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- [00:00]
Tony Kornheiser
Hey, it's Tony. I lost power at my house last night, and I'm pretty sure that the power company doesn't really care. But the show must go on. So we're doing the show from Michael's house. We have a packed show for you today. House Minority leader and Binghamton alum Hakeem Jeffries, Brian Windhorst and Barry Zverluga will all join us. But first, Commerce.
- [00:18]
Brian Windhorst
Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.
- [00:22]
Tony Kornheiser
When I play with people better than I am, you might think I play a little bit better. But then I have terrible shots that take me out of holes. I had two triples yesterday, so it wasn't like I was really good. I had two triples. You know, I tripled 11 and 14 on the back, but I play better. So now Michael and I are playing this Saturday in the Father Son. Oh, yeah, tournament. Usually by the third or number three. We're not talking Tony three putts.
- [00:44]
Barry Zervluga
You wouldn't. Yeah, we're not down for five.
- [00:49]
Brian Windhorst
The Tony Kornheiser show is on.
- [00:52]
Tony Kornheiser
Now, here is the haiku from shared wistful memories, or it's the silent treatment. It's 5050 already checking. We've got a million things to talk about today, but we're going to start with the minority leader of the United States House of Representatives, the most important Binghamton grad. Now, Flo is the most famous, but Hakeem Jeffries is the most important, and he's a New Yorker, and he represents a seat in one of the five boroughs of New York City, and he's a Knicks fan. The. The only question to start with is, were you there? Did you go to the game?
- [01:27]
Hakeem Jeffries
Well, good morning. Great to be back with you. I was not there. We were in Washington, D.C. we had votes that day. It was also the Congressional baseball game that day as well, the annual game for charity. But I did watch the game, of course, with several other New York members of Congress, and we were in agony throughout the first half and then in ecstasy as the Knicks made that historic run to come back and ultimately win.
- [01:55]
Tony Kornheiser
Tell the truth. I mean, I grew up as a Knicks fan. I bagged the game because there's no way they could possibly win that game. Did you really think they could win that game?
- [02:06]
Hakeem Jeffries
You know, it's interesting. We thought it was possible. I certainly thought it was possible in part because, you know, last year we came back in Boston, I think the. Not once, but twice against Boston's full squad. And so we had demonstrated resiliency. Last year, this very Same team. And then, of course, this year we had. I think it was game one against the Cavs when we came back over 20 points down in the middle of the fourth quarter. And of course, we've been down in this series, Nothing close to 29 points every other game, and came back to win certainly in game one and Game two, and made it close in Game three. So there was. There was what I would say is a modicum of hope that they could at least continue to cut the lead of the spurs and maybe make it a game.
- [02:57]
Tony Kornheiser
Well, and the spurs certainly helped them with, you know, taking threes all the time with like 10 seconds going in the clock. I mean, a coach has to call a team together and say, there's a reason it's a 24 second clock. We're not shooting until 20 because we can run this thing out. Didn't you. Didn't you. Didn't you watch that and say it to yourself? What are the spurs doing?
- [03:17]
Hakeem Jeffries
You know, I was watching that and saying to myself, they should just keep shooting because they were missing. You know, I mean, the other thing, Tony, that was interesting. During the first half, they were hitting everything. And so it was an open question, can they sustain this throughout all four quarters? And then in the third quarter, we kind of got the answer, no, they can't sustain it. But that was interesting that the adjustments weren't made, you know, by the spurs coach. Meanwhile, you know, we were able to see continuing adjustments ultimately to get to the right combination of players that Mike Brown made, which has been, I think, you know, one of the most important aspects of this run. His capacity to make adjustments and to actually use the bench.
- [04:02]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Mike Brown is a professional coach who's been at it for 15 to 20 years. Been hired, been fired, done well, done poorly. Mitch Johnson is a kid. He froze. His team froze and he froze. Right. Didn't you think that, like, what are you doing?
- [04:17]
Hakeem Jeffries
Yeah, it was, you know, it was extraordinary to watch it. You were seeing sort of the Knicks come together as men, you know, who had been through a lot of adversity. And, you know, the spurs, you saw some of that youth take shape in terms of how they were playing, particularly as the crowd got back into it. The Knicks started to press them more defensively, and then the threes weren't falling. So it was the combination of, you know, these things building up to a crescendo of sort of the incredible final parts of the run during the back half of the fourth quarter.
- [04:55]
Tony Kornheiser
How many games do you get to go to A year, Nick. Games at the Garden, you know, I
- [05:02]
Hakeem Jeffries
usually try to get to at least one or two. This year I didn't get to any games at the Garden, but I did get to see the Knicks play against the Wizards in. I think it was February, and I'm not sure that's actually attending an NBA game.
- [05:17]
Barry Zervluga
Tony.
- [05:18]
Tony Kornheiser
No, no, they were tanking. You know, they were. They were cheating. They were within the rules, and now they've changed the rules. What is your biggest memory? Night. You're much younger than I am. What's your biggest memory of being in Madison Square Garden? It doesn't have to be the Knicks. If it's something else, what's your biggest memory?
- [05:34]
Hakeem Jeffries
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. My biggest memory of being in Madison Square Garden and perhaps it was the first time I was in Madison Square garden was when St. John's played Georgetown against, you know, in, I think it was 1984. So I was 14 years old at the time. My dad somehow managed to get tickets way up in the rafters. But nonetheless, we were in the Garden. And it was when St. John's had been number one for most of the season. We. When they weren't number one, Georgetown was number one. It was Chris Mullins final year as a senior. Of course, it was the Patrick Ewing led, John Thompson coach, Georgetown, Hoyas. It was probably, at least for St. John's basketball view at that point as the game of the century. As you may recall, St. John's ultimately, unfortunately, got blown out and then we went to the Final Four and lost. But that was really when I became a big, big time St. John's fan. It was that Chris Mullen, Walter Berry, Mark Jackson, you know, Willie Glass team, and it was a fun team to watch. Chris Mullen, of course, was a Brooklyn kid. I think he went to Severian High School and. And it was fun.
- [06:47]
Tony Kornheiser
Was that the sweater game? Was that the game where, where John came out in the sweater to mock Louie's sweater and they hugged at half court? Was that that game?
- [06:55]
Hakeem Jeffries
So, absolutely, that was the sweater game. And I would call it both the sweater game and the boxing one game because if you recall, like St. John's had beat Georgetown at Georgetown, and that's when we became number one. And then John Thompson shows up, you know, with the sweater. But they also, I think, employed a boxing one on Mullen. First time I'd ever seen that on Mullen. On Mullen, with, I think it was David Wingate and Reggie Williams alternating on Mullen. Both went on to be NBA players and great defensive players. And it kind of limited Mullen's ability to do what he had otherwise been doing all season.
- [07:37]
Tony Kornheiser
So when you look at Knicks games on TV every once in a while, when you look at this series and you see all the celebrities, you know, around the court, do you ever think, well, I'd like to meet that guy, or I'd like to meet this guy. And do you ever think, boy, I couldn't even get in the front three rows. They put me in like eight or nine or ten. I'm not as big as these guys. Do you think that?
- [08:00]
Hakeem Jeffries
I'm not even sure I can get into the 100 section, Tony. I mean, with this. But I do get a kick out of seeing Spike Lee because we know Spike Lee has been a ride or die, authentic Knicks fan. But the thing that's interesting about Knicks fans, I think all of these other folks, you know, Ben Stiller, you know, as an example, Fat Joe, these are authentic Knicks fans. They're from New York. And it just so happens that there are a lot of, you know, famous celebrity folks from New York. It was great to see. I saw Nas, who was there the other day, and you see different people pop up. And it's all part of, I think, the New York vibe. Because as I'm looking at many of these folks, I know they're real Knicks fans, but they've been, you know, through the ups and downs, through the challenges, and I'm sure they all had a similar reaction when Josh Hart missed that finger roll which could have given us the lead. I didn't panic at the time, but a lot of people were having flashbacks.
- [09:02]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, sure. I mean, yeah, because they. They haven't won these games. They haven't. They won them in 1970 and 1973 and they haven't won them since. So I'll get you out on this. Are you confident? What level of confidence do you have that the Knicks will in fact win one more game and be the NBA champions?
- [09:19]
Hakeem Jeffries
I'm very confident in part because, Tony, as you just said, they haven't won these games and I've lived through them. Right. The 1993 game against the Bulls, Charles Smith missing four layups down the stretch. Great defense by Scottie Pippen, but missing four layups. Of course, the Starks game the next year in 94, I think he shot 2 for 18 and probably something like 0 for 10 or 0 for 11 from the three point range. Rolando Blackman was there to be put into the game. He wasn't. And we lost in the NBA Finals. And then in 1994, the missed finger roll in Game 7 against the Indiana Pacers and the hated Reggie Miller. We've always lost these games in heartbreaking fashion. This time we won it in a historic comeback. And I think that's what makes this team so special. And that's why I think they're going to go out there over the next one or two games and get the chip.
- [10:12]
Tony Kornheiser
I hope you're right. I do. Hakeem, thanks so very much for being with us. Now do the important work in the country. You know, stuff. Thanks. Hakeem Jeffries, the minority Leader of the House of Representatives. It's a, you know, Anna Binghamton grad. It's great to have him. I'm just going to. That's the open of the show. Except for one thing. Except for one thing. And then going on. Yeah. Something's going to sleep well. Yeah, I did not sleep well at all. One of the reasons was it was 7,000 degrees in the house last night. And we'll be eight days today. I'm not opening windows. I have no power. Power went out last night about 7:15. Boom. Power out. And then you think it'll come back in 15 minutes or 20 minutes or 5 minutes even. It hasn't come back. It's not coming back. No. I'm. You know, and it's hot. It's like it's a 95 day.
- [11:01]
Barry Zervluga
And Pepco, they'll be back for more cash.
- [11:03]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Pepco charges you an awful lot of money per month for your carrying fee. You know, delivery charges. So deliver. Deliver to the house. Yeah. You know, put my power back on. I'm not, I'm not. I'm not any different than anybody else. You know, you depend. You. It's not that you take electricity for granted, but you depend on it. And when it's gone, you hope that that company, which charges you for. For the use of electricity, you hope that they respond to your needs as quickly as they can. And, you know, if you. You don't. Here's my biggest complaint. I'm not going to go on and on, because when you deal with the Pepco people, when you actually meet them, they're wonderful. Oh, sure. And they fix it. Yeah. But my biggest complaint is you cannot talk to people. Everything is on a website. Everything is a robot. You cannot talk. Talk to people.
- [11:53]
Barry Zervluga
Estimated restoration time. Just keep pushing it back.
- [11:55]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. That's what they do.
- [11:56]
Barry Zervluga
It's pending a.
- [11:57]
Tony Kornheiser
They started last night. The estimated restoration time was midnight. It was not midnight. And we're way past midnight now. Yeah, now it's like what, four, four in the afternoon or something like that. Let's check the outage map real quick.
- [12:09]
Barry Zervluga
At least these are the, the hottest days of the year. So you have that going for you.
- [12:12]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, that's great. And, and the dog is a long haired dog. Oh, this is not. Well, it used to put up a time.
- [12:19]
Barry Zervluga
Yeah, no, no, it's pending. Yeah.
- [12:20]
Tony Kornheiser
Pending assessment now. I don't know. Well, if they're pending assessment, they got to get somebody out here.
- [12:25]
Barry Zervluga
Larger outages. There is something right around this time where your life just becomes peaceful because you're not expecting to see the power on.
- [12:31]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I mean this is, I mean they said midnight, then they said 8am let's pass.
- [12:36]
Barry Zervluga
Yeah, I was banking on 6am no,
- [12:38]
Tony Kornheiser
but it's not, it's not. It's.
- [12:39]
Barry Zervluga
At one point they said they were. There is a crew on site and a warrant.
- [12:43]
Tony Kornheiser
And they weren't because I'm on site. Yes. And they weren't. So we're doing the show from Michaels and I'll, I'll try to keep my anger out of it. I will. We'll have Brian Windhorse when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
- [12:55]
Brian Windhorst
This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.
- [12:58]
Tony Kornheiser
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- [13:24]
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- [14:45]
Tony Kornheiser
This is the Tony Kornheiser Show. This is Midlife's Crisis. This is a song called Warning Signs. And we get a note from Scott Parker says all is fine here at Jiggle the Handle Studios in the nondescript split foyer in Frederick, Maryland. This is a very good band. Midlives Crisis. Very good. They play in Brian Windhorse, too. For the last two months, with the beginning and end and middle of the playoffs, is the busiest guy on espn. And you were, you know, you were at the Garden for what is the greatest comeback of all time. And Wilbourne would say, the greatest joke of all time. And Wilbourne did say, by the dumbest team of all time. But what was it like to be there as that was going on?
- [15:37]
Brian Windhorst
So it was as if there was a championship won, except for the player. There was no players or trophy.
- [15:45]
Tony Kornheiser
Right.
- [15:46]
Brian Windhorst
The fans didn't want to leave the building. It took them 45 minutes to get them to leave the building. And they weren't forcing them out, right? To be honest with you, they were. Everybody was enjoying it. All of the celebrities and the Knicks players, you know, the Knick greats, the legends, what have you, the former Knicks players. And there was also a bunch of other players there who didn't play for the Knicks who just came to the game, like Kevin Love, for example. They all just came out in the court and they just wanted to be on the court and they wanted to talk about it and celebrate it. And they all wanted to, like, everybody wanted to tell the other person about how they experienced it, which I actually assume all of New York is doing. And you know, Fat Joe the rapper, he was like, he in the back, like, sort of spitting out bars, like about how God loves us. And I was like, this guy should get in the studio right away. And I mean, if I, you know, David Zaslav, who, like, you know, runs. I don't know what, you know, he runs Warner Brothers or whatever. Like, he was standing next to Larry David, and I'm like, I feel like he was trying to greenlight an instantaneous Curb your Enthusiasm episode being filmed on the spot. And I just think there'll be a lot of art that comes out. Like, Taylor Swift might write a song about that, for example. And so nobody wanted to leave the court. It was almost like a champ. Now, I want to be clear, Tony. The players all left the court, and Jalen Brunson's back there looking like someone just told me, told him his dog died. I do not think it permeated into the players, but the general Knicks atmosphere was that it was a championship, was one. And by the way, when I left the building at like, 1:15 in the morning, there were streets still around the arena that were being blocked by people, by pedestrians, just in the streets on a Wednesday night. And I'm like, I don't. There was nothing for them to wait for. All the people were gone. Like, they just didn't want to go home. So that was the, you know, people were basking in it and trying to extend the experience.
- [17:53]
Tony Kornheiser
Wilbon was telling me about hanging around with his new best friend, Ben Stiller, you know, because the celebrities. So this is another question I want to ask. You have been to Los Angeles. I don't know that you've been to Los Angeles with great teams, but you've been around the scene in Los Angeles in big games. Can you compare the. The Los Angeles scene with the New York scene? Are they very similar or not at all similar?
- [18:20]
Brian Windhorst
They're not, you know, I think the. The amount of A listers that your average Laker game is higher, it actually would be an interesting, fun little thought exercise, content saying to say, you know, what would have the better cast? A Laker playoff game or a Knick playoff game because, you know, you got. Well, Jack Nicholson has stopped coming to games, but, you know, for many years, you had Denzel and Jack, you know, and, you know, Billy Crystal. Like, it was pretty powerful. But the Knicks fans are more into the game for the game's sake. You know, you, you know, obviously the Laker fans are very into the game. I'm not comparing the Laker fans to the Knicks fans.
- [19:00]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Just the celebrities.
- [19:01]
Brian Windhorst
Just. But the celebrities are way more invested in the Knicks than I have seen in the Lakers. Now. Now, Diane Cannon, like, back in those days, I know she Was, oh, I don't want to, like, offend anybody, but, you know, the, The. The celebrities were genuinely having an experience as a fan, not necessarily for their idea. I agree with that, in my view.
- [19:22]
Tony Kornheiser
Well, because, I mean, there are people like John McEnroe goes to every game.
- [19:27]
Brian Windhorst
And I mean, he.
- [19:28]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, yeah, I'm. I think Jerry Seinfeld goes to every game. Ben Stiller goes to every game. But a lot. You know, I mean, they're actually fans and they grew up. They are old enough in some cases, in Seinfeld's case and Larry David's case. Larry David grew up in Cheaps at Bay on. In Brooklyn. I mean, they remember Willis Reed and, And Walt Frazier. Wilbourne is all, you know, it's just amazing to me. Wilbourne believes that it's so important for Chicago to have good teams for the health of the league. It's not even slightly important if Chicago has good teams. It is important if New York does, and they so rarely do. They so rarely do. I mean, the NBA has been built on Boston and Los Angeles. Not, Not New York and certainly not Chicago. Is that important? I mean, do you get this?
- [20:17]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, of course. Have you seen the ratings?
- [20:20]
Tony Kornheiser
I mean, they're fabulous.
- [20:22]
Brian Windhorst
Yes, there were tears falling from the eyes of all the Knick fans and tears falling from the eyes of all the ESPN executives. You know, probably because the Knicks won and it didn't guarantee a Game 6, but.
- [20:37]
Tony Kornheiser
Right, right.
- [20:38]
Brian Windhorst
In the 2010s, the Knicks and Lakers were largely irrelevant. And the Knicks had a little flourish with Carmelo, but they won one playoff series in the whole decade. And so the fact that the. That the Lakers have been a little bit better with LeBron, obviously they won the title in the bubble, but. And then the Knicks are making this run now is.
- [21:02]
Barry Zervluga
It's.
- [21:02]
Brian Windhorst
It's very good for the league. Now, if you, you know, you go back to what David Stern famously said, which was if you, if you. If he had his dream finals, it would be the Lakers against the Lakers. The Knicks are pretty good. It's pretty good when the Knicks are in it as well.
- [21:19]
Tony Kornheiser
All right, let me get to Wembanyama, because you spent a lot of time with Wembanyama long before Wembanyama was even drafted. And I've always gotten the sense when you talk about him that you like him, and Wilbond loves him and adores him. And I'm not saying he's not a great player. I'm saying I'm getting tired of him. I'm beginning to believe that much of what he says is just entirely self serving. What he did to Mitchell Robinson was terrible, I thought. He gets a lot of. Into a lot of scrapes and seems to enjoy committing really, really hard fouls. You can talk me off this if you want, but I think I may be representing a growing group here. What do you think?
- [22:00]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah. So one of the things that this playoff series or this playoff season, this run has unearthed is that there is a immaturity streak in him, which is surprising because I had never identified that. And what so impressed me was how mature he always was. You know, when I met him when he was 18, I felt that he talked like a 28 year old. In fact, one of the things that got me interested in him wasn't just his size, was, you know, translating a bunch of French interviews, the interviews he did in French and being so impressed with his views. World.
- [22:39]
Tony Kornheiser
He's a great talker. Great.
- [22:41]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah. I remain impressed with his worldview and I also knew pretty early on that he had a chance to be a villain because he does, he does have arrogance and, you know, it wasn't getting noticed early in his career. Number one, the spurs weren't very good. Number two, you know, he speaks with, you know, eloquence and an accent and so it doesn't have the same feel as when Draymond Green might say something. And so it, sometimes the, you know, it sort of came wrapped in sugar and you didn't realize, boy, he just really bleep talk to that guy. So the other thing is, is that he's going to become annoying to people because he's so damn big. You're going to get, you're going to, you're going to. There's going to be a visceral dislike about unfairness. What's unfair? That he's 7 foot 5, but he is in. He is. He's turning it into a bit of a flame because of these immature plays. Like with the elbowing of Nazrida, the Wolves and some of this, you know, trash talk. Yes. I think we have learned a lot about. Number one, he's going to be winning MVPs and championships for a while.
- [23:47]
Tony Kornheiser
Ten of them. Yes, sure.
- [23:49]
Brian Windhorst
But is he a dirty player? He's gonna. I don't think he's dirty. I. No, I don't think he's dirty. I think he's. He's got some immaturity in him and I think, you know, I think he'll admit it. I think, you know, maybe not tomorrow, but I think he'll you know, he'll come back with. Because I do think he is good at self reflection and he'll say, you know what? I, well, maybe he will. I shouldn't assume that. I'm learning, I'm learning about him as well. But I suspect he will say, you know, maybe I shouldn't have done that. He was doing what the kids call rage baiting to Mitchell Robinson.
- [24:24]
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, I don't know. I don't know that.
- [24:25]
Brian Windhorst
Yeah, yeah. You know, he's basically, you know, taunting him with, trying to get a yes reaction and it worked. And so he kind of rage baits opposing fans a little bit. And so we'll see if he, if he takes, I suspect he's going to back that down over the years, but maybe not.
- [24:48]
Tony Kornheiser
Do you think that the spurs will win another game?
- [24:52]
Brian Windhorst
I think so. I mean I, I laugh at everybody who make predictions on these games. I'm like, okay, if you want to, if you want to go ahead and predict how these games are going to go, I wish you luck. If you, if you get it right, you just got lucky because the teams are very closely matched and you know, one team has the inexperience which makes them very hard to predict. I believe the series is absolutely not over because there's, you know, the spurs have two to three games at home and they can look you square in the eye and that's essential. Mitch Johnson has said, their coach, that they probably should have won all the last three games. But so I absolutely believe that they will have a good shot to extend the series. And you know, you need to, you need, you know, you have one chance of winning the break. They're down one break, so to speak. So they've got a break back and you know, they're one and one at the Garden in this series and the one win was, you know, impressive and the one win, other win was, you know, they were up 30 and blew it. So you certainly don't, they certainly don't think they couldn't win there. But I will say is this, I learned a lesson about the Knicks last year. They, they went up 20 on the Celtics. They had two 20 point comebacks. And I kind of felt the same way that like you see the spurs fans feel, you saw Kenny Atkinson last round feel. I was like, well, they're up too well, but they're not really up too low. And I said that on television and I was, you know, accosted on the streets of New York for it. But the, they were the fans and the Knicks were Correct. There is something about this team that works to their advantage when they get behind. They routinely get behind. It's almost, almost part of their strategy to get behind. You know, part of what they want is for you to underrate them. And so I'm done doing it. I was done doing it after that Celtics series last year, but yet I have seen it happen repeatedly. And it's happening again with some of the comments Ms. Johnson made. I mean, I think he's doing it in part to pump up his own team to say, listen guys, we should be ahead three one here. There's no, this is not an unbeatable force. This is not like the warriors in the 2010s when they had Durant and Curry and they weren't laying a glove on them. Maybe you could steal one game if they fell asleep. He's saying, we got a shot here. And I agree with, but I do not agree with the concept that with these teams saying that, you know, you know, that they think that they're better. This is how the Knicks are designed to play.
- [27:09]
Tony Kornheiser
I'll just get out on this. In the last two years of playoffs, five different times the Knicks have come back from at least a 20 point deficit and won the game. Only four other in the entire NBA, total of four Knicks have done it five times. So if you don't think, I don't mean you, Brian, but if people don't think that this is how the Knicks go, they're crazy. This is how they go. They're minus 47 in the first quarter in this series. I mean, this is who they are. Don't deny them their moment. And I, you know, anyway, thanks, Brian. Thanks. Enjoy the rest of the day on 12 shows.
- [27:46]
Brian Windhorst
Thank you. I will just say that they can have conditioned their fans to believe in them. So one of the things that was remarkable, and I think Wilbon even said this was when they were down like 24 and you know, they hit a three to cut it to 21 or something like that. The fans reacted like, here we go, this is where the comeback begins. And the spurs reacted as if, you know, should we ask for shrimp or chicken in the post game? Like, and because the fans had seen it before and the Knicks had seen it before and you know, the Spurs, Greg Popovich, I don't know if he coined the phrase, but he popularized the phrase appropriate fear. That was one of the things that Popovich coined. Like, I don't care how good your team is, you have to have appropriate fear. It's time for appropriate fear. Of the New York Knicks.
- [28:37]
Tony Kornheiser
All right, we'll talk soon. Thanks, Brian.
- [28:39]
Brian Windhorst
Have a great weekend. Tony.
- [28:41]
Tony Kornheiser
Brian Windhorse, Boys and girls, we will take a break. Barry Zarluga will join us when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornizer Show. Once again, this is Midlife's Crisis. This is a song called sixteen Hours. Michael. If independent artists like Midlives Crisis want to send us their music, how do
- [29:02]
Barry Zervluga
they do so send us a music by emailing it to jinglesonycarnazarshow.com they play
- [29:07]
Tony Kornheiser
in our friend Barry's Verluga. Now with the Athletic, I can't get the athlete. I subscribe to the Times. You know, I have those. An online subscription. They charge me like 28amonth. And every time I try to get the Athletic, I have to put a password through hoops and I don't have a password.
- [29:22]
Barry Zervluga
You're asking for help.
- [29:23]
Tony Kornheiser
It drives me crazy. Drives me crazy. Utterly crazy, as I'm paying for it and I don't access it anyway. Can we start with the Gnats and the Giants the other night? Did you watch that by any chance?
- [29:37]
Barry Zervluga
I'm watching it during the day as I'm working. And then, you know, it's a West Coast 345 start. So that that game kind of spills into dinner time. I'm making dinner and as any normal father husband who's got dinner on the table at 6:30 and doesn't need to have a game that was 9 to 1 in the 8th inning on in the background. So I turned it off, ate dinner, sat down to watch the NBA game, checked my phone and was like, wait,
- [30:07]
Brian Windhorst
they lost that game.
- [30:09]
Barry Zervluga
You're kidding me. So then recreated it on my phone and was like, well, an awesome road trip for the very surprising and interesting Nats turned into just a very good road trip for them and just a colossal, weird loss at the end of it.
- [30:29]
Tony Kornheiser
It's a sickening loss. They are up nine to one in San Francisco in the bottom of the eighth. They bring in Schultz as a reliever. They got to get him out of there in a hurry because he gave up 8,000 home runs. They bring in Ribalta. Ribalta doesn't do much. It's 96 at the end of 8. For people who don't know about this, the Nats get a home run in the top of the 9th. It's 10, 6 going into the bottom of the 9th. They don't get any outs. Two relievers, no outs. The Giants Go, double, double. And these are like, these are not cheap hits. Double, double, walk, single, grand slam, walk off, home run, five runs, no outs. Parker is one of the pitchers and Varland is one of the pitchers. When you watch that, you already knew what had happened. But it. It's amazing, isn't it? I've never seen. And this is like, this is not basketball where the 24 second clock works so you get the ball back. Does that shouldn't happen?
- [31:33]
Barry Zervluga
No, it shouldn't. And I think, you know, if you want to get into the nitty gritty of it, what is Mitchell Parker doing in a situation that at that point, point should not have been high leverage, but was high leverage? I mean, the winning run is.
- [31:47]
Brian Windhorst
Is.
- [31:48]
Tony Kornheiser
Yes.
- [31:48]
Barry Zervluga
At the plate. By the time he, you know, he allowed a base runner, etc.
- [31:54]
Brian Windhorst
Etc.
- [31:55]
Barry Zervluga
That's not a matchup that you want. I know. It's left on left against Eldridge, who's, by the way, grew up a Nats fan in Northern Virginia. The kid who hit the walk off grand slam.
- [32:05]
Tony Kornheiser
Yes.
- [32:06]
Barry Zervluga
Baseball has been back in this town, now that you can say major leaguers grew up around here as a Nats fan, and he did it to his hometown team. I will say Tony, overall, and I'm not trying to, because that, that loss is, you know, it might be worth two or three losses just in terms of the gut punch and how that plane ride felt so different on the way home. But that team went to Arizona and beat the Diamondbacks, two out of three, went to San Francisco, beat the Giants, were not good. Two out of three. They beat the Padres at home, two out of three going into that. They are just competing at a level that they haven't in recent years. And I'm not trying to make a team that's essentially.500 into some sort of, like, storybook squad, but it changes the tenor of summer around here if the baseball team is compelling and competitive, which it hasn't been for so many summer. So I'm excited about this series this weekend against Seattle just because, you know, they were really, really close to being three games over.500 and in a wild card position. They're playing meaningful games. I'm not sure that will last through September, but it's true as we're in the middle of June and it just. It gives things a different feeling in town.
- [33:29]
Tony Kornheiser
100%. 500, they had. Their average record in the last five or six years was 67 and 95. So 500 is fabulous. It's fabulous, but you get greedy, but you can't blow a 91 lead, you know, 106 lead, come on again without it getting any out. So I'll get off that. What do you think of the spurs and the Knicks? Has that been enjoyable for you? Is there anything stands out for you in that one?
- [33:54]
Barry Zervluga
Well, what stands out is when you have a 29 point lead. It's similar to being up 91 in the eighth. You feel like you can turn the game off and it just. Which I did. I'm not going to apologize for it. So I'm sure there were lots of people. Now again you go back and recreate it and watch the highlights and just, you know, I get sick of, of the hype for the Knicks just because of where they are and who's sitting in the front row. But you can't deny that at the tip in that's an all time environment in Madison Square Garden. I mean, just that I watched over and over from many angles and just the different reactions and I saw, you know, my brother sent me. He was watching at a meeting they were having on Long island like with a big group of people and just the, the reactions are, it's so real in, in the moment. And it's not just the tip in but that the tip in came to conclude a 29 point comeback and 20 points in the fourth quarter and all the stuff that we've heard over and over again. I selfishly, I kind of wish the series was two to going back to San Antonio. But I will say, you know, in these three 1 situations and when it's going to the team that's down to their home court, if they can steal that one, then I think that the pressure goes squarely to the Knicks and that would be a really, really interesting dynamic because San Antonio is not as experienced, but it's definitely as talented. You could argue that they should have won. They could have won either one of game one or game two. Probably should have won game two.
- [35:31]
Tony Kornheiser
They could have won all four. They could have won all four this
- [35:34]
Barry Zervluga
series which says it's, it's lopsided three to one could easily be three to one the other way just with the change of a few plays. So I think game five is super compelling and I think the entire dynamic gets really compelling if, if the spurs stave off elimination because there will be juice at Madison Square Garden, but it'll be nervous energy too because the Knicks, the pressure would be on the Knicks.
- [36:03]
Tony Kornheiser
I think we've been very lucky. I think the basketball series has been great. I think the hockey series has Been great. They're scoring 10,000 goals every game. I mean, what. Right. What more could you want from a basketball and a hockey series?
- [36:16]
Barry Zervluga
No, I know. And I, you know, I think the, the Stanley cup final, you know, on paper you go Carolina, Vegas, like that's just not, there's not a lot of juice there. But then you watch the games and you think of the players. Mitch Marner, Jordan Stahl, who scored for the fifth straight game last night for, for Carolina on just a veteran, veteran tip in play kind of redirect and the atmospheres in those buildings. I've been in both places for late round Stanley cups games. You know, maybe it's not Montreal, maybe it's not Philadelphia, but those places get loud and you know, you know, Tony, there's obviously the NBA playoffs are awesome and people get really into it, but the nervousness and tension in a tight hockey game and there's been overtime in the Stanley cup final as well. That there's almost. You can't recreate that because you're always on the precipice of it ending with a weird bounce or a strike, stray breakaway. And it just is just like edge of your seat stuff the entire time.
- [37:21]
Tony Kornheiser
And there's a lot of goals being scored. Going into last night, they had scored 33 goals. What was the final last night? Four to two. Four to two, five to two, whatever it was. Four to two. So that's six more. That's 39 goals in five games. That's a tremendous amount of goals in a hockey series which leads me into soccer where they don't have a lot of goals. Sometimes they don't have any goals. Sometimes there's an insurmountable one. Nothing lead. Are you going to do anything with the World Cup? Are you a soccer guy?
- [37:47]
Barry Zervluga
No. So if I had my old job at the Washington Post, I would be in L. A today for the American men's Paraguay game. Yeah, against Paraguay tonight at 9 Eastern Time. The Athletic has approximately 11:45 soccer writers. So I'm not part of the world Cup. It disappoints me a little bit because it is, it's, you know, I'm not a soccer expert. I love this every four years. I like the women's event every, every four years because it is a global thing. I mean, you know, I've covered a million Olympics. It feels different when it feels like it's not just San Antonio and New York that's invested in this. It's a, it's a worldwide event. And to have a domestic one you know, it doesn't happen all the time. So I'm eager to watch and disappointed to miss out on working it.
- [38:40]
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I mean, I. I will watch it, but I'll probably just watch the Americans. I mean, I'm not. I don't have any real understanding of who's good or why they're good or how it works. But usually about two weeks in, there's some team that you look at and you go, all right, I'm interested in them. I will watch them. Wilbourne says he will watch everything. I don't think you can watch everything and work, because I think some of it goes on while you're working, but. But we'll see. Do you have any particular thoughts, and this is completely out of the blue on the Brendan Sorsby matter? Do you have thoughts on that?
- [39:12]
Barry Zervluga
Well, I think it has to start with that no organizing body, no body that oversees some sort of sports has less power than the ncaa. They are getting defeated. Nothing all over the place. And, you know, the toothpaste is out of the tube here with. With gambling. I mean, everybody has. And I don't want to be some sort of, you know, kind of squeamish. The ancient guy who's like, you know, gambling doesn't mix with sports. But it's hard to throw as much advertising around gambling as we see on our screens during any broadcast and then be surprised that player or star player, potential star player, has placed, you know, whatever it was. 90,000 bets.
- [40:05]
Tony Kornheiser
$90,000 worth of bet.
- [40:08]
Barry Zervluga
$90,000, right. Yeah, exactly.
- [40:10]
Hakeem Jeffries
But it.
- [40:10]
Barry Zervluga
Because it can be addictive. It's not always. It can be fun. It gives you a little juice. I like. I like being in a golf pool. It makes the Sundays of the tournaments a little bit more fun. I get all that. But it's. It's almost surprising that it took to this point to get a big ncaa, you know, a college scandal like this. And also, you know, we have to be honest that $90,000 to a college kid isn't $90,000. You know, 10 years ago, when they weren't getting paid, I mean, these guys are making real money.
- [40:51]
Tony Kornheiser
They have $5 million, this kid.
- [40:56]
Barry Zervluga
Exactly.
- [40:57]
Hakeem Jeffries
So.
- [40:57]
Barry Zervluga
So I just say, like, it shouldn't be surprising. And also, the NCAA has. Has less than no teeth, especially when you can arrange for a Texas Tech judge to rule on a Texas Tech case.
- [41:12]
Tony Kornheiser
It's troubling to me because I don't. I don't think he should play because he violated the Cardinal rule. But it may not be the Cardinal rule. Anymore. It was the cardinal rule when betting was completely under the table. And now that it's out in the open, it's very hard for me to believe that you can stop people from gambling when everybody else has the right to do it. I don't think it's necessarily part of his therapy to come back and play. You know, I think if he took some time off, that might be better. But I'm not a psychiatrist and I'm not, you know, I'm not certain that that's my feelings. I'm not certain of what should happen to this kid.
- [41:51]
Barry Zervluga
I agree, Tony, but I also think this has to be a line of demarcation where coaches open camps in whatever it is, July and August and say to their entire teams, we know that this is part of culture. It's definitely part of culture for young men to get a little juice, some action on the games. We are not betting as a group. We do not do this. If you have the app on your phone, take the app off your phone. It's. Look at Brendan Sorsby. Look at that case in Texas Tech. Do you want that to happen to you? Do you want that to happen to us? I think that conversation has to go on in every program.
- [42:36]
Tony Kornheiser
Thank you. Probably right about that. I'm so happy to just chat with you. We'll do it more often. Thanks, Barry.
- [42:41]
Barry Zervluga
Appreciate it, Tony.
- [42:42]
Hakeem Jeffries
Anytime.
- [42:44]
Tony Kornheiser
Barry's Verluga now of the athletic. We will take a break. We will come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Here comes Tony mailbag.
- [43:21]
Hakeem Jeffries
Got your emails, your faxes and your.
- [43:28]
Tony Kornheiser
Here comes Mr. Tony's mail bag. Gonna reach out for all of you folks. Have mercy. I wish I could do that. That's Bruce Griffin. It's just fabulous. You want to do the Bethesda Bagel ad for. Yes, Bethesda Bagels. We love them. You will as well. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled. Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say. Well, no one told me about her the way she lied no one told me about her how many people cried but it's too late to say you're sorry how would I know? Why should I care? Please don't bother trying to find her she's not there. That's the name of the song. She's Not There by the Zombies recorded on this day 62 years ago. A fabulous song. Zombies are very underrated. Yes they are. Thanks to our guests today. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Brian Windhorst, Barry Zverluga. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember you can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey. Get the show through Apple Podcasts. Please leave us a review we have a couple of emails about Dan Byrne Dan Byrne played in Kingston, Ontario, right in Canada From Don Ames I write this after leaving Dan Byrne's amazing concert here in Kingston, Ontario, Canada at the beginning Broom Factory. Yes, that broom factory. It was wonderful to hear Dan and Orit Shamoni sing their butts off for a packed house. Thanks go out to David Spence for alerting us Kingston Littles about this concert. I assume you will be receiving the picture we took with Dan giving our best TK salute. The connective tissue of this show ain't nothing like it. And from Don Lewis in Brockville, which is near Kingston, Ontario, who encloses some pictures. Thanks to fellow Little local Little David Spence for sharing news of Dan Byrne playing with OR at Shimoni, who as she says rhymes with Zamboni down the road in Kingston last night. Great to see that the connective tissue of the TCAT community is strong across the river from upstate New York. Lots of fun we had sharing with other Littles when we started listening to the POD Radio show or formerly read online Uncle Tony's work in the now four letter word Washington Post. Due to having an affliction of a fan, the legendary Dan Byrne and OR it were truly brilliant. We did indeed get to hear, among other witty lyrical tunes, Marilyn God said no Tiger woods dancing about Vin Scully and he finished with his tribute to a 7 foot 6 inch French basketball player who shall not be named as I'm trying to still get that earworm to stop. The final chords ended to a standing ovation from Packed House at the Kingston Broomhouse right around the time that the spurs started to flush the mouse and give up the biggest lead in NBA Finals history. And he's got some other things. It's really nice. It's really nice. He'd like to be the official Canadian University football broadcasting duo with him, him and Bill Nicholas to put our names for that. This is just. It's wonderful. That's great. It's wonderful that they all like Dan Burn. Oh sure. From Jim Bilger. Bilger or Bilger in Evanston, Illinois. Oh, home of Wilbond School. You should ask Wilbon how the spurs loss in Game 4, the NBA Finals would score on the WSI, the Wilbon suffering Index. He's always saying how you can't win at the highest level in the NBA without going through significant suffering. I would think this is about a 10 from Steve the Sycophant. After a restless night's sleep, I've decided the Nats have somehow worked their way into the joint sports record books. I confidently state that no other baseball team has blown a 9 to 1 8th inning lead the same night as an NBA Finals team blew a 29 point third quarter lead. It's not much, but it's something. Yeah, that's never happened before. I was not in combination. No no no no no. From Dennis Bounds in Redmond, Washington Cape Assa Tony, I actually learned something from your podcast. I too am a Comcast customer and didn't realize the NBC Sports Channel was available. Picking up my remote while still listening to the pod, I asked for the channel and there it was. Cable Gold NBC Canal Deportivo is now on my favorite list. Gracias. Don't you love the Google Translate? Mark Finer in Greenwich, Connecticut on Wednesday show you played the jingle as sung by the students of Greg Furlock, who's logged 35 years education educating the children of Virginia. Greg and I met working at a summer camp in 1992. We live seven hours apart, but we've managed to maintain a friendship all that time. 2 idiots doing idiot things together maybe once a year. This show is one of the many things that unites us. Greg is a D minus golfer, a B minus tennis player, and probably only an A minus friend, but he's an A plus educator. Hats off to a lifetime of service.
- [47:47]
Barry Zervluga
I trust his grading.
- [47:50]
Tony Kornheiser
From Leslie Thomas somewhere in Hillsborough, North Carolina. When you read the Jeff Barger note the other day you said from North Hillsborough, North Carolina. Jeff Barger is that like North Bethesda, Hillsboro only has a population of around 9,700. So now I wonder if I live in South Hillsboro. From Kent Sherwood in Bothell. I hope I pronounced that correctly in Washington State. Longtime listener, viewer, fellow former sportswriter, the woman to whom I'm related by marriage and I are on a cruise as I write this and we are leaving the port of Skagna, Denmark. Very top of Denmark. After walking the town, we were reboarding the ship when a very pleasant gentleman behind me in his wheelchair saying he didn't want to punch it or he might run this big guy over as the aforementioned big guy. I turned around to thank him and saw he was wearing a bright red Nationals cap. Now I have two basic philosophies regarding other fandoms. The first is the Beach Boy philosophy. Be true to your school. I root for my team and you root for your team, and we respect each other. The other is a paraphrase of a quote inaccurately attributed to the Great Voltage. I may not root for your teams, but I will defend to the death your right to root for yours. We chatted because my team, the Seattle Mariners, had just won in Baltimore and We're headed to D.C. to play. He's Nats, and we agreed on two things. That your catcher should have been the MVP last year. That we'd root for the other teams, except when the teams played each other. That long walk was for this. The gentleman proudly told me that the reason the cap was because his son is the current manager of the Nets. Blake Butera. The actual baby. The baby manager. Yeah. So we had a baseball fan from the east coast talking to a fan from the upper left at the top of Denmark. Aren't sports great?
- [49:21]
Barry Zervluga
Yeah, that's why I left that picture in.
- [49:22]
Tony Kornheiser
Well, why do we. Yeah, Back to back. Yeah. What was that? Schultz, get him out. Okay. From Jonathan Scriven in Silver Spring, but formerly, as we know, from Nice. I'm back in Nice. I was currently in Nice, back in Nice, France, doing some work with the French Ministry of Education at my old school. Part of my job is to observe examiners who are giving oral exams to the students in the areas of history and geography. This year, a new examiner was at the school and we began chatting. He's lived all around the world, Asia, Middle East, Europe. But when I said I was from dc, he told me he spent a good deal of time in Gaithersburg while working on Capitol hill in the 80s and 90s. So we began talking about all D.C. things. The decline of the Washington Post, divided loyalties for people our age between the Nats and the O's, Marion Barry, stuff like that. When I mentioned I listened to your show, his eyes lit up. Turns out he never misses an episode like me when I lived abroad. The show is his way to connect with us sports, D.C. weather and traffic, and the idiosyncrasies of a rich, bald, orange former newspaper man. The last couple of days have been full of inside jokes that only Littles would understand. She puts for Wilbur name dropping our favorite jingles and references to. I'm back for more cash. Connective tissue. So please tell my new friend Jack From Montana, via D.C. and many other cities around the world to eat it. Isn't that Nice. That's lovely. Neil Ayervay scribe Tony, in light of the implications of the Sorsby fiasco for college football and the end of the sport as we know it. As so well detailed by Ryan McGee and your enjoyment of acronyms, might we now say that NCAA stands for no consequence at all? What's next? Source be taking some of his 5 million and buy and wanna bet from Locken for from Sylvester Bush in Chicago. Please put this email on the special pile. Billy Flores in Houston, Texas I was too young to witness the origin story of the Lilly Hammer jacket. But since it came up recently, I need some guidance. While visiting Lucerne, Switzerland, I found myself facing a forecast of rain all day and purchased a poncho. Does this poncho now have the right to be known as Lucerne poncho? Yes, absolutely. Sure. 100%. Side note, I packed 10 ponchos for this trip because rain was forecast for a wedding I attended a few days ago. 10 ponchos to share with other guests. It didn't rain. Ultimately, I failed to bring one of those ponchos to Lucerne. I would be returning home with 11 ponchos from J. Michael, Jason Bullitt, Chuck and Roxy. Number 31. You got your fried chicken in my ice cream. You got your ice cream in my fried chicken. Two great tastes that should never be together. That's it. Never. The list from Jonathan Harwood, Yonkers, New York by way of Westbury on Long Island Mid island listed the most difficult things. 1. Hitting a baseball. 2. Getting onto Peacock. That's it. That's the list. And from Justin Johnson in Arlington, Virginia. I really enjoy the segments with Taylor Twellman and the insight to the World cup in the soccer in general as we all continue to familiarize oursel more with the sport during this time. Would it be possible to have him on for a regular segment in which he answers listener submitted questions? I can go ahead and get started with what is a corner kick? You want to handle that?
- [52:15]
Brian Windhorst
No.
- [52:15]
Tony Kornheiser
If you're out on your bike, everyone as always do wear white. Hey dad.
- [52:19]
Brian Windhorst
Dad.
- [52:19]
Barry Zervluga
Honey.
- [52:19]
Midlife's Crisis (Musical Artist)
Tony. Tony, listen up. Everywhere I see the signs telling me I'm going too fast Signs saying I ain't going to last look like 55 should be going 25. Everywhere I see the time Funny how it never stops Time, time, time is running out on every clock don't want to slow down and end up and lost and found. I never take the time to read the war insights if I look back the chance to be left behind should take time to Read some other warning signs if I slow down Match just ease my mind. Mirrors showing me lines starting to show on my face Lines on lines lines increasing the treacherous pace can't stop now I've got too many places to go. I never take the time to read the wanted signs if I look back for chance I get left behind should take take time to read about the one inside if I slow down it might just save a life. Sa. 20 years gone in the blink of the night Moving so fast I would swear that we could fly Now I am alone Honor of nobody home should have taken the time Go on inside. Warning signs screaming the night at last hands of time Time ran away too fast didn't want to slow down now they're checking lost and. I never take the time to read the warning signs if I look back a chance I get left behind should take time There is some other warning signs if I slow down it might just ease my mind Better take time to read some other warning signs Better take time to read some other warning signs if I slow down if I just save my life Save my life. Highways, byways life can travel many different roads One thing I found where you end up you never know 18 hours gonna be a star spent four years time living out of the back of my car. Long time enough time never ever seems to be enough One thing I know trying to catch your dream can be tough 20 years on the poker ladder to the top they add more runs, no rest you can never stop. 16 hours and 14 days ago made up my mind that I would just let it all day. 16 hours and 14 days ago New bed, new state, new show. We met not yet Commitment is a thing that I fear One thing for sure, you better grab it when it gets near Realized that she really may have been the one But I said no so I could taste a little more fun. 16 hours and 14 days ago my little life took home and it started to shut Love. 16 hours 14 days ago. There. Yesterday twisted up in so many plots One thing no doubt you only get so many shots Found each other and it wasn't too late Glad I made a choice and then you leave it all to F. 16 hours and 14 days ago made up my mind that I would just let it all go Let it all go 16 hours and 14 days ago in a brand new stage. New show It's a brand new show It's a brand new show It's a brand new show It's a brand new show A brand new show A brand new show A brand new show.