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Tony Kornheiser
Hey, it's Tony. If you're hearing this, it means that Nigel has flushed the mouse and forgot to have me record something new. So who knows who our guests will be today? Maybe Mick Jagger, Sandy Koufax, Dalai Lama? Long hitter? The Lama? Probably not, but I guess you'll have to tune in to find out. But first, let's keep the sales weasels happy. T Mobile is more than the best network in the game. They're now the best network in America according to the experts at OOKLA Speed Test. So MLB fans are connected from home to home plate with the most advanced 5G, the most towers, and a signal that goes farther than ever. You can keep up with your teams on the road, overseas, even off the grid. For baseball fans, it's better over here.
Michael
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Tony Kornheiser
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Michael
Kenny Powers.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Just, you know. Right. Yes. Yeah. I mean, he's. His hair, his mustache, everything about him, you go, wow, where'd they get this guy? The Tony Kornheiser show is on now. So I missed the game completely yesterday. It was a day game, wasn't it? It was a new noon game. It started at noon. I missed it completely. And when we were doing PTI yesterday, one of the highlights, the visual highlights, was the Jacob Young catch, which is a great catch. He literally puts his feet in the wall and climbs the wall. It is a great catch. Beautiful. Yeah, it's a great catch. And I go, when was this? They said, well, it was an hour ago. Oh, you know, I said, well, did they win? And nobody knew. And of course they didn't win. No.
Michael
Shut up.
Tony Kornheiser
They. Yeah, so that. What that. What that catch did is Jacob Young allowed the Nationals to lose by five nothing instead of six nothing. And they were. They got a complete game shutout pitched against them because they can't hit. So Jacob Young is one of the. I'm going to just do 30 seconds on Jacob Young. He's a great fielder. He's a great center fielder. He has no home runs this year, I believe. None.
Paul Feinbaum
None.
Tony Kornheiser
None. I believe he has none. He plays every day, and he should because he's that good in the field. And he's, by the way, very fast. He's very fast, but he has no home runs. This is center field now. There's a power position. He has no home runs, and. And I don't know what. What you do with him. His bobblehead day is coming up, and the picture of him is he's diving to catch a ball. He's not holding a bat in his hand. He's not. You know, you would not have James Wood diving to catch a ball. You'd have James Wood with a menacing bat in his hand. And. And Jacob Young is completely the other way. Michael, you played baseball in high school. You love baseball. Should they. Should they keep him? Should they keep playing him? I mean, he has no home runs.
Michael
My little league experience cannot give me any perspective.
Tony Kornheiser
This.
Michael
But no, this is where they've been. How many years have you been saying that they have great defensive players at offensive positions that you want to see some more production from? And this is just that perfect storm where for the last couple years, you've had more outfielders in depth than you have positions and you're trying to slot them into the right spot. But right now, these are the highlights that you're getting. Not the home runs. You're getting these off the wall catches.
Tony Kornheiser
So, I mean, Victor Robles was a great center fielder. Didn't hit at all. Michael A. Or Michael K. Taylor struck out all the time. Ye. Yeah. You know, so I don't, you know, I, I. And I really like Jacob Young. And so I thought about this, that if I were the manager or the hitting coach, neither of whom should be retained, but if I, I would say to him, you know what? You got to learn, son, to bunt, to get on, because you're fast, you can steal second all the time. Yeah, you got to learn. When lefties are pitching, you want to bunt it down a third baseline, making them turn around once they feel the ball. When Ries are pitching, you want to bun it down, you know, the, the first baseline. Because you got to get on once a game. What? Don't you think he's got to get on once a game?
Michael
You want to be product of where the lineup is, which is. Do you have a lot of trust that either in front of or behind him, you're going to get the production that moves that over and, and makes that risk worth it?
Tony Kornheiser
Well, he bats ninth, which means that C.J. abrams follows him, so I don't know that there's anything to lose. He's solid. Bat ninth. Yeah, I'd love to see him just hit one home run. Yeah. Zero home runs. It's just. That's difficult. All right, Michael, stories for us. You have stories. You took the big boys. You took the big boys out to the beach. What do you got?
Michael
Well, the start of our dad camp out to the Delaware beaches. We were, you know, cruising. We're on 16. Dad's listening to his music. The kids are plugged into their Kindles at the time. We went the first hour and a half device free. Tried to fill that with some Pokemon rap battles for those of you who have kids. And the Minecraft official soundtrack. So I'm well versed on Lava Chicken and Zero to Hero, if anyone wants to join in the chorus with me making great time, we're planning to stop in at the Wawa, pick us up some, you know, hoagies now that we're out here at the Delaware beaches. So. And imagine my surprise when we're in between the little towns and I see some yellow and then red lights up ahead. And you know what? Normally I've got my co pilot, Liz is Running the gps, I got nothing. And I'm not going to start searching through my phone because I've already was yelled at by a certain 8 year old to keep both hands on the steering wheel early in the drive. And I make that mistake where I get behind. Yeah, 10 to 2, 10 and 2. I am behind a painting truck on a split, what is essentially a split two lane highway. And I got no way off. No way off. And some people don't understand the actual rules of the road and, and are trying to, you know, leapfrog their way in between the various trucks. And I go, kids, we're just in this. If it takes 10 minutes, good. If not, we're in it till we're, we get to at least another highway because eventually I can get to the highway that might take you down to Bethany. But at this point I think it might take route.
Tony Kornheiser
This is between Ellendale and. What is it, Glenwood? Yeah, what's the name?
Michael
Between the, the, the squeeze, the going down 25 miles per hour. So yeah, no, we ended up, we ended up getting through that. But no, my story for you is from the evening adventure.
Tony Kornheiser
What happened?
Michael
When's the last time that you went to Funland after the sun goes down?
Tony Kornheiser
I don't know, the 12th of never. I mean, you know, that explains my childhood. I'm not a fun land guy. I like skeeball, but the rest of it sort of, it's really loud and smells bad. So, you know, I mean it's lovely. It just thrives.
Michael
All right, so we are at that perfect time where we have a, you know, the bootsy and the hammer. Eight and six summer birthdays. They're pumped to go. So I surprise them. We finish dinner, we find parking. We are walking on the boardwalk. It's a beautiful night, zero humidity, a nice breeze coming in off the ocean. And we go to Funland and it's all digital now. You get these, you get these cards that you just tap to pay so, you know, you don't have to. I had some quarters and a couple of the, you know, the, the operated games like the, you know, throwing a pickleball into a bucket. Those are still, you know, run through cash, but we have cards for the boys and we start at skeeball. Are you a bank it in? Are you straight up the line?
Tony Kornheiser
Yes. No, I, you know, as a child I went to skeeball a lot and I got pretty good at throwing it from the right side, off the right side and put banking it all right, into the 50, into the 50 yes, I was. Right on right. Yes.
Michael
Yeah, that's a. That's a pretty wide angle. I would often go to the left side, still take that right bank. So I've tried to teach that to the kids, but now you're trying to jockey for position as to where you are on the line of, you know, skeeball machines, because once you pick a lane, you got to stay, and you got to learn that court.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Michael
So I've got my little boys trying to, you know, they're getting boxed out by, you know, a family of five who's also doing the bump to the left shift. The hammer can barely roll it all the way up to the score. Doesn't. He's not even trying to make the 40. I think you always go for the 40, right? And boots is just. He's. He's clanking him in, and he's just below the threshold to get the small stuffed animal.
Tony Kornheiser
So you didn't. They didn't get an animal?
Michael
No, no.
Tony Kornheiser
We.
Michael
We won a couple times. Then, of course, I'm sitting there like, guys, I can clean this up. Let me get you. We'll go. You know, we'll do the trade. Three smalls for me all day.
Tony Kornheiser
Let. Let dad hit the. And then we can go from there. Yeah.
Michael
And to see their faces, I was like, all right, kids, it's time to go.
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, they don't want to go. They want to stay. Are there other games that. There are other games there.
Michael
Are you familiar with the claw? The claw game straight out of, like, Toy Story?
Tony Kornheiser
No. No, I don't know it. Yeah, it's like a big, like, a box of, like, toys, and you have to. You operate a mechanical crane that goes down, and then you have to grab the stuff.
Michael
Chris, you know, the claws. Oh, 100. I'm a master at the claw.
Tony Kornheiser
Really?
Michael
So what's your. What. What is the technique? Oh, you have to have one person on each side where you're looking at both angles of it so that you can kind of measure out, like, where you're dropping it, and then you get it, like, maybe 25 of the time.
Tony Kornheiser
It's super rigged, so it's hard.
Michael
I would take 20 of the time or 25. Yeah, 20. 25% of the time is being generous. It is meant to be impossible.
Tony Kornheiser
Do they come around with drink orders? Is it like, babies? They don't do that. Right. Nobody's asking. Cocktails.
Michael
You know what? Definitely. It would definitely create a different environment in that heat dome. That is fun land. So they put all these they put the premium prizes at the top. So kids think that, like, oh, I'm going to win this. You know, for us, it's. It's a huge stuffed animal. And we have told Bootsy that this is rigged. You're not. You're not really going to win. And then you see a couple people win, so they get the itch and they want to give it one more go. So, of course, we are closing out the night. And the Hammer, who doesn't really know any of these things, goes up to the. The one that has, like the little mini basketballs. They got some great choices. Yankees. That'd be awesome. I see one, you know, got. They got a WFT in there. They got a, you know, a couple of the local regional teams, maybe in Orioles. And then I see staring at me in the middle of the claw game, an Eagles mini basketball. The hammer drops the claw. It closes in around that orb and somehow, somehow he holds onto it and deposits it into the bottom. And he's. He is. He is grinning ear to ear. And I'm just feeling like I'm getting trolled by, you know, the Eagles, the NFC championship. Just going to pen. And he's just smiling. I'm like, do I tell him that this is, you know, the Philadelphia. I could make it up. He just sees an Eagle. He doesn't really know where it's from. And we get home and he goes, dad, is this a rival? I think his brother was. Was upset and told her that it was arrival. I'm just in my head, can't stop singing. Fly, Eagles, fly. Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Wow, that's a nice. That's lovely. What time did you. Did they get home?
Michael
This was, you know, in the, you know, 8 to 9, 9:30.
Tony Kornheiser
They go to bed right away. They're on bunk beds. Did anybody fall out?
Michael
Haven't seen them yet. So no falling out. But now they were.
Tony Kornheiser
It's good to know. All right, that's lovely. You know, that makes me happy.
Michael
This is the. It's the. To see. To see a beach town light up at night through the eyes of your kid. It's everything. And, you know, driving out, I was thinking about all these, you know, feelings about, like, where I was when I was their age, going to these types of trips with you. The power of doing something with just your mom or dad. I mean, we are. We are very lucky that we're able to spend these moments with our boys, but it was everything.
Tony Kornheiser
Lovely. Lovely. Makes me happy. Envious. Totally envious.
Michael
E G L E S Eagles.
Tony Kornheiser
It's the only good advice I ever gave my son. No, no. Don't wear a Washington shirt in the stands. Oh, no, no. You'll get.
Michael
I didn't listen to your advice. I listened to Jaws.
Tony Kornheiser
All right, we will take a break. Paul Feinbaum will join us when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show. This is the Chili Pad. Read Poor sleep equals poor results. But here's the kicker. Quality sleep isn't always about how long you sleep, but how well you sleep. And science tells us temperature plays a massive role in that. Meet Chilipad by Sleep Me. Its mission is to elevate the quality of human life through cool sleep. Whether you're an elite athlete, weekend warrior, or just hate tossing, turning and sweaty sheets, Chilipad can end your nights of sleeping hotter than hell. The Chilipad cooling system was designed with athletes in mind. It lets you customize your sleeping environment to your personal temperature, ensuring you fall asleep faster and wake up recovered. It's like having a personal recovery coach, but for your sleep. Chilipad works with your existing mattress. It's a temperature regulated, water based mattress topper that precisely controls your bed temperature from 55 to 115 degrees. The systems are buildable and designed for one or two sleepers, so if your sleep partner likes to sleep at different temperatures or you only need it for one side of the bed, that's okay too. Plus, you can schedule automated temperature changes to trigger deep sleep and reduce night sweats. Would Chili Pad dominate the day? Recover at night? Visit www.sleep.metony to get your chili pad and save 20% with the code TONY. The special offer is available for Tony Kornheiser show listeners, dozens of you, and only for a limited time. Order it today with free shipping and try it out for 30 days. You can return it for free if you don't like it with their sleep trial, visit www.sleep s l e e p.me m e Tony and see why Cold sleep is your ultimate ally in performance and recovery. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show. You ever watch a game and just know who's going to win and then boom, something wild happens? Yeah, that would happen occasionally when I was writing a column. While it was exciting to watch, it meant that sometimes I had to quickly rewrite my column. Business can be like that too. You think you've got the game plan, but then costs go up, customers pull back, or a big opportunity suddenly appears and you've got to move fast. That's why small business owners need flexible options before they're in a tight spot. Revenued makes that possible. Their Flex line gives you access to up to $250,000 based on your business revenue, not your credit score. And you only draw what you need when you need it. No fees, just for applying, drawing or maintaining it. And as you repay your funds, replenish so you always have breathing room. Over 10,000 business owners are using revenue to stay ahead even in uncertain times. Apply now at use revenue.com that's use revenued with a D dot com. Apply today and be ready for whatever comes next. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. These are the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. They're a real group. Yeah, they're not young independent artists who we love, but they're very successful people. And for some reason they listen to this show and they send us their music. This is a song called Love Calling. And they send a note as well. Dwight Glenn of the group says, we're sending you a box of stuff from the Ozark Mountain Daredevils out of gratitude for playing our songs on your podcast. From a band that has somehow survived for 53 years of the music industry. And included is a wonderful 500 plus page book that does a deep dive into our history with many interviews from all the people who've made a difference in contribution to this entity since day one. A bottle of bourbon from our second collaboration with the wonderful folks at Maker's Mark. We were and are grateful for the opportunity. It's sold out. It's not Johnnie Walker Blue, but it's worth a nip. Maker's Mark is fabulous. Yes, it is. A T shirt with our original logo from our first album in 1973 with A& M Records that was produced at Olympic Studios in London with the great Glynn Johns who found our little hippie band, loved our tunes and harmonies, gave us a chance. Now hear this cd, the lost album we recently found and remastered since you might still have a CD player somewhere. I do. Best of CD Time Warp so you can hear Jackie Blue once again. Plus one DVD for those nights when the Nationals bullpen gives up a lead, which is every night. So this is from now here, this, this is their first tune today is Love Calling. They're really great. We're grateful for that. And they play in my friend Paul Finebaum. Before we got on the air with Paul, we were discussing off the air sneakers and I was talking about Hokas. And I said, paul, do you wear Hokas? And he said, no. And you said, you wear what, by the way?
Paul Feinbaum
My first year in college, I was listening to Jackie Blue in the dorm. I remember Ozark. Well, I wear. I switched to Brooks a couple of years ago. They fit my feet very well. It's. I think, the adrenaline. It's one of their top brands. But I run in it, I walk in it, and I make nothing from it. But I would like some of your Maker's Mark right now.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Because it's really good cocktail time where you are, I'm sure. Yeah. You run. You're a runner.
Paul Feinbaum
I've been a runner for a while. Not that anybody cares, but I'm moving toward an elliptical. I tried it a few weeks ago. I went to the gym with my wife. I usually don't. Wouldn't be caught dead in the gym. And I really like it. For some reason, it doesn't kill your knees or your back, Tony, or your ankles.
Tony Kornheiser
So the elliptical. So you. Now you're using hands on. And you go and, you know, back and forth as you. As you move. Right.
Paul Feinbaum
I am really into it. I mean, I'm going to be first in my class at the. At the age of 69, I'll probably will win that division.
Tony Kornheiser
You got a long way to go to catch me, pal. I'm not on any ellipticals. You know, I'm not in it. All right, so let me. Let. Let's. I love talking with you all the time. And I don't try to put you on a lot because I understand that, you know, nobody can be on shows and keep talking all the time, but I am. Fascinated is the wrong word, but I am gleeful at what seems to be a war between the SEC and the Big Ten to push each other off a cliff. It makes me very happy. Can you explain what's going on here? And I would say that it seems like it's the battle for supremacy in football, except that if. If one kicks the other out. Like they need each other, don't they? Don't they need each other? They're the best two conferences.
Paul Feinbaum
They do, Tony, but for a long time it hasn't been there. I wrote a book 10 years ago called My Conference Can Beat your why the SEC Still Rules College Football. And ironically, the SEC went on this run forever. Thanks to Nick Saban, Dabo Sweeney managed to steal a championship or two with people like Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Paul Feinbaum
But ultimately, when Michigan claimed a national championship two years ago, I'm still not sure it's legitimate. It all started to change. But it was last year, Ohio State knocking out Texas in the cotton ball. That it wasn't just too straight, Tony, it was too straight without the SEC being in the championship game. Yes, yes, and, and nobody brags, nobody boasts more than the sec. And I get all the blame because I'm the face of the SEC network, as if I really control anything. And now the Big Ten has struck back. You saw the hiring the other day. And I don't know how this matters, but they hired Dave, which is last name Portnoy from Barstool.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Paul Feinbaum
And they expect him to bring that program back. As if Urban Meyer sitting on that desk or Matt Leinert or Reggie Bush weren't, weren't enough.
Tony Kornheiser
So are they. But this war does indeed continue. And it seems to be the battleground, seems to be the schedule. For people that don't understand this, the, the Tennessee asks its members to play eight conference games. It's like 20 teams now in all of these conferences. And the Big Ten ask us, it asks its to play nine. And so the new, relatively new commissioner of the Big Ten, Tony Petiti, the other day said, boy, if you're six and three in the Big Ten, that's great. And I went on the PTI show and said, this guy's. What is he talking about? It depends on who the six are. It depends on who the three are. You know, what are you talking about? He's just cheerleading to get more teams into the national championship.
Paul Feinbaum
Right, Tony, what he's doing is following what the SEC did last week, where the commissioner got up. And by the way, the commissioner of the SEC wants nine games, but the coaches don't. Why don't they? Because if you're at Mississippi State or Kentucky or Arkansas and your job is on the line and you and that ninth game just happens to be against Alabama, Georgia or Texas, you got to look, you're, you're, you're not going to the Pool and Weed Eater Bowl. So therefore it's a big, big deal. What's funny is that in 2011, Nick Saban told me we have to go to nine conference games. I want my players to be able to visit every campus in the sec, blah, blah, blah. In Saban's last year, when he found out what the schedule was going to be with the nine conference games and he was going to have to play lsu, Auburn and Tennessee every year, he said, you know What? I think 8 is really good enough. And that started it. And every coach now just hangs their hat on Saban ultimately. And one more thing, Tony. ESPN initially did not want to pay for that ninth game. Now they're willing to do so, thanks to shows like yours, not losing $40 million a year like Colbert. And ultimately, ultimately, they'll go there. But right now, it's just. It's just catnip for the Big Ten. Even the, Even the, The acc. I don't know if you heard yesterday Rhett Lashley, who's the coach at smu, somehow they bought their way into the acc. Yeah, he said the. He said the SEC isn't exciting. It's. It's. It's. It's top heavy. He said. Since 1964, he said the SEC has only had six teams win national championships. It's not as exciting as the acc. And I went on. I went on. Yeah, I went on Greenberg yesterday, and even though I completely didn't follow what he said, I made a big deal about 1987 being the year that SMU was shut down. It was, you know, other than maybe Penn State, the most corrupt controversy, and, and everybody saying, well, you're missing the point. No, I understood the point. But do you know, since 1964, I think Alabama's only 115 national champions.
Tony Kornheiser
That's what I was going to say. If you take the total number, it's like saying, well, it's top heavy in tennis because they just have Federer and Nadal and Djokovic. Yeah, but you'd like to see them because they win all the championships. I mean, it's. That's just stupid. But that, you know, smu. Come on. SMU is my smu. In Memphis, here's all the money in the world. You don't have to give us anything back. Just let us play. Right? So.
Paul Feinbaum
And Memphis felt like it should get in, but SMU didn't. But anyway, it doesn't really matter. Except now everybody is attacking. I mean, everyone's attacking the. The sec. Even Curtin Signetti, Kurt Signetti. I'm sure nobody in the audience has ever heard of him, but he's a coach at Indiana, and he kind of got this started to say a 63 record in the Big Ten is better than the SEC. It's only. Here's the problem for the SEC, Tony. If they don't win the championship this year, it's going to get even worse. Which, by the way, do you think? I love it. As a talk show host, you understand it. You've done this a million years, but the SEC people are going crazy.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. I mean, yes, I see that. And that's. That's good for us. That's good for people who look at, you know, basically barn animals and, you know, I want to make fun of them. That's basically what they are. Did you see the thing that Mike Locksley said? Did you see that? They said that we had a lot of trouble putting the money out there to the players. That made them happy. And I lost the locker room. I. You know, look, I'm not saying that Mike Locksley is Shula. I'm not trying to make that point. But it was a startling admission to me, A startling admission, and I would think a warning to all coaches to like to, you better do this smoothly. Right? Or you. Or you can dissolve. Am I right on that?
Paul Feinbaum
No, you're 100% right. And Mike Lockley is really a unique person in the industry. He's very honest. He was a. He worked for Saban for a long time, and a lot of people thought he wouldn't be a bad replacement. But you can't. You have to tiptoe around these players right now because he's not the only one who's lost locker rooms. And. And it's. It's dangerous. And you don't know. I mean, they want everything, and that's fine. Good for them. They're entitled to whatever they can get. And right now, they're getting a. And the stupidest people in the sport are the folks who actually run it. They cut this deal. They cut this deal, this House settlement, by the way, that's not the House of Representatives, the guy named House who filed suit against the ncaa. And everybody is now trying to figure out what to do with $20 million. And nobody, Tony, they just hired a guy from Major League Baseball again, like Watiti, who's supposed to be the enforcement director of college football right now. Can you imagine? There's. Because there are no rules. And if you don't like what you're seeing, you just file a lawsuit and you'll probably win.
Tony Kornheiser
I agree with that. There are certainly no rules. I mean, you know, you want to say, do you see light at the end of the tunnel? And maybe somewhere down the road, sanity will prevail. But not this year, not next year, not in the immediate future. Right? In the immediate future. This is, you know, people diving into pools filled with money, right?
Paul Feinbaum
Yeah. And two years ago, two and a half years ago, Nick Saban, on the way to the Rose bowl, face Jim Harbaugh for the national semifinal. Great, great game. Went to overtime. Saban's last game. One of his players came up to him and said, I need money. He said, we're on a plane going to play a game. And that was what many people close to Saban triggered it saying, I've got to get out of here. I can't handle this anymore. And it was, it was a culmination of a lot because Nick Sab is very Belichickian. Because he worked for Belichick.
Tony Kornheiser
Yes.
Paul Feinbaum
And he just couldn't, he couldn't deal with it. He just said, I'm not dealing with that crap. And he walked away. Now, of course people think he's coming back, which he's not, by the way. But the point is there. If you, if you have, if you have an ounce of principle in your body, you cannot coach in college football right now.
Tony Kornheiser
I agree with that. I totally agree with that. You got to get out for a while. All right. I am, I'm curious about one other thing because we see this now with long distance conferences as Everybody picked up PAC 12 schools and you know, and you have the Big Ten spread out over, I don't know, 33 states at the moment. Are these things working out? The ones that are non geographic, are they working out or is, is there unrest as a result of that?
Paul Feinbaum
No, there's not. I've seen data, I've seen surveys and studies where first of all, if you go west to east, you're going to lose. And again, let's not get hung up on all the classwork they're missing. But if you're a student at Berkeley and you're on the lacrosse team or whatever and you're not flying private like football and basketball, you're having to fly to the east coast to Boston College. That's a long trip and you're going to miss half a week of school. And you literally cannot be a serious student in one of those leagues. And the main reason the ACC wanted Cal and Stanford, why? Because the presidents make these decisions and they think that makes us look good.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, you have smart schools. Yeah, smart schools.
Paul Feinbaum
It doesn't work. But it really doesn't matter because college, it's pro, it's pro sports anyway. And the sooner the college football admits that it's the, it's just like the NFL, the better it will be. But I was at a media days last week when all the people get up there and they use this word, Tony, you know, we have to make sure the student athlete is protected.
Tony Kornheiser
What are you talking about? You've exploited them like animals for 100 years. Now they finally have some rights. And you are actually saying student athlete. They're professional athletes. They're not student. They're not student anything. Right? Not student anything, are they?
Paul Feinbaum
No. I mean the top college football player could make $5 million a year more. I mean, I talked briefly last week to Arch Manning. It was a circus. And to his credit and you know, the family, I mean, he just kind of shrugged his shoulders. But right now the question is how long can they keep Arch Manning in Texas? This is his first year. But I'm pretty sure if he wanted, he could, he could bail out of there after one year.
Tony Kornheiser
Absolutely. Paul, thank you so much. Thank you. We'll talk soon, I hope. I love it. Thanks, Paul.
Paul Feinbaum
You bet.
Tony Kornheiser
Tony. Paul. Flame down, boys and girls. We will take a break. We will come back. Liz Clark will join us. We'll talk about tennis. Will have a nostalgic reunion. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
Liz Clark
Wanna pull off the season's freshest trends. You just need the right shoes. That's where designer shoe warehouse comes in. Loving wide leg jeans. Pair them with sleek low profile sneakers. Obsessed with the sheer trend. Try it with mesh flats. Feeling boho comfy sandals. Nail the whole free spirited thing. Find on trend shoes from the brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas and more at dsw. Buying a car in Carvana was so easy. I was able to finance it through them.
Tony Kornheiser
I just.
Liz Clark
Whoa, wait, you mean finance? Yeah, finance. Got pre qualified for a Carvana auto loan entered my terms and shot from thousands of great car options all within my budget. That's cool that financing through Carvana was so easy. Financed, done. And I get to pick up my car from their Carvana vending machine tomorrow. Financed, right? That's what they said. You can spend time trying to pronounce financing or you can actually finance and buy your car. Today on Carvana financing subject to credit approval. Additional terms and conditions may apply.
Tony Kornheiser
This is the Tony Kornheiser show. Once again, these are the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. This is a song called I'm still dreaming and I. I can't express enough how thrilling it is to have a band like the Ozark Mountain Daredevils. Absolutely. To this dopey show and send us music that's, you know, they're. They're actual pros again. Like you watch the Billy Joel documentary and you realize, okay, he knows what he's doing. He's not. Little bit. Kevin Kisser once said, we're not out here practicing. He used a different word. But that's it. Michael. If people, unlike the Ozark Mountain devil daredevils if, if independent artists want to send us their music to play, how do they do it?
Michael
Send us your music by emailing it to jingles Tony Kwanizer Show.com the Ozark.
Tony Kornheiser
Mountain Daredevils play in Liz Clark. And we're talking. Liz, I spent about an hour last night watching the tennis on TV from Washington, from Rock Creek Park. Made me think of you. I'm sure, I'm sure you had to cover this tournament every once in a while, didn't you?
Kenny Powers
Oh, oh, well, first of all, what a joy to hear your voice. And Michael, thank you. Oh, yes, I did my city open duty for at least 10 years. It's to the point that like, just the tournament's name triggers painful sense memories of, of August humidity. But. But no, I saw tons of great tennis there, really enjoyed it.
Tony Kornheiser
But I need to ask because I've covered tennis tournaments in my life and the worst thing that ever happened to the sport of tennis for newspaper people is the invention of lighted courts. Because that means you can sell an extra bunch of premium tickets and you can start matches at, oh, I don't know, 11 o' clock at night, if you choose to. You must have had some terribly. All the days were hot, but they must have been terribly long as well. Right. What's the latest you were ever there? Filing copy.
Kenny Powers
Easily 2:30 in the morning. And that wouldn't have been filing copy, but I had this insane, you know, responsibility thing that if tennis was being played and it was my job, I needed to be there even if I have had to write post facto that like somebody blew out a knee and wept on the court, you know, past deadline. So. Yeah, no, it was quite, it was almost done up. But, you know, it's no treat for players. You know that. If you remember, Andy Murray had some pretty harsh words when one of his matches went past 1:00am I mean, it's, it's brutal for players. It's only good for ticket sales, as you said.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, that's why you do it. I mean, you light up the courts and you sell a whole bunch of tickets and then if players play late, you know, maybe they have to play, maybe not first thing in the morning the next day, but by noon. And they're exhausted. Right. I mean, they can't.
Kenny Powers
They're exhausted and then. Yeah. And their lives are so calibrated. Like, here's when I eat my meal and here's when I drink and I have my protein power and powder and I do all this and it just screws them up royally.
Tony Kornheiser
Besides the fatigue, do you remember any particular match or matches that you saw in Washington where you said, this is really good? I'm really glad I saw this.
Kenny Powers
Oh, I'm so bad with recall in the way that a lot of guys are great at it. Like, they'll rip off stats. I mean, I do remember just being dazzled by Gail Monfis, you know, his athleticism, and I felt that all around the world. But something about the D.C. tournament, there's an intimacy there. You know, there was the one year that Rafa played toward the end of his career when he was trying to figure out could he come back from the foot. It was by no means memorable tennis from Rafa, but it was a memorable moment in his career, and it just broke my heart. And, you know, I was able to go, you know, to his early morning practices, too. I always loved watching him practice, and that was like watching an athlete go through something that. That if you stick around long enough, they're all going to go through. So on every level, I would answer in some form of intimacy, you know, And I think people who go to the tournament, I hope they appreciate that, because you don't get that at the US Open in a 24,000ft arena. That's just insane, you know, to watch players practice and see, you know, hear them if they're playing doubles, hear them, like, squawking at each other. It's a really. It's a gem for DC Even though it can be super hot. But I hear the weather's great this week.
Tony Kornheiser
So, yeah, tomorrow, supposed to be super hot. Tomorrow's like high 90s around her. So I heard a story yesterday from someone that where, you know, near my house where my kids went to elementary school, there are a couple of tennis courts. Michael, how many tennis courts are there at Lafayette? Three or four?
Michael
Oh, more than that. Probably six.
Tony Kornheiser
I heard that the players were practicing there. I heard that they were not. You know, because you can't get all the court time you need in Washington with all the people in the first two rounds. This is 100, more than 100 people playing. I heard they were playing at Lafayette Elementary School because what? Hard court is hard court. I mean, does that make sense to you, Liz? Does that sound reasonable?
Kenny Powers
It sounds plausible in that, you know, most of the time I covered it, it was a men's tournament. I think it had a 48 player draw, which is fairly modest.
Tony Kornheiser
Now it's women, too, but.
Kenny Powers
Yeah, now, exactly. So that is that. I don't want to say it doubles it because Last and again, I'm a little dated, but you know, they used to have a little smaller draw, but you know, that's a lot of players. There's doubles going on. And to be clear, a lot of these players, they're competing here. Everything they're doing now is for the US Open, right. So they're, they're not practicing certainly to win the City Open, although that would be great. But you know, they can't just take off practice. It's all part of this master plan to build their hard court game for the final major of the year. So yeah, I know tennis players to be very resourceful and their coaches or their team to find them places to practice if need be. But that's a cool story.
Tony Kornheiser
This leads me down this particular road and this speaks to my individual cynicism that I carried with me as a sports writer for a long time. I watched this tournament and for years and years and years. And the big names go out very early, often like by the second round. And they go out very early in my opinion because they've done playing, I want to play. They're getting ready for the U.S. open. Not this thing. They don't want to play five matches here. One is enough or two is enough. You lose close, you get out, you cash the check, you've had a good time. And you, you're using this for another reason than this tournament. Am I crazy, wrong, marginally wrong or correct?
Kenny Powers
Yeah, I think it's the middle ground in that. I think that was a thing maybe 10, 20 years ago with the, the best players they would cherry pick or they used to be paid appearance fees like I'll go get the check it just as you said. You said it exactly. I really don't think that as much the norm. First of all, this tournament doesn't get the, the top one to four as a rule. And that, that has no reflection on this tournament. It has to do with the way the rules that require top 10 players to appear in certain number of events on certain number of places around the world, blah, blah, blah. So you get a lot of young players who are really breaking through. I remember in high school seeing John McEnroe, a Stanford undergrad, play Brian Godfrey, that was a Washington star. And it's. So there are a lot of rising players who, for whom it's super important to have a breakthrough win and then maybe some older players who really still want to get the rankings points up. I don't see or hear much about swoop in for the appearance fee and move on and get what I need, minimal. I mean, I'm not so naive that it doesn't happen, but I think it was more of a thing 20 years ago.
Tony Kornheiser
Okay. Speaking of older players, not that she needs ranking points because it's, you know, the career is over, but Venus Williams. Venus Williams is here. And that's. That's. There's no other word you can use but sweet, right? It's really nice. It's really a sweet thing that she's.
Kenny Powers
Playing for the tournament. You know, she has an elder sister who lives here in D.C. she. All the family has always had an affection and connection to D.C. and, you know, she. She knows Mark Ein quite well. So it's great for the tournament and, you know, to. To go back and see and read what Venus did and said. It was obviously great for her. And her fiance was there in the stands. I believe that was the first time he'd ever seen her play live, if you can believe that. She won, said, 45. I mean, no, Schmo. A top 35 player. And, you know, there's something about Venus, who has been a pro for over 30 years. I think she turned pro at 14.
Tony Kornheiser
He.
Kenny Powers
She plays with such joy. She loves the game. She loves to promote the game, you know, when it fits in with her medical situation, you know, and what's going on in her life. But there's a real pure joy of being out there competing. And she even played doubles at the City Open. I think she lost second round with her partner. But, no, she's there for joy. She made it crack that she's also there because she found out she's on COBRA and she needs to get her insurance.
Tony Kornheiser
That was funny. That was funny.
Kenny Powers
That was huge.
Michael
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Kenny Powers
But no, just nice to see her.
Tony Kornheiser
My friend David wrote me a note saying he'd seen her in a final in 1997, and you just do the math, you know, that's 28 years ago. She's. She's in a major final 28 years ago. It's very nice. You have any. I assume you watched Wimbledon. You have any thoughts on Sinner and Alcaraz and what that portends for the future?
Kenny Powers
My God, you'll have to shut me up. But my main thoughts really go to the French final and then the brilliant, what Andy Roddick called the redemption story that center got at Wimbledon. I mean, I think in terms of those two finals just the last month, the. The. The French final between them will go down as one of the greatest matches ever. And I hate the term instant Classic. But that's pretty apt. You know, it was five and a half hours and it was center two sets ahead. It was a clawback. And what I'm sputtering and failing to say is what made it so remarkable wasn't just the length of. It was the standard of play, the pace of play, the power, the fact that points were really not lost. They were just, you know, cleaved from the other guy. And some of the best string of points came at the five plus hour mark in that fifth set tiebreak when Alcaraz just was out of his mind. But again, you know, I know a lot of people are happy. Wow, there's the makings of a new rivalry to, to maybe supplant the Big three. And you know, no one weeps more for the, the absence of Nadal and Federer probably than I. But that said, this is not just a new rivalry. I mean, this is like a reset of the game. It's a, it's, it's stunning. The level of power and pace with which these two guys play. It's mind blowing.
Tony Kornheiser
There's no one in that league. Right? There's no one else.
Kenny Powers
No, I mean, I don't mean to act like Ms. Know It All. I can't, but I don't think so. And I think they have all four surfaces covered. I mean, you know, and to see center when he's first Wimbledon was a beautiful thing and to do so after this devastating loss. He had three match points at the French. I mean, if anybody is entitled to be emotionally leveled and devastated by a loss, it's center after that French final. And all he did was reset, work harder and just bring a very aggressive, no nonsense game. Even losing the first set at the Wimbledon final.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Kenny Powers
And then just crushed. Amazing.
Tony Kornheiser
He's got to get rid of that hat though. Don't you think he looks ridiculous in that hat.
Kenny Powers
Looks like somebody from our gang. Men in their, in their early twenties do all kinds of silly things. I mean, we look at the Andre Agassiz career and he had his fashion moments that were not so great, but like what a statesman he is now.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. Lovely to talk with you. Speaking. Thank you for being on the show. Thank you, Liz. I'll see you soon.
Kenny Powers
Happy summer.
Michael
Bye bye.
Tony Kornheiser
Liz Clark. Boys and girls. We'll take a break. We will come back with email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
Liz Clark
Out here we feel things. The sore calves that lead to epic views. The cool waterfall mist during a hot hike. And the breeze that hits just right at the summit. But hey, don't just listen to us. Experience it for yourself. All trails make it easy to discover the best of the outdoors. With more than 450,000 trails around the world, points of interest along the trail and offline maps for always on navigation. Download the free app today and find your next outdoor adventure.
Kenny Powers
This is the Tony Kornizer Show.
Tony Kornheiser
Missouri Marching Band. So great honor, miss Suri Marching band. It always makes me smile. Great honor. You want to do the Bethesda Bagel ad for us? 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 I remember when you couldn't wait to love me you used to hate to leave me now after loving me late at night when it's good for you, babe and you're feeling all right well, you just roll over, turn out the light and you don't bring me flowers anymore. I turned Nigel on to the song, which is a great song. Barbra Streisand, Neil diamond performed this song live at the Grammys 40 years ago without any introduction whatsoever. There's just solitary spotlights on either side of the stage and they walk out. Yeah. And nobody saw this coming. It's nobody. It is. It's amazing. It shivers. Yes. And brings tears to your eyes. Yes. Just that good. Beautiful. Thanks to our guest today, Paul Feinbaum and Liz Clark. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey. Get show through Apple Podcasts. Please leave us a review. Two kids from Brooklyn, Neil diamond and Barbara Streis. Yeah. My great thanks to Doug Steinhurst in Las Cruces in Mexico and originally in Roslyn on Long island for the nice note that he sent me from that in San Antonio. How are we not talking about Bactine, that lava in an aerosol can my mother, who allegedly loved me, sprayed onto my open wounds? I would prefer sepsis. Sepsis, Sepsis. Matt and San Antonio. Martin Ward, Aurora, Colorado. Catching up on some episodes on the Mailbag is all about iodine and Neosporin. What's wrong with you people? Rub some dirt on it and get back in the game. There you go. Leslie Thomas, Hillsborough, North Carolina. I find it interesting you get scamming attempts via American Express. I get at least 20 messages per day saying I have received thousands of of dollars in deposits. I just delete Everything. I figure if I'm going to get any free money, they're going to knock on my door, right? So I agree. I used to get those too. You know, $6,411 is waiting for you, and all you have to do is. And I would know. That's not.
Michael
That's not unclaimed property.
Tony Kornheiser
This is not real. You cannot. You cannot call these people. Nobody can call these people. From Neil Airvis, our lawyer in Littleton, Colorado, Tony, your experience with the AMEX scam is only the tip of an Antarctic sized iceberg. In 2024, phone, Internet and other scampers scammers stole over $1 trillion. Statistics for 2022 report that Americans lost an aggregate of 10.3 billion to scammers. The United States reports the largest average loss of $3,520. And worldwide, only 4% percent of the losses are recovered. In the United States, almost 96% of adults receive at least one scam message a week by email, phone call or text. As Michael astutely noted, the organized criminals who commit these scams are difficult to catch because of their sophistication in masking their identities by using virtual private networks or proxies, which substitute a fake Internet location for the real one and change that VPN repeatedly using caller ID spoofing to make calls look like they originate local, when they may be made from anywhere, and using malicious links and QR codes. Many of the criminal enterprises are international, making it difficult for US Agencies to locate and combat them without the help of foreign governments. Many of those scam shops are populated by people who have been kidnapped or tricked into moving with a promise of a real job and then held captive. Wow. For those littles and bigs who want help in identifying and avoiding scams, the Federal Trade Commission website has useful information. Information and for those of our age, I. E. AOL users, AARP has similar assistance. Trillion dollars. Trillion. Come on. Yeah. Barry Finkenberg in Kahlua, Kona. I got that in Hawaii, obviously. I'd like to point out that my alma mater, Lafayette High School in Bensonhurst, has the most graduates who went on to play Major League Baseball in all of New York State. Thirteen total. As you probably remember, when we were kids, there wasn't much baseball played on the east coast from October to March. Lacking grass fields meant most Brooklyn High school games were played at the parade grounds, which were attacked attached to Prospect Park. West coast and Southern teams didn't have the same weather restrictions. They had plenty of parks and fields open all year, so it'd be natural for them to turn out more pros. The list of Lafayette alums who played in the majors include Bob and Ken Aspromonte, Benny Destefano, John Franco and a left hander you may remember Sandy Kofi. Lafayette's other famous grads are Larry King, Larry Merchant, Maurice Sendak, Paul Sorvino and Peter Max, although this list is tarnished. Jeffrey Epstein oh yeah, thanks to poetic license, the awesome chase scene in the French Connection goes past Lafayette three different times. The school was closed in 2010, but I remain a French grad. A proud grad. Go Frenchies. Yeah, they would call it Lafayette. They're called French. Wow. John Juback in In Pittsburgh, I had a David Aldridge moment when you read the letter from Morgan Pressell's Uncle John. Tell him Mary about Uncle John, specifically when he mentioned his cousin Aaron Crickston. I remember that the dermatologist I went to in Pittsburgh when I was in high school was Crickstein's uncle. A few minutes with the Google machine confirmed that my dermatologist, Dr. Raymond Goldblum, was the father of Morgan's Uncle John. The obituary for Raymond Goldblum that ran in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette In May of 1988 quotes his brother in law and Morgan's grandfather Herbert. While Ray wasn't much of an athlete, he sure could give advice. So much so that in the middle of a Davis cup tennis match, his nephew Aaron Christine paused, turned to the stands and said, shut up Uncle Ray. You often speak of the show's connective tissue. In this case, my connection is literal tissue. Wow. How about that? Okay. From Ted Smith in Pittsburgh, I just wanted to pass along some notes from my grandson who attended a field trip with a special needs summer class yesterday. The trip included a tour of a historical house and a garden maintained by a very detail oriented gentleman from the 1800s in northern New Jersey. By happenstance, the group timed their visit during potato harvest season and my grandson gave me his detailed assessment of his experience picking the bounty. April 14th is the best time to plant in North Jersey, with July 20th the expected harvest date. Again, these records go back to the 1800s and you should only harvest when the above ground plants have turned brown. These notes come from the original purveyor's journal, which had all the best planting and harvesting times for all his various crops. Crops Given the slightly more southern latitude of the dmv, I would think that would put you late March as peak potato planting season and we did it in June. Yeah, we we're really late a little bit late. Maybe Nigel can reach out to some agriculture and mining schools for next year's crop of interns on the show. A big shot Chris here. And you can get them early through some sort of cooperative program from Bill Matfield in Fort Mill, South Carolina, who emails us often. As I'm reading the tributes to the now departed Ozzy Osbourne, I find myself looking forward to the next pod. What will Tony say about the Prince of Darkness? He's not his. My friend Jeff loved him. Jeff Leonardo drove him. Jeff loved him. Jeff told me about it. I never got into the music. Never. As I said the other day, I watched some of the television show. I never got into music. Will he tell the story of how, as a young journalist in the 70s, he went to Madison Square Garden to try and get an interview with Black Sabbath? Will he talk about how the bouncer at the rear entrance prevented him from entering the arena? Or how he managed to get in by charming the opening act, an unknown but promising band from Troy, Michigan, and how that changed the course of his life? Will he tell stories from his adventures on the road with this up and coming band covering their various dysfunctions until he too became burned out and decided to switch to sportswriting? Well, he revealed to us that the real reason he's afraid of flying is because he was on the plane with the band when they flew into an electric storm over Tupelo, Mississippi. And thinking they were all going to die, everyone on board made embarrassing confessions. It's going to be a great podcast. That's from a really fine movie. It is almost famous fine movie from Dan Stainer or Stana in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina on the Wednesday, July 23 podcast, the Walk up music for Jason Lock and Fora was AI generated. You then teased that maybe even Jason is AI generated. There is only one way to see if it's real life Jason or AI Jason. Have him do the Baltimore accent and see if Copper the dog barks. The test from our friend Brandon Costello in Lexington, Kentucky. The only thing that every musician in the world would envy and Tony, it's not the ability to play by ear. We can all do that. What Billy Joel has that every musician would envy is a job. I guess they can all do that. I maybe, yeah. Dan Moore in Winnipeg in Manitoba. Michael Wilbon on July 21, 2025 podcast talking about Scotty Schefter. Quote, I am not a person who watches somebody do something for two years and says he's the greatest thing of all time. Unquote. Michael Wilbourne on May 19, 2025 podcast talking about Pete Crow Armstrong. Quote, he turns every single into a double and is looking to go to third. He's Ty Cobb. No one knows.
Unknown
That is fabulous.
Tony Kornheiser
That is fabulous. And from Mike Roseberry in State College, Pennsylvania, home of Penn State University, old ups. I just listened to the Wednesday mailbag. I heard Jordan Mason's story, the lion attack. It sounds like it was a class trip, so I want to know why he was singled out by the lion. Had he offended him somehow? Was he wearing a pork chop necklace? Inquiring minds want to know why the lion went after him like Sonny, chasing down Carl in the street. Got on your bike tonight, everybody, as always, do wear white today for the.
Unknown
Podcast, we only recording about baseball sp.
Tony Kornheiser
It'S the hammer. Yeah.
Unknown
In the street light While I'm walking I hear voices Someone talking When I listen no affection something missing no direction Every moment we have wasted There is nothing in the distance through the record comes up the stairway to the rooftop There's a silence getting louder it's just another day without I'm a stranger under neon never knowing in the distance there's a river river and exploding love is calling in the firelight by the fountain in the desert on the mountain There's a lost one Someone reaching magic There's a last one Someone teaching Every moment we have wasted There is nothing.
Michael
In.
Unknown
The distance through the wreckage I hear something sa I know people who lose their lovers Turn around and they find another Fall in love and then they break up But I don't know if I want to wake up Cause I'm still dreaming I'm still dreaming baby I'm still dreaming oh about you Other women walk right up to me I hear them talking but it goes right through me I know it's love that's on the line they don't know what's on my mind man I'm still dreaming I'm still dreaming baby I'm still dreaming oh about you it's like a voice that's always falling it's like a feeling that I'm always falling I close my eyes and see you I remember just what you told me Let me go don't try to hold me Maybe right it may be wrong it's never over until it's gone and I'm still dreaming I still dreaming I'm still dreaming oh oh I'm still dreaming I'm still dreaming I'm still feeling I'm still feeling I'm still feeling J.
The Tony Kornheiser Show: “Sneakers and Food”
Release Date: July 24, 2025
Tony Kornheiser kicks off the episode with his characteristic humor, joking about the unpredictability of guest appearances. After a brief, humorous mention of potential high-profile guests like Mick Jagger and the Dalai Lama, the show swiftly moves past the introductory remarks. Despite this light-hearted start, Tony seamlessly transitions into discussing recent sports events, particularly focusing on baseball.
Tony Kornheiser delves into the recent baseball game, highlighting Jacob Young's impressive defensive play. Young’s remarkable catch, where he "literally puts his feet in the wall and climbs the wall," was a pivotal moment that prevented the Nationals from losing by a larger margin.
Tony (03:18): "Jacob Young allowed the Nationals to lose by five nothing instead of six nothing."
The discussion emphasizes Young's defensive prowess despite his lack of offensive contributions, noting his speed and fielding skills but critiquing his absence of home runs.
Tony (03:45): "He plays every day, and he should because he's that good in the field... he has no home runs... He has to get on once a game."
Michael provides insights from his background in baseball, acknowledging the strategic challenges teams face when balancing defensive strengths with offensive expectations.
Michael (04:38): "These are the highlights that you're getting. Not the home runs. You're getting these off the wall catches."
The segment concludes with Tony pondering the future of Young's role on the team, questioning whether his contributions in the field suffice without offensive production.
Michael shares a heartfelt story about taking his sons, Bootsy and the Hammer, to the Delaware beaches. The narrative captures the essence of family bonding during a summer trip, highlighting moments like device-free time, playful interactions at Funland, and the challenges of navigating traffic jams.
Michael (06:20): "We went the first hour and a half device free. Tried to fill that with some Pokemon rap battles for those of you who have kids."
The tale continues with vivid descriptions of their experience at Funland, engaging in skeeball and claw games, culminating in a joyous moment when the Hammer wins an Eagles mini basketball from the claw machine.
Michael (10:45): "He just sees an Eagle. He doesn't really know where it's from... 'Is this a rival?'"
Tony (12:55): "It makes me happy."
The segment underscores the importance of creating lasting memories with children and reflects on Tony’s own childhood experiences, evoking a sense of nostalgia and warmth.
Paul Feinbaum joins Tony and Michael to discuss a range of topics, starting with athletic footwear preferences and transitioning into a heated debate about the ongoing rivalry between the Southeastern Conference (SEC) and the Big Ten in college football.
Sneakers Discussion:
Tony (18:10): "Do you wear Hokas?"
Paul (18:26): "I switched to Brooks a couple of years ago. They fit my feet very well."
They explore the merits of different sneaker brands tailored for runners, with Paul highlighting his preference for Brooks due to comfort and performance.
SEC vs. Big Ten Rivalry:
The conversation intensifies as they analyze the competitive dynamics between the SEC and the Big Ten, touching upon coaching strategies, scheduling conflicts, and the impact of conference decisions on team performances.
Paul (19:58): "The battle for supremacy in football... they need each other, don't they? They're the best two conferences."
Tony (22:00): "It's just catnip for the Big Ten."
They critique the administrative decisions influencing conference schedules, citing the SEC's push for nine conference games and the Big Ten's response as tactics to enhance their standings and championship prospects.
Paul (24:10): "Nick Saban told me we have to go to nine conference games... he said, 'I think 8 is really good enough.'"
The discussion also delves into the broader issues within college football, such as player compensation, the exploitation of student-athletes, and the evolving landscape of collegiate sports governance.
Tony (30:00): "You've exploited them like animals for 100 years. Now they finally have some rights."
This segment provides listeners with an in-depth analysis of the complexities and controversies surrounding major college football conferences.
The trio shifts focus to the ongoing tennis tournament in Washington, discussing notable players and memorable matches. Kenny Powers reminisces about past experiences covering tennis and shares his admiration for Venus Williams, highlighting her enduring passion for the sport despite her advancing age and medical challenges.
Kenny (41:01): "She plays with such joy. She loves the game."
They reflect on Venus's participation in both singles and doubles, emphasizing her role in promoting tennis and her resilience in the face of adversity.
Tony (42:22): "It was funny. That was funny."
The conversation also touches upon emerging talents and significant matches, such as the epic final between Sinner and Alcaraz, which Kenny describes as a "reset of the game" due to their exceptional power and pace.
Kenny (44:33): "It's a reset of the game. It's stunning."
The segment celebrates the spirit of competition and the personal connections players have with the sport, offering listeners a blend of nostalgia and current event analysis.
Tony addresses messages from listeners, covering a variety of topics ranging from personal anecdotes to practical advice.
Scam Awareness:
A significant portion of the mailbag focuses on the prevalence of scams, with Tony sharing a personal experience and providing valuable information on how to recognize and avoid fraudulent schemes.
Tony (55:53): "In 2024, phone, Internet and other scammers stole over $1 trillion."
He emphasizes the importance of vigilance and directs listeners to resources like the Federal Trade Commission and AARP for assistance.
Personal Tributes and Stories:
Tony reads heartfelt messages from listeners honoring individuals and sharing personal connections, such as tributes to the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and anecdotes about high school memories and family experiences.
Tony (55:39): "From Ted Smith in Pittsburgh... my connection is literal tissue."
These stories add a personal and community-driven dimension to the show, fostering a sense of connection among listeners.
As the show winds down, Tony reflects on the various topics discussed and expresses gratitude to guests and listeners. The episode concludes with musical interludes from the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, setting a nostalgic and reflective tone.
Tony (59:03): "What's wrong with you people? Rub some dirt on it and get back in the game."
The closing segment ties together the day's discussions, leaving listeners with a mix of entertainment, reflection, and anticipation for future episodes.
Tony Kornheiser (03:18): "Jacob Young allowed the Nationals to lose by five nothing instead of six nothing."
Michael (06:20): "We went the first hour and a half device free. Tried to fill that with some Pokemon rap battles for those of you who have kids."
Paul Feinbaum (19:58): "The battle for supremacy in football... they need each other, don't they? They're the best two conferences."
Tony Kornheiser (30:00): "You've exploited them like animals for 100 years. Now they finally have some rights."
Kenny Powers (41:01): "She plays with such joy. She loves the game."
Tony Kornheiser (55:53): "In 2024, phone, Internet and other scammers stole over $1 trillion."
In the “Sneakers and Food” episode of The Tony Kornheiser Show, listeners are treated to a dynamic blend of sports analysis, personal storytelling, and engaging conversations. From dissecting pivotal moments in baseball and reflecting on family outings to delving into the intricacies of college football rivalries and celebrating enduring tennis legends, the show offers a comprehensive and entertaining experience. Coupled with insights into societal issues like scam awareness and heartfelt listener stories, this episode exemplifies the show's commitment to delivering diverse and meaningful content.