gun Kelly?
Reginald the Monkey
I think he's a singer.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay. There you go.
Reginald the Monkey
So they took some break from the games to go over these matches. The first one we gave him was the Rams getting two and a half at San Francisco. And Reginald showed very proudly, showed me a photograph in his wallet of him driving down Imperial highway with the top down and a big nasty redhead by his side. Tells me he's got ties to Los Angeles. He will take the ranks.
Tony Kornheiser
He's got Randy Newman. That's all you need. That's all you need. That's all you need.
Reginald the Monkey
Now the next match we gave him was the Washington football team getting seven at the Saints. And this was a lovely little picture he showed me of him racing dune buggies along with Richie Pettibone, Jay Schrader and Neil Okowitz.
Tony Kornheiser
So he's going to take Washington. He always takes Washington.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah, he seems like he's a fan.
Tony Kornheiser
He's stuck on Washington.
Reginald the Monkey
He really is, really. And the last match we gave him was the Bills getting two and a half at the Lions. And this was an interesting picture he showed me of him at a performance of La Boheme with Andre Reed, Marv Levy and Cornelius Bennett.
Tony Kornheiser
What were they doing there exactly?
Reginald the Monkey
Just a night out with the guys. You know, boys night out.
Tony Kornheiser
You wouldn't think that they would go to la. Boy. You wouldn't think. I mean, maybe, but I feel like. So he's taking three road teams?
Reginald the Monkey
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
The Monkey's taking three road road warriors. We'll see how it goes. This week's picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald the Monkey have been brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. We'll come back with Mark Fine Sand. Yes.
Reginald the Monkey
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
To explain Juan Soto to us, I'm Tony Kornheiser.
Chuck Todd
This is the Tony Kornheiser show.
Tony Kornheiser
This is the aura. Read from big events to the moments you capture every day. Doesn't it sometimes feel like all your favorite photos are just stuck on your camera roll? Wouldn't it be great to have an easy way to share and enjoy them with friends and family? That's where aura comes in. Name the number one digital photo frame by wirecutter. Aura makes it effortless to upload unlimited photos and videos directly from your phone, so your favorite memories are always within view. Plus, you can personalize and preload an aura frame for a truly special, unforgettable gift. I have this. It's great. Michael has this. It's great. Michael loads mine. And every time I say, could you get us some more pictures? Could you get some more?
Nigel F. Feinson
Very demanding. But it's great to know that I can control the app and when you've been good, I can give you those photos.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, you don't have to spend time on your phone. It's moving.
Reginald the Monkey
It cycles through.
Tony Kornheiser
It's moving all the time. Time. It's lovely.
Reginald the Monkey
Great.
Tony Kornheiser
It's lovely. Have it on all the time. Save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get $35 off Aura's best selling Carver Matte frames by using the promo code Tony K at checkout. That's Aura A U R A frames.com promo code Tony K. This deal is exclusive to listeners, so get yours now in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions apply. Use the code, people. This is the Tony Kornheiser show. This is Simplisafe. Read if you ever worry about the safety of your home and family, there's no better time to act. Right now, Simplisafe is extending its massive Black Friday deal from my listeners. Get 50% off a new Simplisafe security system. Simplisafe is the home security you can trust. Just ask Nigel. He's been using it for a while now. He loves the peace of mind it brings knowing his home is protected 24. 7.
Reginald the Monkey
Well, as you know, I've got a lot of high value items in my flat and I need the best security I can get. And that's why we work with Simplisafe. It's not really a great system. It's easy to set up. There's lots of great customer service along the way. Does not break your bank. It's just great. And the peace of mind you get is worth everything.
Tony Kornheiser
50% off right now. Simplisafe is a new way to protect your home that stops intruders before they break into your house. Old school systems only take action once someone's already inside. It's too late. Simplisafe's active guard outdoor protection changes the game by preventing crime before it even happens. If someone's lurking around. Love the word lurking. Or acting suspiciously. Those agents see them in real time, talk to them directly. Hey, set off your spotlights and even call the police before the culprits have had a chance to break in. Simplisafe is extending its massive Black Friday deal for my listeners this week only you can get 50% off any new system with a select professional monitoring plan is your last chance to claim their best offer of the year. So head to simplisafe.com Tony that's SimpliSafe. S I m p l I simplisafe.com Tony because there's no safe like Simplisafe. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. Once again, this is the greeting. This is a song called Need Sounds just like over. And the beginnings of all their songs sound the same.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
If you like them, you're going to like all of them.
Reginald the Monkey
Exactly.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, it's pretty good. They're playing in Mark Feinstein, who we'll get to in a second. But first, Michael, if people like the greeting or anybody with original music wants to send in their original music for us to play it on the air, how do they do it?
Nigel F. Feinson
Send us your music by emailing it to jinglesonycornizershow.com we have a few second graders who are looking to start a band, so.
Tony Kornheiser
Is that right?
Nigel F. Feinson
Play this for them later.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay. Please don't let them do that. K A R S Cars for Kids song. No, that gets in your head. You can never get rid of it. It's awful. Beyond the word no.
Nigel F. Feinson
It's in my head.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. I knew I was going to hurt you by saying maybe I could get.
Nigel F. Feinson
Captain and acting good.
Tony Kornheiser
Here we go with Mark Feinstein. Let's just start. Let's just start with the. Really the only question that matters. Why the Mets? Why not the Yankees?
Chuck Todd
Well, I think there were a couple of numbers that were pretty important to Juan Soto. From what I'm guessing, the first one was 700 million. He got that offer from at least two teams, the Mets and the Yankees.
Tony Kornheiser
That's right.
Chuck Todd
Potentially a third out there with Toronto. But the Mets were offering him 15 years, the Yankees were offering him 16 years. And the difference there doesn't seem to be great when you're talking about, all right, so you're signed through 41 or.
Tony Kornheiser
42, 1% of the total contract. 2%. It's nothing. It's nothing.
Chuck Todd
Right. But that. But that brought the annual average value of the contract over $50 million. And for Scott Boris, for Juan Soto, that's a benchmark. That's a number that had never been hit before. And now they are $50 million players. Because the Ohtani thing, it's 700 million over 10 years. But with the deferrals, the average annual value is considered in present day value about $46 million. The $50 million. The other thing is Soto was looking at which team do you like, you know, which team do you think is going to be able to contend? They're both going to be able to contend. But going to the Mets also gives him an owner who clearly has no limitations on what he's willing to do in terms of spending money and how Snebrner went To a place that I don't think many people expected him to go. I figured that how was going to get somewhere into the mid-600 millions. And when it just kept going up, at some point he was just going to say uncle. He didn't. He went up to $760 million, which I think was surprising to me and a lot of other people. But Steve Cohen has done this and they're not done spending and they're going to do more. And Soto knows that this is a team that whatever's happening, their owner is going to continue to spend. And look, I don't think there was a bad decision for him. He gets to stay in the same city he's been playing in for the last year, guessing he's going to live in the same place. And if he liked his experience in New York, well, he gets to stay there.
Tony Kornheiser
What is the percentage of 100%, excuse me? What is the percentage that this meant more to Soto or to Boris in your estimation?
Chuck Todd
I think Soto. But it meant a lot to Scott Boris, especially after last winter when we talked about.
Tony Kornheiser
That's right, he beat down last winter.
Chuck Todd
That really, you know, struggled and went into February and March and had to take shorter term deals. And you know, Scott had done a number of deals already this winter.
Tony Kornheiser
He did. Snell did a good job.
Chuck Todd
Blake Snell, he got used to coochie $63 million over three years. He got Tyler O'Neill almost $50 million with the Orioles. And most staggering thing I heard that Tyler O'Neill did with the Orioles was the first multi year contract to a free agent. The Orioles had given out in like six or seven years, which is amazing to think about when you think that they've actually been a pretty good team the last couple of years.
Tony Kornheiser
But it's homegrown.
Chuck Todd
But Boris had been, you know, beaten down last year and I think it was very important to him and he's not done. He's still got Alex Bregman, he's still got Corbin Burns, he's still got Pete Alonso, he's still got Shaw mania. He's having a good offseason and it's, it's still got some potential to be better. What I thought about and what I've talked about a lot in the last 48 hours since the Soto deal went down. If Ohtani had signed last year for 10 years and $475 million, which would have been with no deferrals, which would have been more present day money than he actually got, what do you think Soto would have gotten. I don't think we ever would have even heard the number 700, I think, because 700 happened, that was the new target for Soto and Boris. I think he would have gotten 550 or so, and we all would have been sitting here going, my God, I can't believe he got 550. But instead, that 700 number became the target. And to get that number at 765 with no deferrals, it's a pretty staggering contract.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. I think Boris, all over his house, has these big numbers that he looks in every single room because he may or may not be the devil, and I think he is. You can feel free to disagree with me on what I'm going to say now, but to me, it's a marginal difference between the Yankees and the Mets. Marginal 1%, 2%. So it then looked personal to me. It looked like. And I thought that Soto, every time I saw him come up to the plate with the Yankees, I thought he was happy. I thought he was happy playing with Aaron Judge and not having all the pressure on him. But this looked to me personal, like, no, I'm getting out of here. There's something I don't want with the Yankees and I want it with the Mets. Please tell me I'm wrong, because I'll be happy to be wrong on that. But it seemed that way to me.
Chuck Todd
So I can't say that I know Juan Soto well enough to get inside of his head like that or to know if there was anything personal.
Tony Kornheiser
Right.
Chuck Todd
He's got friends over on the Mets. I mean, you know, so now you're playing with Francisco Lindor, who was a good buddy of his, and, you know, he played in the National League east for a long time. I mean, personally, if my objective is to win, to get back to the World Series, to win the World Series, I'm not saying that the Yankees roster right now, as it's constructed as a better chance, or the Mets, Roger. I look at it and say the National League's much harder.
Tony Kornheiser
Much harder. You have the Dodgers there in your own division. You have the Phillies and Braves. It's much harder.
Chuck Todd
Yeah. And so, you know, that's something that I may have surprised me a little bit, but I've said from the beginning of this whole thing, this is going to come down to whoever put the most money in front of him was going to get him. And that's how it played out. And I understand it's a small percentage in terms of going from 765 overall. 60. Yeah, but you know, 15 years for 16 years makes it three and a half million dollars more per season that he's making. You know, the opt out to me is almost irrelevant because unless he hates it at the Mets, he's not opting out. Because most of these opt out clauses go into effect when the market has been reset since you signed your deal. And you think, okay, now I'm going to be able to opt out and get more money. Nobody else is getting this, not getting that in the next five years. Nobody's getting anybody's getting this money in the next 15 years. So, you know, this is a contract that was the perfect storm of being one of the five best hitters or three best hitters or maybe the best hitter in baseball. However you want to categorize Soto, he's right at that top 1% who was 26 years old in free agency in a situation where you had the Yankees, the Mets, the Red Sox, the Dodgers and the Blue Jays as the team's chasing you and one of those owners worth in upwards of 18 or 20 billion dollars who wasn't going to lose you and wasn't going to be outbid.
Tony Kornheiser
The Yankees rebound by signing Max Fried. I didn't see that coming. You know, these Harvard Westlake kids signing all over the world. He's a very good signing lefty starter is always good if he's healthy. He's been quite good for a while. What else do they have in mind? You know, would, would they. Anthony Rizzo is a fine player who always gets hurt. Would they sign Pete Alonso?
Chuck Todd
I think it's more likely that they sign Christian Walker. Who the Diamondbacks Gold Glove first baseman doesn't have maybe the home run power as Alonso, but has plenty of power and is maybe the best first baseman defensively in the game. And he's also 34 and is only going to require probably a three year contract, whereas Alonso is looking for the longer term deal. I also personally think the optics of losing Juan Soto to the Mets and then saying we'll go sign the Mets guy aren't great. Okay, I think, but I don't think Viegis. That's not why they're not going to sign Alonso. I don't think. I don't think they have great interest in Alonso. They've had the slugging bad defensive first baseman before and they know that that more often than not results in somebody being a designated hitter before too long. I think, I think Walker is more of a possibility. I think you have to look at the trade market with the Yankees as well. Cody Bellinger is a guy who could fill the left field vacancy. He could fill the first base vacancy. And Nolan are not as a guy on their radar as well. He's got a no trade, so he can decide whether he'd want to go there or not. But it looks like St. Louis is certainly moving him if they can get a deal. And I think the Yankees could move Jazz just in second base, put Aaron out of third. There's still work to do. They still need a reliever and they were definitely going to get a starter. And I had, I had written several times, I thought Max Freed was their top target. Really nice deal for him. $282 million, the most ever for a left handed pitcher. So, you know, I think the Yankees, they pivoted quickly, they rebounded and made the first big signing. But I don't think their off season is done. I think that Brian Cashman has a lot more work to do.
Tony Kornheiser
Nolan Arenado only gives you 10 gold gloves at third base. Where do you think, where do you think Alonso will end up?
Chuck Todd
I think he winds up back with the Mets because again. Well, because again, signing Soto doesn't mean that the Mets are done and finished spending money. Wouldn't surprise me if he ends up back with the Mets on like a five year deal, but with an opt out after the first or second year so that he can potentially go back and test the market again if he doesn't get what he wants this year. But the problem is that the couple of teams that make sense for him baseball wise probably don't have the money to spend that he wants. And so, you know, you look at a team like Seattle unless they move a whole bunch of money, but I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe a fit there, but I don't think that's really an option. You know, the Cubs or the Astros, I don't think they're going to do that. So, you know, there are teams that need a first baseman but aren't looking to spend the money that Alonzo is probably looking for. The guy was turned down $158 million a couple years ago. And you know, so he's got a sort of a number in his head that he needs to beat in order to make himself not wish he had taken that contract.
Tony Kornheiser
Alex Bregman, will he leave the Astros? Altuve?
Chuck Todd
I think so.
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, you do?
Chuck Todd
I think so.
Tony Kornheiser
Where does he know?
Chuck Todd
I think the Yankees are a possibility for him as well. If they are, nothing didn't happen. Or maybe they like him ahead of Aaron Otto. Houston's had this sort of unofficial policy. They haven't given a player more than six years in free agency. And Alex Bergman is going to get more than six years in free agency. The Astros made him this initial offer recently. I believe it was six years, 156 million. Well, when you watch Willie Adamas get seven for 182, you know that Alex Bregman is not getting less than that. So, you know, unless the Astros decide to come up on on their offer in terms of years, I don't think he stays there. But again, I think he's one of those guys, you know, you start to see domino's falling. So Detroit would make a lot of sense for him or union with A.J. hinch. I think that's certainly possible. Really good player, had a tough start to 2024, but bounced back over the last four or five months. And someone's gonna get him for a lot of money. And I don't see this being a situation where he's one of these guys like last year's Boris clients who limp into February and March and they're still looking for a job.
Tony Kornheiser
I've been told you're having breakfast with somebody important, and I should ask you on the way out, who is the breakfast with?
Chuck Todd
Who you have breakfast. So they do thing at the winter meetings every year called the manager's breakfast, and it's for the beat writers and the columnists of each city to have sort of an informal social breakfast with the manager from the team they cover. Fortunately for me, the Kansas City Royals don't have enough beat writers and columnists at the winter meetings from Kansas City to fill a table for 10. So I was extended an invite by the team to come sit with our buddy Matt Quattraro.
Tony Kornheiser
That's great.
Chuck Todd
So I'm going to go have breakfast with Matt and a couple of Kansas City media folks, and I told him that I was doing the podcast before we had our breakfast today. So Matt sends his best.
Tony Kornheiser
That's wonderful. That's just great. Enjoy the breakfast and thanks as always. Thank you, Mark.
Chuck Todd
Thanks, Tony.
Tony Kornheiser
Mark Feinsand, boys and girls. We will come back with email and jingle. I am Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. This is the Etsy read. Etsy knows what kind of holiday gifting reactions you're looking for this year. You want squeals of delight, happy tears, and spontaneously written songs of joy, right? Well, to get reactions like those, you need to make sure everyone on your list feels heard with handmade, handpicked and designed gifts from small shops on Etsy. Etsy makes it so simple to find original items that will make whoever I'm shopping for feel extra special. Shop Etsy this holiday season for personalized jewelry, custom artwork, cozy style items, vintage pieces and home decor to celebrate all of your favorite people and their specific kind of special. For original gifts that say I get you, Etsy has it.
F
You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.
Tony Kornheiser
The Tony Kornheiser Show. James Bug, not Jim Bug from Columbia, who I knew who once said Horn Heiser. Is that a Swedish name? I said yeah, Southern Sweden. Yeah, Swedish. Really?
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah. Well, you grew up on a steel farm, right?
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, grew steel all the time.
Chuck Todd
James Bug.
Tony Kornheiser
James Bug, not Jim Buck. Want to do the Bethesda Bagel ad for us?
Reginald the Monkey
Bethesda Bagels. We love them. You will as well. Just go to Bethesda Bagels for the location in the D.C. area nearest you. Then pop on in and you will be thrilled.
Tony Kornheiser
Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say, like a country morning all smothered and dew she's got a way to make a man feel shiny and new and she'll sing in the evening old familiar tunes and she feeds me love and tenderness and macaroon Sweet, sweet city woman I can see your face I can hear your voice I can almost touch you. Those are Stampeders. Yes. I don't know if that's because they're from Calgary. I don't know.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah, I don't know how they got their name.
Tony Kornheiser
I don't know that. Yeah, you could probably look that up. Are they Canadian? The Calgary Stampeders. That. Isn't that a football team?
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah, Canadian football team.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I think so. My thanks to Chuck Todd and Mark Fine San. My thanks to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey if you get show through Apple. Please leave us a review. Let's get to some emails.
Nigel F. Feinson
I give a quick thanks to Joe Pearson for the Peruvian marinade recipe. Looks very good.
Tony Kornheiser
Indianapolis. Joe Pearson, right.
Nigel F. Feinson
Good recall. Yeah, I appreciate the the time suggestion. No less than five hours. A little bit worried about the acid turning the pork or the chicken a little bit. Tough as it's. I'm going to try it.
Tony Kornheiser
Let's try it. Peruvian. Yeah.
Nigel F. Feinson
It might be a little spicy for you, but if I don't tell you, who knows?
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, we'll see.
Reginald the Monkey
So I have this for you. Formed in Calgary Alberta in 1964 as the rebounds. They later renamed themselves the Stampeders.
Tony Kornheiser
So there you go.
Chuck Todd
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Stephen Cole in Charlotte, North Carolina I also have cbs. Please tell Ken and Tom that's fun. That's funny. Carl Laubach in Nazareth, Pennsylvania I don't have the Red zone. I'd like to drop some. Drop by Sunday around 10. 10:01 if that playroom is available, please forward your address. I'll bring my own snacks and drinks. I'll see you. Mark hughes, ashton, MD chuck&roxy292 I gotta ask, what TV package doesn't include CBS? Does Ken not have TV at all? Love your description of Ken's brother in law showing up with food and drinks. That is a well prepared guest. Kevin Burke from Chicago on this week's episode of Curb youb Enthusiasm, Larry's neighbor Ken shows up on a Sunday afternoon and asks Larry if his brother in law can watch a football game on TV in his house. Larry puts the brother in law in the grandkids playroom to watch the game. Hilarity ensues. These are brilliant. These are all brilliant. Dr. John Goldblum, he's back with us. My son Ryan listens to the show every day and loves it when you read my emails. He loves it even more when others write emails that out me as a moron. It's true Jon Stewart was not a founding member of the Kingston Trio. I hope you're happy Ryan. Still listen to Jon Stewart's Wingless Angels. I may be wrong about him being a founding member of the Kingston Trio, but I'm not wrong about that album from Jeff Harris in Bend, Oregon. I think Bend, Oregon is where Dan Fouts was born. I think you could look that up. Last week's brief Kingston Trio discussion brought back a memory from the mid-90s when I worked at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia, the only national park dedicated to the performing arts. During their performance of mta, the trio Subversive hit a about a transit fare hike in Boston. Banjo player George Grove broke his string. Undeterred, he strolled to the side of the stage, retrieved a new string, replaced the broken one, tuned it and returned during the song to finish and boom goes the dynamite. The crowd went wild. Well, as wild as a folk music crowd goes. Thanks for all the memories. My nearest Bethesda bagel location is 2,668 miles away on Shady Grove Road.
Reginald the Monkey
Dan Fouts, not born in Bend, born in San Francisco. His dad was a sports broadcaster, so for the Niners. And so Dan like grew up doing stats.
Tony Kornheiser
Why Do I think he's. He lives in Bend, Oregon.
Reginald the Monkey
Well, he went to. He went to play at University of.
Tony Kornheiser
Oregon, but that's not in Bend. And Eugene. That's Eugene, isn't it?
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
All right. Ryan Grove in Falling Waters, West Virginia. Bootsy losing his tooth to an ice cream cone. Sounds suspicious. The Swedish fish before dinner probably did the heavy lifting. P.S. did Bootsy ask for 15 years? $765 million from the tooth fairy or at least negotiate for an opt out after the next tooth. Tell Bret Hobbs to eat it. A dollar.
Nigel F. Feinson
None deferred.
Tony Kornheiser
Is that a dollar? Okay.
Reginald the Monkey
It's a good steady price.
Tony Kornheiser
Here's a haiku for losing tea.
Nigel F. Feinson
Carol wanted to up the ante a little bit.
Tony Kornheiser
Bitcoin. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah, we can give them. We can get Matt Damon over here to give him and just say fortune favors the bread. You don't see those commercials anymore because they're not about actual money, kids.
Reginald the Monkey
Fortune didn't favor the.
Tony Kornheiser
It's just. It's not real money. What are you doing? From Chad. A haiku for losing teeth. There's blood on the cone. Tooth loss while eating ice cream or.
Nigel F. Feinson
Cool album Name the question did he finish the cone?
Reginald the Monkey
Oh, did he?
Nigel F. Feinson
Did mom took it away at a certain point, but he went back for another bite.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I wanted another bite. Robin, how has there not been an email hoping that the Bears do not eber flush the mouse on their next coaching selection? That's it. That's the email. Mike O'Brien, Fletcher, Vermont. Never been to Revere. I'm sending you several photo options to use for your holiday cards if you desire. They're taking by me at a residence a few towns away. The TK Salute sculptures were evidently commissioned by the homeowner in response to a problem with a neighbor and then the town when he was told to remove them, they were deemed art and allowed to stay. The owner now proudly displays them and even has parking for visitors. Littles can see other pictures of the statues by using the Google machine and searching finger. Vermont. Oh my God. These are amazing. Yeah. Show these to Michael and Tommy. Steve Schaefer, Fairfax, Virginia. Your conversation with Pat40 on Monday's podcast about Rick Patino wearing a sweater to honor the late Lou Carnesecca reminded me of my freshman year at the University of Kentucky in 1994. The Arizona Razorbacks came to Rupp for much anticipated game between highly ranked teams. The Razorbacks were known for their 40 minutes of hell style of play, and Nolan Richardson was known for his trademark cowboy boots. Just before tip off, Pitino walked onto the court and the student section erupted. To everyone's surprise, Pitino was wearing boots, boots later discovered to be a gift from Richardson. Down by six at the half, Pitino made a wardrobe change, swapping the boots for his usual pricey dress shoes. The change did not have the intended effect, as the Wildcats lost at home by 8. When asked about Pitino in the boots years later, Richardson quipped, if you wear my boots, you're going to get beat. Lee Stevens in Messina, New York Just wanted to send that's upstate. Just wanted to send a quick note to remind you this great exchange you had on 12 16, 2016. Michael I haven't eaten french fries in five years. Tony Five years without french fries is five years wasted. I thought it was funny and insightful then. I still do. I even wrote it down in a notebook. I took a picture for the folks watching on News Chat of his own writing Tony Lutz in Redmond, Oregon I saw a stat today that verifies how putrid your hometown Wizards have been. Since Feb. 1, the Wizards have won nine games in 57 tries. Scotty Scheffler has won nine times since Feb. 1 in 18 tournaments, beating the whole field. The whole field? The whole field. Not people in front of you. The whole field, yeah. The good news is only nine weeks until pitchers and catchers report to spring training, so you have the gnats to moan about, too. Gus Curtin North Annapolis I live in the Cape St. Clair neighborhood of Annapolis, and I'm wondering if I can start referring to it as North Annapolis. I'm sure from your many trips on US 50 eastbound you recognize this as generally geographically accurate. But I don't think that matters, because there is already a neighborhood called West Annapolis, which is on the eastern edge of town, right up against a Severn river and north of downtown. Obviously, there's a history of geographical license here. From Chip Robinson, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina As I'm sure you will recall, I'm a longtime contributor of numerous emails rightly deemed both smart and funny enough to make it on the air, including, I might add, one referred to as brilliant. Eat it all, you hinky dinky emailers. What you don't know, because I've never included it in my signature, is that I'm also a pastor. I'd like to voice both my support and approval for Reverend Mark Schaeffer's and any other seasonal jingles that might borrow and repurpose traditionally religious melodies. There's enough division in the world. What unites littles is humor weather. I 95 bad golf, a cheese counter, and stories about canine bowel movement. Yeah. So if we have people out there who don't want to listen anymore because you think this is sacrilegious. Via Condios, as we say. It's okay. It's okay. Don't worry about it. It's okay. Dan Fitzgerald. Michael, we had an excellent weekend in Rehoboth. The bouillabaisse at Henlopen Oyster House was a perfect foil for the chilly weather. But we really enjoyed salt air right next door, better cocktails and better apps and maybe more cozy and welcoming. Thank you for your Rex.
Nigel F. Feinson
Next time go to Confucius right across the street.
Tony Kornheiser
Confucius is fabulous. You don't think a Chinese restaurant in the beach is any good? It's really good.
Nigel F. Feinson
Black pepper beef.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. And the salt and pepper calamari. And the. And the string bean. Oh yeah, get string. Get them. John and Herndon. As a follow up to my email about Mike Trangisi, I caddied for. Wow. I caddied for him in the 1970s and early 80s. One of the better golfers at Pawtucket Country Club. Probably around a four back then. I told you he was. He was. He was as good, almost as good as Boeheim. He would start his golf swing slightly more bent at the knees and waist than normal to address the ball during his swing. In addition to rotating, he would move up and down like a spring. He always hit a nice shot. P.S. i don't have a piano, but I do have CBS.
Reginald the Monkey
I do have CBS.
Tony Kornheiser
Mike Eller in Indianapolis just received my USGA winter 2024 golf journal. What a pleasant surprise. On from the archive of the USGA Golf Museum and Library page is a picture of President Warren G. Harding presenting Jim Barnes at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The champion trophy. I think I see you sitting in the background of the crowd. Did Jim Barnes play from the tee box that your morning group plays from or the member guest? He didn't play from the up team. Play from the goals. No. Warren Harding.
Reginald the Monkey
How about that?
Tony Kornheiser
Used to be president. Yeah.
Reginald the Monkey
Early 20s, right?
Tony Kornheiser
This is Enjoy the Gummies from Spencer Thompson in Southie in South Boston. Since you're the biggest fan of gummies I know, as long as they aren't Swedish fish. I picked up a half kilo bag for you in my recent travels to Germany, I was introduced to this company, Gummi Baronland, by my German exchange student back in high school. They don't ship outside of Germany, Poland and Italy. But my family still talks about them 15 years later.
Nigel F. Feinson
Anything to declare?
Tony Kornheiser
I knew that I had to pick some up when I found out about this work trip to Germany. And you were on the shipping list. Since I was in Munich for electronica at the same time as my beloved Carolina Panthers, I got to see them secure a win in person. Pretty rare for someone transplanted a thousand miles away in Boston. My company booked the same hotel as a traveling Giants fan. So that was pretty glorious. Walk through the lobby that evening. In addition to a work trip overseas, it's been a big fall for me. The woman to whom I'm related by mortgage became related to me by marriage and more importantly to some. Her grandfather hosted me for a round at Sleepy Holla. Sleepy Holla's big time. Big time.
Nigel F. Feinson
It's a good pickup.
Tony Kornheiser
Of course I topped my drive off the first tee and got out driven by my 84 year old in law. I felt a lot like Greg Garcia in that moment. Thankfully I was able to recover and hit some pretty nice shots, including a tee shot to about 15ft on the famous 16th short. No chance I could get you on Sleepy since took me seven years on a wedding to play there myself. But you should find someone who can. What a course. So where are the Gummy Bears? Where have they been sent?
Reginald the Monkey
Don't know.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, Spencer, where have they been sent?
Reginald the Monkey
We're working on that.
Tony Kornheiser
So this is like I wanted to talk about Matt Abbotball who was going to send us sneakers. Well, we never got him. Yeah, we never got them. So like where are they being sent? Like are they just. You know.
Reginald the Monkey
I know somebody's sending something to my flat. Okay, I've redirected.
Tony Kornheiser
You can send them to Bonnie.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah, you send them to the espn.
Tony Kornheiser
Although I still haven't gotten that ice cream with the. With the schnapps in it. I haven't gotten that.
Reginald the Monkey
No, that's right.
Tony Kornheiser
Williamson took that away and now who knows if I'll ever get it again.
Nigel F. Feinson
Brought it to his hockey game.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Or at three in the morning when he's done. Malcolm Smith. Somewhere in north central Indiana while awaiting the start of the Chargers Chiefs games, the woman to whom I'm related by marriage hollers from the next room, hey, there's Andy Reid in this Hallmark movie. Coincidence? I think not. There was indeed playing on the Hallmark Channel, a movie called Holiday, A Chief's Love Story. Several scenes shot at Arrowhead, or perhaps a big facsimile they beat Built in Canada. Not filmed during a real game. I'm sure I myself was in the movie Rudy, shot at Notre Dame Stadium. But for the game scenes, the director told us what the players were going to do on each play so we'd know where to look and how to react. Mine was a non speaking role, so no checks in the mail for me. Yeah, Andy Reid is in a lot of commercials, but not as many as as we. Michael and I talked about this today. Mahomes. Mahomes is in the hair commercial. Head and Shoulders. Yep. Mahomes is in a Snoop Dogg commercial.
Reginald the Monkey
Snoop's in everything.
Tony Kornheiser
Changing your phone.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
And he's in all the State Farm commercials.
Reginald the Monkey
Yeah, he's in a lot.
Tony Kornheiser
He's probably in more that I don't even know.
Nigel F. Feinson
You gotta love the indie report career arc.
Reginald the Monkey
Oh, yeah.
Nigel F. Feinson
We're 15 years away from can't manage the clock.
Tony Kornheiser
Now we're in movies. Tremendous. Yeah, tremendous.
Reginald the Monkey
Now he's going to get an Oscar.
Tony Kornheiser
One more. Dan Moore in Winnipeg, in Canada. If Bill Belichick shows up to be interviewed for the North Carolina head coaching job, the ad should lead any other candidates to the waiting room to sit with Clayton, Sydney, Muhammad Jugish and Lonnie. That's funny. That's funny. Everybody knows that movie. All right, if you're out on your bike tonight, do wear white. I still need a bit of milk. Full fat which I've warmed in the micro wave. Animal House, baby.
F
You and me.
Tony Kornheiser
We'Re.
F
Not seeing eye to eye we can't.
Chuck Todd
See.
F
Our light Open up your eyes, you blow your. Go, go, go young. You go young. What do you want from me? What do you need? You took everything from there, it's over. Why did you bring me down? How does it feel? You took everything from there, it's over. How much? What would you rather weigh down? Falling down on earth? New world order rain down, coming you know your name. What do you want from me? What do you need? You took everything from there, it's over. Why did you bring me down? How does it feel? How does it feel? You took everything from there, it's over. It's all you now it's over. You said I take good care of you. What do you want from me? What do you need? You took everything from me. What do you want from me? What do you want from. What do you need? What? You took everything from me, it's all you don't know why bring me down? How does it feel? Feel? You took everything from there, it's over. You go, you go. You could be so much, so much, so much more. It's all about you? It's no surprise to me you never make me happy I don't think I need you I don't think I need you No, I don't think I need you I don't need you to stand asleep yeah, we lived here but now we cry what it brought us what it brought us? What could what could make this make me feel better? It's all about you? There's no surprise to me you never make me happy I don't think I need you I don't think I need you know I don't think I need you I don't need you. You never break me. Woo. Woo. You can't take me. Woo. You never break me. I don't need you. Get it? You just. Just get it. It's all about you? It's no surprise to me you never make me happy? I don't, I don't think I need you know I don't think I need you. I don't need you? You never break me. You don't need you can't save me? You never break me. I don't need.
Podcast Summary: The Tony Kornheiser Show – Episode “Sheets or Wawa?” (December 11, 2024)
Introduction In the episode titled “Sheets or Wawa?”, host Tony Kornheiser engages in a dynamic discussion delving into significant sports topics, notably Juan Soto's unprecedented contract with the New York Mets, the upcoming induction of Tom Boswell into the Baseball Hall of Fame, and an in-depth analysis of NFL game picks alongside guest commentators Chuck Todd and Mark Feinsand. The episode is peppered with humor, insightful commentary, and engaging banter that underscores Tony’s unique perspective on sports and current events.
1. Juan Soto’s Monumental Contract with the Mets (02:00 – 04:50)
The episode kicks off with a heated discussion about Juan Soto's record-breaking $765 million contract with the New York Mets, a figure that astonishes many as it doubles the recent contracts of prominent players like Aaron Judge.
Tony Kornheiser: “[02:02] This is double what Aaron Judge signed for. Aaron Judge has 58 and 62 in recent years. This is double that. This is $5 million.”
Chuck Todd adds that the Mets offered Soto a 15-year deal, while the Yankees offered a slightly longer 16-year contract. He emphasizes that Soto chose the Mets not just for the financial offer but also for the team's owner, Steve Cohen, who is known for his willingness to invest heavily in the team.
Chuck Todd: “[39:38] ...the Mets were offering him 15 years, the Yankees were offering him 16 years. And the difference there doesn't seem to be great when you're talking about, all right, so you're signed through 41 or [42:13] ...the average annual value is considered in present day value about $46 million.”
This contract sets a new benchmark in MLB, positioning Soto as a $50 million annual player and significantly impacting the free-agent market. Tony muses on whether Soto's decision was influenced by personal factors, given the marginal difference between the Mets and Yankees' offers.
Chuck Todd counters by highlighting that Soto's decision was primarily a business move, driven by the Mets' financial generosity and his desire to stay in New York.
2. Tom Boswell’s Induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame (04:50 – 15:21)
Tony shifts focus to honor Tom Boswell, a revered baseball writer whose lyrical and analytical approach to the sport earned him a well-deserved spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
He reminisces about his 30-year collaboration with Boswell at the Washington Post, noting their shared origins as high school newspaper sports writers and their diverging paths—Tony embracing humor and eclecticism in his columns, while Boswell focused deeply on baseball analytics and poetry.
Tony lauds Boswell's ability to perceive the game differently, akin to Bill James' analytical style, and anticipates his engaging induction ceremony at Cooperstown.
3. NFL Game Picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald the Monkey (15:21 – 34:00)
The segment transitions to NFL insights where Chuck Todd and guest Reginald the Monkey provide their predictions for upcoming games. The trio engages in playful banter while analyzing matchups, spreads, and team performances.
Mark Feinsand: “[19:27] ...pure anger.”
Mark Feinsand discusses his frustration with recent Hurricanes’ performances and debates the College Football Playoff's structure, suggesting expanding the number of teams to reduce controversy.
NFL Picks Highlights:
Notable Quote:
This segment showcases Tony’s analytical prowess and ability to engage with guests on strategic sports topics, providing listeners with thoughtful predictions and critiques.
4. Yankees' Offseason Moves and Potential Signings (39:38 – 51:08)
The conversation returns to MLB, focusing on the Yankees' offseason strategies following Soto's departure. Tony and Chuck Todd explore potential acquisitions and the complexities of team-building in a financially driven market.
Potential Signings:
Alex Bregman’s Future: The duo speculates on whether Bregman will stay with the Astros or seek opportunities elsewhere, considering Houston’s contract policies and Bregman’s market value.
Chuck Todd: “[46:53] I think the Yankees, they pivoted quickly, they rebounded and made the first big signing. But I don't think their off season is done.”
Tonya highlights the ongoing nature of MLB transactions and the strategic maneuvers teams like the Yankees employ to maintain competitiveness.
This section underscores the intricate balance between financial capability and strategic team enhancements in professional baseball.
5. Listener Emails and Anecdotes (34:00 – 67:00)
Throughout the episode, Tony interacts with listener emails, sharing amusing stories, personal anecdotes, and engaging in lighthearted exchanges that add a personal touch to the show.
Notable Highlights:
Notable Quote:
These interactions highlight Tony’s approachable and personable hosting style, fostering a sense of community among listeners.
Conclusion
“The Tony Kornheiser Show” episode “Sheets or Wawa?” delivers a comprehensive and engaging exploration of pivotal sports narratives, particularly focusing on Juan Soto’s historic contract and its ramifications within MLB, as well as honoring the legacy of Tom Boswell. Through spirited discussions with Chuck Todd and Mark Feinsand, coupled with entertaining NFL game predictions, Tony Kornheiser offers listeners a blend of insightful analysis and relatable humor. The inclusion of listener emails and personal stories further enriches the episode, making it a well-rounded and enjoyable listen for both dedicated fans and casual followers of the show.
Notable Quotes:
Tony Kornheiser at [02:02]: “This is double what Aaron Judge signed for. Aaron Judge has 58 and 62 in recent years. This is double that. This is $5 million.”
Chuck Todd at [39:38]: “...the Mets were offering him 15 years, the Yankees were offering him 16 years. And the difference there doesn't seem to be great when you're talking about, all right, so you're signed through 41 or.”
Tony Kornheiser at [43:39]: “to me, it's a marginal difference between the Yankees and the Mets. Marginal 1%, 2%. So it then looked personal to me.”
Chuck Todd at [46:53]: “I think the Yankees, they pivoted quickly, they rebounded and made the first big signing. But I don't think their off season is done.”
This episode exemplifies Tony Kornheiser's ability to blend deep sports analysis with engaging dialogue, making it a must-listen for enthusiasts eager to stay informed and entertained.