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Tony Kornheiser
Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll get a review of the Odyssey from Jason Fraley. We'll talk to Steve Sands about a television show he's involved in. And we'll talk some baseball with Buster Olney. But first, commerce.
Show Announcer
You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. The Tony Kornheiser Show.
Producer Nigel
The other night I was browsing the vistaprint website. Normally I wait till there's about two outs, two strikes in the Nats game just to be sure. Just thinking about little ways to make our podcast feel even more organized and professional. I completely lost track of time because there's so many options. We use vistaprint, order our show's custom notepads. We really do. And what's great is that I have orders from eight, nine years ago that are still saved. So it's as easy as going and logging into my account and they're ready to send out again. So I know Nigel uses some of the notepads, the spiral notepads, which is great. And I use some of the notepads that have our logo sort of in a shadow in the background. We actually send those out every year. Handwritten notes to our, to our winners from the March Madness tournament bracket.
Caller or Guest
That's lovely.
Producer Nigel
I realized how useful it would be to have show branded notepads for episode prep. Just like Nigel. Interview questions. Tony just uses a legal pad, but we're working to get him into our own show branded one production notes and all those ideas that pop into your head right before you hit record. Instead of scribbling notes on random pieces of paper, everything stays in one place and it looks great too. And you know what, they have recommendations. So once you're part of their system and your logo's in there, they will say, hey, would you like a deck of cards? And you know what you're sitting there considering?
Tony Kornheiser
Michael just passed the read to me.
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Tony Kornheiser
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Michael Wilbon
So use the code people.
Show Announcer
You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.
Michael Wilbon
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Tony Kornheiser
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Tony Kornheiser
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Tony Kornheiser
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Tony Kornheiser
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Show Announcer
previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.
Steve Sands
Things are booming along pretty well with the tomatoes. Got the peppers going
Buster Olney
early.
Steve Sands
Squirrel intelligence starting to appear.
Jason Fraley
They're on the move.
Michael Wilbon
Right, Right.
Steve Sands
So we're starting to set up defenses for that. I'm not home right now. I'm in Tampa and I'm a little bit concerned that this is when they're gonna strike, so.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, well, they know.
Michael Wilbon
They communicate that you're gone and then
Steve Sands
they go after it.
Show Announcer
The Tony Kornheiser show is on now, much like yesterday.
Michael Wilbon
We are guest loaded today and we're gonna get right to Jason. There is a movie out called the Odyssey. It's apparently a very big movie directed by Christopher Nolan, who's apparently a very big director. I haven't seen a movie in 10 years, so I don't know anymore. I know I read the Odyssey when I was in college and I have a vague sense of what it's about. I don't know anybody who's in it. Nigel just told me who's in it, that Matt Damon is in it. I tend to like Matt Damon. I don't know that Matt Damon can play a guy from antiquity, but he played a Martian. Yeah, he was believable as that, so maybe he can. Jason Frehley saw it last night at our request. He wanted to see it anyway, but this gave him a little bit extra boost. How is it? What? What is it? How is it? Because I do have a sense that it has been controversial in the sense that it has not had a unanimity of praise. And a lot of people have said, whoa, what's this? What are we talking about here? So what are your thoughts, Jason?
Jason Fraley
I love that. I love the intro, as always. I haven't seen a movie in 10 years.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, so I watch sports, I watch the gnats. That's it. That's all I watch.
Jason Fraley
Exactly. Hey, you're being, you're telling it like it is. You're being honest. Well, you know, Christopher Nolan has dates back even, you know, more than. More than 10 years. Like, you know, I think, I personally think he's like the quintessential filmmaker of the 21st century. Like appointment viewing every time one of these movies. I remember renting Memento. This is like pre 911 at Blockbuster Video, you know, so to follow his career from that to the Prestige to the, you know, the Dark Knight trilogy, I remember seeing the Inception at the Uptown Theater, Interstellar, Dunkirk, and then of course, most recently, the Oscar winning Oppenheimer was big, big Oscar crowning achievement. He sort of, he sort of marked our time. So, you know, whenever one of these movies gets released, you want to run out and see it like on, especially this, on the biggest screen possible. So the, the Odyssey, I just like, like you said, I just saw it last night. It's definitely another epic piece of work by Christopher Nolan. It's a piece of work, man. It's. It's his first time doing a sword and sandal epic like this, you know, like the old, you know, Spartacus, etc.
Michael Wilbon
Sword and sandal.
Caller or Guest
Oh, yeah.
Michael Wilbon
Oh, I like that.
Tony Kornheiser
Sword and sandal.
Michael Wilbon
That's great. Go ahead.
Buster Olney
Yeah, I can't take, I can't take
Jason Fraley
credit for, for that, you know, but you're, you know, like the old Ben. Ben her. Spartacus, Lawrence of Arabia. Sure, I guess. Or I guess if since I'm adjacent, I should go Argonaut, something like that. But, but, but the technical craft is not like full display compared to some of those, you know, maybe some of the CGI monsters, the classic ones that are a little dated now. But the technical craft here is truly on display. It's his first one he ever shot entirely on 70 millimeter IMAX cameras. So I made sure to go see it up here in Frederick at the Regal Westview in IMAX so I could get the full effect. And let me tell you, when, when that Greek guy Poseidon is angry and the waves are crashing on Matt Damon's boat, like you feel it. I Thought the theater speakers were going to come crashing, crash me. So I'll probably go see it again to fully appreciate it. Like, a lot of his movies are kind of like, you know, like tightly wound clocks. You. I like to go see them multiple times because some of it, some of it kind of, you know, it doesn't click for me on the first viewing almost every time. But, but the set pieces are great. The Cyclops, the CGI creature for the Cyclops is, is amazing and refreshing. And then the Trojan horse, you know, we all know the Trojan horse story. You know, the Battle of Troy. It's. I'll say it's. I don't want to spoil it, but it's refreshingly different than we've seen before. It's not on like the big wheels, Rol. It's a little bit different. I kind of liked it.
Tony Kornheiser
Can I, can I ask a question here? Because you have in.
Michael Wilbon
Matt Damon is a great actor,
Tony Kornheiser
but
Michael Wilbon
he's not a comic book hero actor. He's really not. Most of these large scale epic movies that have to do with, you know, thunder and lightning use special effects that are not realistic. Is this, is this realistic or, you know, or is it a comic book movie?
Jason Fraley
I definitely wouldn't say. Yeah, just, just because Nolan made the Dark Knight movies. I wouldn't say. I wouldn't, I wouldn't, you know, worry that it's too much of a quote unquote, comic book movie if you're not into that. Like, like, even on the Dark Knight, he was doing practical effects. Like they actually flipped an 18 wheeler truck with Heath Ledger there and Christian Bale.
Michael Wilbon
Like, I'm only, yeah, I'm only bringing this up because there, the Odyssey has been around for a long time. People know what it's about. It doesn't have Batman, it doesn't have Superman. It doesn't have flying people. And I'm wondering, you know, does it not have flying people? Which is what I would like to believe.
Jason Fraley
I'm speaking your language.
Steve Sands
Yeah.
Jason Fraley
Well, to me you're saying is Matt. Would Matt Damon typically flop into a movie like this? Well, I, Yeah, like him and Damon and Affleck made a movie, a Ridley Scott movie. Remember Ridley May Gladiator? They did a movie a couple of years ago called the Last Duel, which was like an epic historical drama. I don't know if you guys saw it, but maybe that's what kind of wet my palate for to see. Okay, Matt Damon can do a movie like this. And here it's a pretty. I think it's a darn good performance. He. He has to play the stuff he juggles because it's jumping in time a lot. He has to play the younger, you know, Odysseus during the Trojan War. And it's kind of warts and all too. We see that it's not just some heroic war hero. It sort of a brutal attack on Troy, the women and children, et cetera.
Buster Olney
It's kind of.
Jason Fraley
It's morally complex. But then he has to play the older Odysseus trying to return home and, you know, facing all of these obstacles. So he has to do a lot. Anne Hathaway as his wife Penelope, waiting for him to return to Ithaca and fending off a dozen, you know, dozens and dozens of these suitors saying she can't take a new husband until she finishes weaving this shroud. And then one of those suitors, Robert Pattinson, remember from the Twilight movies, he's actually very hateable in this movie as one of her primary suitors. But, Tony, it's interesting you mentioned. It's interesting you mentioned the superhero. It is one of my two. The casting is kind of one of my two critiques of it.
Steve Sands
First.
Jason Fraley
First critique. It is. It is. Well, it's non linear, jumps around in time a lot. But the linear stuff we do see, it's kind of like a rock skipping across the pond. It's like, all right, now we're at the Cyclops and now we're at the Sirens and on to the next. It's a lot in this epic, epic film. But in terms of the superheroes that you mentioned, there's so many famous actors even in the supporting roles, like, you know, in the margins of the screen, that it's almost jarring at first. Like, we get Tom Holland, who's been Spider man to your point, as their son, hearing stories about the mythic father waiting to return. So he gets a lot of screen time, but there's barely any screen time for Zendaya. Lupita Nyong' o is Helena Troy, and she's kind of barely in it too. Then you look over to your left and it's Mia Goth. You look to your right, it's Elliot Page. And then Charlize Theron pops up as Calypso. Samantha Morton, Himesh Patel, Corey Hawkins, John Bernthal. And John Leguizamo does get a lot of time as a blind, wise elder. I love John, but. But mostly, though, it's kind of got that. Do you remember the Greatest Story Ever Told is talking of sword and sandal, a biblical Epic. Where it was like even the smallest roles were such massive stars. Like Sidney Cordier shows up just to carry Jesus's cross and John Wayne is a centurion at the crucifixion. At the end, surely he's the son of God. Like, it almost. It was almost like, man, these people are so famous that I don't know if we need to. It took me out of it a little bit in the beginning and then it got going and it does build to a powerful climax. I will say that I would assume,
Michael Wilbon
well, everybody knows the story, but I would assume that great people, if they are in this, in these smaller roles, that that is a way to say to Christopher Nolan, you're fabulous and I want to be a part of whatever you're doing. Right. That's what I'm assuming.
Jason Fraley
Oh, absolutely. It's almost like, okay, I want to hitch my career wagon to this. This filmmaker. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Absolutely. And got to remember, I mean, he. He puts out these movies and they do huge. Like, no one before going into Oppenheimer. Remember the whole Barbenheimer summer with Oppenheimer and Barbie? Yeah, no one you could have predicted Barbie would do big just based on it. Margot Robbie, etc. But. And Ryan Gosling, but, you know, and thought that Oppenheimer, you know, you thought it would get critical acclaim about nuclear, you know, the science of a nuclear atom bomb. But no one thought it was going to, you know, be like a top five grocer of the year and all that. So, like, I think it's sort of. And it won Best Picture, which is sort of rare these days, the best picture and the blockbuster at the same time nowadays, which I kind of like. I love that. So I think after that big, it was sort of Oppenheimer's the big crowning achievement. And so now it's like, oh, he's going to attempt the Odyssey. Okay, I want in. You know, even. Even the biggest actors are like, I want it.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah. The reason I'm asking these questions is
Michael Wilbon
because, again, this is a story that every English major has read and committed to memory and understands what it is. And I guess I don't want to see eight foot tall cats that, you know, that jump around and get involved in clawing fights, you know, because that would not have happened. I want, I don't want to have to suspend my disbelief. I want to believe that this is a realistic portrayal. That's what I'm asking.
Steve Sands
Is it.
Michael Wilbon
Is it attempted to be realistic? In other words, the limits of what humans can actually Do.
Jason Fraley
Yeah. I mean, I'm sure there's some literary scholars that might take issue with some of maybe, you know, maybe some of the liberty taken. But. But not. Not with the creatures, like you're saying. I think, you know, because a lot of this is a fantasy poem, so you. There is like some Lord of the Rings style esque, you know, CGI stuff that pops up like the Cyclops and like, you know, et cetera. So, you know, it's not. It's not that. It's not that it strays from the poem in terms of believability, in terms
Steve Sands
of like, the creatures.
Jason Fraley
But some literary scholars might take issue with. With sort of, you know, the. Like there's a for instance, there's a part towards the end where I guess this is sort of where the Oppenheimer thematic comes through, where Matt Damon's character, we kind of get to go in his head a little bit as he looks around and contemplates the moral dilemma of slaughtering everyone during the droid. And that's sort of. So I guess that's sort of Nolan reflecting on having just done a movie about Hiroshima and Nagasaki without even actually showing the devastation. So I think there is a little of that. And some literary scholars might be like, well, the original character and Homer might have been more tapped. You know, Greece. Greece is the word with. With Homer. Like, this is great Greek mythology and he knew what he was talking about with. With the morality of all of it and, you know, the feeling and, you know, with the gods.
Steve Sands
But.
Jason Fraley
So I guess you could criticize. It's a nuanced criticism, though. I will say, you know, it's. It's not a grand slam for me. I'll probably go back a couple times. Like, it's not a grand slam, but it is a. It is a Homer. Pun intended. Like, I had to go back and see Dunkirk like, three times and I saw Interstellar twice just to fully appreciate it. Like, they don't always click for me on first viewing in the theater. It's almost like Overwhel. But I will say it's one of the best of the year I've seen. I'd put this up with. If you haven't seen this project, Hail Mary Obsession and the Invite. Tony, you might like the Invite. It's more Woody Allen for the modern era. Go see the Invite as well.
Michael Wilbon
I've never even heard of these movies.
Tony Kornheiser
I've never heard of. Listen, this is Jason. This is very good.
Michael Wilbon
Thank you so much for doing this for us. Thank you, Jason.
Jason Fraley
Absolutely.
Michael Wilbon
Jason Fraley, boys and girls. You want to see it, don't you?
Caller or Guest
Oh, sure, yeah. Well, remember reading it as a kid?
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Producer Nigel
Like, yeah, in preparation for the movie, I've been going back and reading my college version. But it's interesting. The. The one that I read in college was the Fagles translation, which was the 1996. And then I think this one's based on the 2017 Wilson version, which has sort of a different understanding of the characters.
Michael Wilbon
I didn't call out Jason on this. He said that he thought Christopher Nolan was the greatest director of the 21st century. And my immediate reaction was, oh, Steven Spielberg.
Tony Kornheiser
But most of his stuff was in
Michael Wilbon
the 20s, so that's why I kept my mouth shut on that. But I, you know, I do have a couple of minutes left to talk about the gnats. Did you watch?
Producer Nigel
I love that you're focused on the reality of a world where the gods walk down into the. Into the. Into our world and intervene in human issues. But, yes.
Caller or Guest
Yeah, let's worry about the cats.
Michael Wilbon
So the Nets, they were up 2 nothing last night. And the starter, who was just an opener from Meatball Nicholas, couldn't even get out of the second. They had to bring Nicklaus in. Couldn't. He was down four two when he left the game.
Producer Nigel
And.
Tony Kornheiser
And then C.J.
Michael Wilbon
abrams had a couple of home runs, and the Nats either got to the lead or tied for the lead. And then they brought in Beater, and that was it. And a guy hit a home run and they lose in Colorado. I mean, I didn't stay up for it. No, no, no.
Producer Nigel
But the guy who had a home run is a. A, is a.
Steve Sands
It's a good hitter.
Producer Nigel
Bad.
Michael Wilbon
So, yeah, yeah. So, I mean, the Nats, that was a game the Nats had a real chance to win.
Caller or Guest
Disappointing when you lose when you have a lead and against a team like Colorado, like, oh, we're better than these guys.
Michael Wilbon
Well, yes, they are. I mean, everybody is actually better.
Producer Nigel
They had the lead for one inning.
Steve Sands
Well, they got it back immediately.
Producer Nigel
Okay.
Tony Kornheiser
They. They had.
Producer Nigel
Dad, did you watch any of the Dodgers Phillies game?
Michael Wilbon
I didn't. I watched this morning. I saw this morning the double play.
Steve Sands
Okay.
Producer Nigel
Did you see earlier the added second that stopped the then tying run earlier in the game from getting home?
Michael Wilbon
Shohei. Well, he was out. Yeah, you could see it clearly on the replay. I. I didn't. I did not understand. We'll ask Buster about both of those things, but Shohei was clearly out, and the run would not have scored right if he's out. Well, if the run got home first, yeah, the run would have scored, but the guy sort of slowed down going home.
Jason Fraley
Yeah.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, but I mean, the. The Shohei part. He was out as soon as you. I mean, he watched it. Looked out on live time. Yeah, I did watch that.
Caller or Guest
Hmm.
Michael Wilbon
Christopher Nolan. What else has he done?
Caller or Guest
Oh, he's done. Well, the. The Batman series, the Dark Knight trilogy.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, but that's.
Caller or Guest
He did Dunkirk, which was fantastic. Space move called Interstellar.
Michael Wilbon
Is it stupid for me to ask Jason if we're gonna see 10 foot tall cats and jumping around? I. Because it's a story that we all sort of know now. It lends itself.
Producer Nigel
Okay. When you hear the Odyssey.
Michael Wilbon
The Odyssey lends itself to that, right? Yeah, yeah. If you have the cyclops, I don't want the cyclops to be 20ft tall.
Caller or Guest
I think he's a big fellow, but
Michael Wilbon
I think he wants to be. But human proportions, just like Shaq. Like, larger, but not extraordinary in some way that it becomes comic. That's what I'm worried about.
Caller or Guest
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
I don't know.
Michael Wilbon
I'm not gonna see it. So I don't know.
Producer Nigel
These movies are designed for screens that, you know, are relatively hard to find versus just the normal movie.
Michael Wilbon
That's what he's saying.
Caller or Guest
Yeah. The imax. Yeah.
Michael Wilbon
If you have to see everything, how much of the.
Producer Nigel
How much of the frame is then, you know, out of vision. If you go to see a normal movie or eventually you see it at
Michael Wilbon
home, and you're gonna miss things.
Steve Sands
Yeah.
Caller or Guest
And I think I read this somewhere.
Michael Wilbon
You're gonna miss Shaq and the cameo as the cyclops.
Caller or Guest
Shaq is the cyclops. But I think there's something about IMAX cameras that they don't have the blueprints or the technology the know how to make anymore. So whatever is out there, I mean, like, the.
Michael Wilbon
Whoever made somebody lost it.
Producer Nigel
Like, they just engineer it.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, yeah.
Caller or Guest
I'm telling you, I've read this on a couple of different places.
Michael Wilbon
AI it.
Jason Fraley
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Really?
Caller or Guest
Yeah.
Michael Wilbon
I'm sure now when I look things up in.
Tony Kornheiser
In my phone.
Caller or Guest
Oh, you have to check.
Michael Wilbon
It just says AI.
Caller or Guest
You're like, no, I don't.
Michael Wilbon
I don't want that.
Producer Nigel
Can come down and help us get a new theater.
Michael Wilbon
I don't want this. I was looking up Tim Brown yesterday,
Tony Kornheiser
and then it said, AI.
Michael Wilbon
Stuff with Tim Brown. No, no, he played his whole career.
Tony Kornheiser
No, I actually want that.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Ridiculous. All right, we'll get out of here. Steve Sands.
Caller or Guest
Steve Sands.
Tony Kornheiser
When we return. Steve Sands when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser.
Show Announcer
This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.
Tony Kornheiser
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Michael Wilbon
Queen Carvania stood haloed by the morning sun. An army hung on her every word.
Show Announcer
My champions, I have sold my chariot on Carvana. Twas a lovely suv, an inexplicably queenly offer. They're even coming to the castle to collect it. Tonight we feast an offer you can feast on. Sell your car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply.
Philip Martin
You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.
Michael Wilbon
This is Philip Martin.
Tony Kornheiser
His first song is a song called
Michael Wilbon
Richie Allen Weeps, which means this is a baseball fan.
Tony Kornheiser
We understand this. And he writes. Really been enjoying the music you guys been playing. Especially fond of Gus Gustofferson and Betty sue, with whom I spent a few minutes when she passed through Little Rock opening for James McMurtry, son of the novelist Larry. Wow. I'm talking. I'm taking the liberty of sending along three songs for your consideration. Two baseball related. The first is Richie Allen Weeps, which is really a meditation on the closing and demolition of Little Rock's Ray Winder Field some years ago. Its replacement, Dickey Stephens park, is one of the best minor league facilities in the country. And a short stroll along the river from my house. A line in the song refers to a great song about Allen by the Philly based singer songwriter Chuck Brodsky called Letters in the Dirt. And then later, we're going to play
Michael Wilbon
a version of Wes Parker in Paris. I mean, these are. These are baseball people.
Caller or Guest
First baseman, right?
Tony Kornheiser
Yes.
Michael Wilbon
For the Dodgers Makes me very happy.
Jason Fraley
Happy.
Tony Kornheiser
Thank you to Philip Martin who plays in Steve Sands.
Michael Wilbon
We.
Tony Kornheiser
The British Open is.
Michael Wilbon
Is over by three days because today is Wednesday and yet I will always have Sands on and I will always ask him to recap what happened. So how. How. What did you think of the British Open, particularly the Sunday and how it ended and who gagged and who did not?
Steve Sands
I thought it was a great week, Tony. Royal Birkdale is so good. I had many, many play. I mean, like, I. Dozens of players tell me that Royal Birkdale is the best golf course in England. Really. It doesn't get a lot of love like St. Andrews or Royal Port Rush, you know, for the Open championship venues. Turnberry, when it was played back in the day. But Brookdale was awesome and I thought it was really good. I dig an underdog story. I love the way Ryan Fox goes about his business. Very quick player. I mean, really, really fast player. I wish every player would learn from him. I'm talking about from the grassroots all the way up to the professional level. And he's a really, really nice guy. He's got a great backstory. His father was a absolute rugby star on the the All Blacks, which is the most famous rugby team in the world, from New Zealand. And I asked, Frank Nabalo is a good friend. I was in the booth on Saturday when Ryan Fox was going to shoot 62. And Frank Nabilo is a real good friend of mine. As you know, used to work with him a lot on Golf Channel. He went over to cbs. We worked together a bunch. We'll see him this weekend in Minneapolis for the 3M Open. And I said to him, I got Frank's from New Zealand and is a very big star back in New Zealand. And I asked him, I go, you know, what's Ryan Fox's dad like? You know, give me a little backstory on him. And he said he was a baller. He was a. Was just an absolute clutch, clutch player. And that gene clearly fell down to Ryan Fox because he was money coming down the stretch. I don't know if anybody gave it up, Tony. I think Ryan really went out and won it. I mean, I, you know, Sam had a chance, others had a chance. Sam Burns, excuse me, had a chance.
Michael Wilbon
Yes, they had the lead on Sunday.
Steve Sands
See, we came out of chance, but it was early when they, you know, got their bogeys. It wasn't like, it was like giving them up real late. And I think Ryan Fox went out and grabbed it, Tony. I mean, he absolutely hit some great Shots coming down the stretch on 17 and 18, especially after the bad break on the drive at the par five 17th. And I mean, that drive, the second shot, and making that putt on 18, a birdie on the last hole to win a major championship, that's. That's pretty money golf right there. I think he went out and won it more than someone else lost it.
Michael Wilbon
I'm not going to suggest he didn't win it because four birdies in the last six holes and a birdie on 18, which had only yielded to that point, 25 birdies all week, he won it. But those other people opened the door for him. I mean, Sam Burns and Si Woo
Tony Kornheiser
Kim opened the door for him because
Michael Wilbon
they had the lead on the last day and gave up the lead. I want to go back to what you're saying about Ryan Fox, who could play. He could play with the legends at Columbia. When we play an entire round of golf in two hours and 50 minutes because we like to play fast, you can do that. But. And I'll bring Michael in because Michael is a fast golfer. But if you're in a Sunday twosome and you're in the last group and one of your guys wants to unnerve you, he just gets deliberately slow. Because I believe. And Michael, you talk to this. I think fast golfers are far more unnerved than with slow play than slow players are with fast play.
Steve Sands
Correct?
Producer Nigel
Yeah. And that's why you see sometimes the walk in between the bag, pacing off a yard, and you're just trying to stay distracted. If you look at him on 18, he was teed up, ready to go, look like he was going to play through the group in front of him. I think it was Scheffler earlier in the week was like, sometimes I think you were just playing a two ball out here because he's off on his own.
Michael Wilbon
So what do you think, Steve?
Steve Sands
He's one of the fastest players in the world now. Obviously, he's world famous now, but he's won a couple of times on the PGA Tour. A lot of people on the PGA Tour, you know, have known him for a long, long time to be one of the faster players. And for. For all the years I've been covering golf, the thing I probably hear more than anything else about the way the game is played, whether it's kids or at the highest level. But in this case, the highest level, fast players are way more bothered by slow players than slow players are bothered by fast players because it takes them out of the rhythm and a lot of times, the better the player is who could be on the slower side. Not necessarily a slow player, but on the slower side.
Buster Olney
They know that.
Steve Sands
So there's a gamesmanship aspect to it. Nothing's illegal about it, nothing's wrong with it. Exactly. A deliberate player is a better way to put it than a slow player. And thank you. Patrick can't, Patrick can't lay. You know, he understands he's a slower player than Ryan Fox. And if those two guys, not those two guys in particular, but if they did, is playing that. Exactly. A slow player is playing with a fast player. A slow player knows that he can get under the other player's skin much faster, if you will, no pun intended. And a quick player can by teeing it up pretty quickly. We were telling you, our producer Tommy Roy, who is a world class producer at NBC Sports, I mean literally in the broadcasting hall of fame. And he, I mean, we were like, this guy is so fast. Our producers, our camera guys, we were having a hard time keeping up with him because when you have two guys or three guys in the first couple of days in the same group, it's hard to go shot, shot, shot. When this guy's playing so fast, you know, else plays that way is Ludwig Oberg. Ludwig. If Ludwig. We were joking. Yes, he plays fast very, very quickly. If we were, we were joking during commercial on the weekend that if Ryan Fox and Ludwig Oberg were playing in the final group, they might be waiting on every shot because they play so quickly.
Michael Wilbon
They're just play through, play through. The people in front of you, play through.
Tony Kornheiser
So come on, that's fine.
Steve Sands
I think it's a great lesson for all the kids out there who are watching. You know, kids watch professionals. That's what I don't like about now. I'm old and old school, but I don't love it when guys are dancing after touchdowns or cornerbacks are yapping all the time whenever they make a nice play, or in this case in golf when they're doing aim point or something ridiculous like that, because kids watch that. And now more kids are playing unfortunately slower because of this aim point and all that kind of stuff. Whereas if Ryan Fox, let's say he wins four of the next five majors, the kids will start playing quickly because they watch the pros and they emulate them. And I, I wish more players in this particular sport would play quickly as opposed not fast, but just quicker than they play now because this aim point thing is really slowing things down.
Michael Wilbon
I was very confident that there was going to be A playoff. Very confident between Cameron Young and Ryan Fox. And then Cameron Young bogeyed 18, right. He's got to be punching himself in the head on that one because he had.
Producer Nigel
It was a good bogey save.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, he had that in his grasp. He had the round in his grasp. Right.
Steve Sands
No question. But again, I don't think he choked, per se. You got to remember, you know, Cameron Young made that bogey two hours before the other guy.
Tony Kornheiser
That's right.
Steve Sands
Got to 18. The weird thing about 18 is. And it was just like 17. The thing about Royal Birkdale that I heard more than anything, other than the fact that it was their favorite course in all of England, is that it's the fairest of all the Open championship courses on the rota. And one of the things that makes it fair is that there are a lot of humps and bumps on the fairways, just like they are at every other links golf course over in the UK but they're. They're flatter at Royal Burkdale. However, on 18, if you hit it to the right side, and 17 as well, if you hit it to the right half of the fairway, a lot of times, those pot bunkers, those going in the bunker, yeah, they're like magnets, man. And they are like magnets to those golf balls. And if you hit it on the right side of that fairway, a lot of times, that ball would roll out. For instance, Ryan Fox hit. And now he hits the ball a long ways, but he hit an iron.
Jason Fraley
All right.
Steve Sands
That bunker is 326 off the tee. He hit an iron on 17, and that ball went into the bunker and
Michael Wilbon
had to go back.
Steve Sands
Rolled and rolled and rolled, and it's just. It's just really difficult to navigate your way around links golf. There are a lot of vagaries to it. I think that's one of the beauties of Lynx golf. But again, I know Cameron Bogey at 18. I know Sam Burns had a chance. I know Siwoo Kim had a chance, but I think Ryan Fox went out and grabbed it. I'm happy for him.
Michael Wilbon
You had Morikawa and Rory and maybe Fleetwood, though you acknowledge the pressure Fleetwood was under. Morikawa was near the lead for the. For the first two days, wasn't he?
Tony Kornheiser
And then.
Steve Sands
Yeah, he was. You know, we. We spoke last week, and he was my pick to win. I. I just thought he would be great with his iron play. He's the best iron player in the world, and I thought that he would just overcome the other parts of his game. And that golf course and win. And he got off to a good start and then he gave a couple of back late on Thursday. And you, you just can't do that at major championships. You're going to make bogeys, you're going to make mistakes for sure. But if you start making doubles or more, if you start going backwards like Siwoo Kim in the middle portion of his round and you can't recover, that's a problem. So Morikawa, I thought, had a really good chance going into the week to win and he got off to a nice start, but he just couldn't get over the hump and then kind of hovered there in the middle and then he was out of it.
Michael Wilbon
I've got to go to DeChambeau because it's complicated. DeChambeau gets a two stroke penalty on Friday and then holds everybody hostage by threatening not to play on Saturday, literally for hours. I imagine creating great enmity among his fellow players. Most of what I have read says that they all acknowledge that that is a penalty, inadvertent or not, that that is a penalty. They had no problem with it. Rory, of course, hates him, which makes me laugh and just says I don't like the guy, so get out of here, shut up. Basically. But what are your thoughts on DeChambeau, on the penalty, on the way he acted after that, and the sort of karma of tripling 11 on Sunday.
Steve Sands
So we go on the air on Thursday and Friday at 6:30am local time, it's 1:30am Eastern and go all the way to the finish, which is usually around 8:45pm so those are a couple of long days. You would have loved this, Tony. It's a very quick TV thing, but I know you so well, you would have loved this. So the dechamba thing happens late. He's in one of those featured groups late on Friday and all the craziness happens. He doesn't sign a scorecard. We realize something is going on and we stay on the air. Well, who knew we were going to stay on the air for another hour, 20 minutes because he literally took the event hostage. Goes out to the, goes out to the fifth hole and he's got his caddy there. That's perfectly fine because he's making his, stating his case, making his case, trying to, you know, beg to not get the two shots. He was going to get the two shots the whole time. The RNA told us that, you know, it wasn't up to the player at this point, it was up to them. And what they saw was what everybody else saw, which was he deserved a two shot penalty, inadvertent or not, by the way, the agent was out there and the swing coach was out, like, what are you doing, Bryson? Like, get off the stage. It should be just the player and the caddy. It should not be the agent and. And the swing coach and all that kind of stuff. But that's part of the show that is Bryson DeChambeau. It's part PGA Tour, part live, part major championship golf, part WWE, is what you get, you know, from Bryson DeChambeau. The penalty was deserved, Tony. You know, here's why. All the professionals who were texting and talking to us the entire time, including the two guys to my left in the booth booth, Kurt Byram, who's a PGA Tour winner, and Jim Furyk, who was an incredibly accomplished player, won the US Open. They both knew it right away. And here's why. When professional golfers hit a ball into the situation that Bryson did, they don't walk in there like an elephant, all right? Amateurs do that. They walk in there gingerly, all right? And I'm not saying it's inadvertent or not. I don't know. I can't get into the mind of Bryson dechambell. All I can tell you is between the two analysts who were in the booth with me at the time when it was going on, and every other golfer I know at the highest level who was texting in, they were like, hang on a second. Whether he did it on purpose or not, when you walk into a situation like that, like an elephant, and you're moving around bushes and weeds and impeding things that would have. Have probably impeded your backswing, you're improving your lie, inadvertently or not, that's something an amateur would do. So when we saw it live on the fifth hole, we didn't think anything of it, but Jim and Kurt did, because they see it differently than people like me and you, Tony. They're professionals. You know, we're amateurs. And they knew. They were like, wait, that doesn't look right. And it was an automatic to. It should have been two. He got the two. And, you know, the threatening to not play the next day and the theatrics, you could argue back and forth, whether that's good or bad, I don't know. It's a good tv. Is it bad tv? Is he showing off? Is he trying to get out of it? Who knows? But it's part of the Bryson DeChambeau circus. But for sure, he deserved the two shot penalty.
Producer Nigel
Okay?
Steve Sands
Every professional Golfer I spoke to, every single one of them was like, whoa. Not, not that he meant to do it per se, because you don't know that for sure, but for sure he walked in there and that is a two shot penal. You cannot do. That is something that you and I would do. You know, that is not something professional golfers do.
Michael Wilbon
I would also identify my ball and put it up so that I could hit it. But that's why I don't do this for a living.
Steve Sands
You know what's really strange about that scenario that what happened just before that, this is live on tv, so you never know what's going to happen. But when he hit his tee shot all the way to the right is a short, drivable par four. Very cool hole, very cool hole. And he hit it way to the right. He then teed it up quickly and hit a provisional. And now that rule, I do know, you know, we've got to know the rules. It's part of our job. You can't hit a provisional if you hit the ball in a penalty area. And we thought, oh, that's going to be the penalty, not the other. And at the time when it happened live. Again, this is live, so you don't really know what's going on down there. Then we were notified. Just before he hit the provisional, he was told by somebody, a marshal or somebody out there, they radioed it back to the tee that the ball was not in the penalty area so that he could hit the provisional in case they couldn't find it. So there was a lot going on there. But without question, Tony, he deserved the two shot penalty whether he liked it or not. That was a two shot penalty for sure. All right, I'll get you another interesting scenario. If that was Sunday, I was telling Val Sands this yesterday, if that was Sunday, they would, they would have notified him on the fifth hole.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, right then and there.
Steve Sands
Because if you have a one shot lead on 18, you're going to play the, you're going to play that hole differently. Differently on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, they don't have people who are wondering why they didn't notify him until after his round, before he signed his scorecard. You do that on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. But in the final round on Sunday, strategically you would play perhaps differently on the back nine, especially late if you're leading or you're one back, one or the other. And that was another part of the scenario that people were trying to figure out why they were not telling him. That's the reason they didn't tell him. Because Thursday, Friday and Saturday, you can wait till the end. Sunday, you can't wait till the end. That's not fair to the player.
Michael Wilbon
All right. To get you out of here on this. And it's. I buried the lead. Are you in a show called the Hawk with Will Ferrell? Are you in the show? Are you in the show? People tell me this is a very funny show. My daughter watched the first season, said it was really funny.
Steve Sands
Yeah, I was. I got a call. I got a call late last year, and I figured. Excuse me. I figured it was like a friend of mine just messing with me, asking to come out to LA and do a cameo for the show. It was a lot of fun. Got to meet Will Ferrell. Could not have been a nice, nicer guy. Luke Wilson's in it. Could not have been a nicer guy. We were talking about all kinds of stuff. Hollywood, golf, sports, life, family. Spent the day out there. Molly Shannon, a couple of other actors and actresses who you would recognize. People would recognize her in it. It was. It was an amazing experience. I. I still don't understand why they called me, but it was a lot of fun.
Singer or Musician
It's great.
Steve Sands
And they're good people, and it is amazing to see how the sausage is made, if you will, how those kinds of things are done.
Jason Fraley
It was.
Steve Sands
It was a very, very cool experience. And, man, the pal. I was telling Val Sanders yesterday, actually, again, the power of Netflix and the power of Will Ferrell. I've gotten more texts from people I haven't heard from in years about this show, and I'm like, okay, I haven't seen it. I'm not. You know, I'm not. I'm not into Googling myself or watching myself, but it's. It was a fun experience. Done.
Buster Olney
It was very.
Michael Wilbon
That's great.
Jason Fraley
Yeah.
Steve Sands
No, could not have been a nicer guy.
Michael Wilbon
That's. It's. It's. It's fun. And you're going to get residual checks for the rest of time, so that they may only be for $0.27 still, but you're going to get it for the rest of time.
Tony Kornheiser
So I actually had a good time.
Steve Sands
I actually think it's gonna be 26 cents.
Buster Olney
Yeah.
Poet or Reader
Okay.
Steve Sands
By the way, can I just say one thing? Can I say one thing? Because I know he's listening, because he listens to every show, just like me. Me, I was out in Tahoe for the American Century Championship and ran into Greg Garcia. Obviously, we chatted. We had a great time. We had a lot of fun. We Were hanging out. And then I saw his act on Saturday, Tony. He warmed up for Nate Bargazi and Ray Romano was on stage as well. You're talking about Nate bargazi is the first ballot hall of fame comedian Ray Romano, even though he's past his prime, is a first ballot hall of fame comedian. Greg Garcia got up and I'm good friends with Greg and I love Greg and the show loves Greg. But let me tell you, to watch him do that in person on stage, that's got to be the most difficult thing to do in all of entertainment. The this, you know, to quote Bill Raftery, the onions it takes to do that. I mean, my God, it was incredible. And I mean, I know he's funny. We both know he's funny. We all know he's funny. But to do it like that, it's incredible, man. I was in awe of our good friend Greg Garcia. I thought it was amazing to see it. And my God, is he funny. Tony, Jesus, you.
Michael Wilbon
Between you and Alan Bubis, you know everyone in the world. Everyone in the world. You and the socialite, you know them all.
Steve Sands
What are you talking about? We all know Greg Garcia. What are you talking about?
Michael Wilbon
I know, but I'm saying you know everybody, though. You know everybody.
Tony Kornheiser
Everybody comes up to me and says,
Michael Wilbon
oh, sans is here, or sans was there, or sans is doing.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, everybody knows.
Michael Wilbon
All right, enjoy. What?
Tony Kornheiser
Minnesota.
Steve Sands
You're so full of it, Tony.
Michael Wilbon
It's, you know, you and Alan know everybody. And you know Alan and he knows you.
Steve Sands
It's, by the way, Alan Beavis. I love Alan Beavis, man. I want to be Alan Beavis. What did you say that? Great line.
Michael Wilbon
Two questions.
Steve Sands
Last time he has to answer. You gave me a great line. That's what it was. What is it?
Michael Wilbon
He has to answer two questions every day. Where am I playing and what's for dinner? And that's it.
Singer or Musician
That's all.
Michael Wilbon
That's it.
Steve Sands
If anybody does not aspire to do that, you're out of your mind. Yeah. Heading to Minnesota for the fifth major. The 3M Open.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah. Enjoy.
Steve Sands
For a couple of weeks, we'll have to get together and play a little golf, have some dinner, have a drink.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, we'll go to Rehoboth.
Steve Sands
All right.
Michael Wilbon
Be good on your account. Yeah, it's fine.
Tony Kornheiser
Everybody else is on it. You can be on it.
Buster Olney
Just give me.
Steve Sands
Just give me Kornheiser 3711. Thanks, Buster.
Michael Wilbon
Only when we return.
Tony Kornheiser
I'm Tony Kornheiser.
Philip Martin
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Tony Kornheiser
once again.
Michael Wilbon
This is Philip Martin, who we like very much.
Caller or Guest
Oh, yes.
Tony Kornheiser
This song is called Wes Parker in Paris song inspired by his friend, former colleague and Washington Post feature writer Michael Leahy's book on the LA Dodgers, the Last Innocence. The bass player Randall Berry contributes some very shy backing vocals on the track. He's Expendable. If Tony ever wants to come out of retirement. Michael, if people like Philip Martin want to send in their original music, how do they do it?
Producer Nigel
Send us your music by emailing it to jinglesneycornizershow.com and this segment with Buster
Tony Kornheiser
Only is brought to you by FanDuel. Play your game. There's a lot of things to talk about with baseball as we resume baseball. I think we need to start small.
Michael Wilbon
We need to start with that double play last night with the Dodgers.
Buster Olney
Oh, boy.
Michael Wilbon
What? So JT Real Muto takes complete responsibility for it, but what do you think he's even thinking when he tries to go back to second base when he is safely on third? What is he thinking?
Buster Olney
I think in an instant, you know, with the play going in front of him, he's thinking Justin Crawford might be able to extend the pickle.
Steve Sands
Right?
Buster Olney
And maybe he gets out of it. He's Carl Crawford's son. He's. His speed is breathtaking. And JT just, I think, kind of lost his mind for a second thinking that, that. That Justin was going to Merchant. That's the only explanation I had. And jt, as you know, is one of the great pros. And it doesn't support. He probably was waiting for reporters to come through the door to stand in front of his locker, say, yep, you know, brain fart. Terrible move by me. I mean, that's. That's in keeping with who he is.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I think so.
Michael Wilbon
I also have to go to the Red Sox. They were rained out last night. They've won 13 or 14 in a row. They are upsetting the apple cart on every level, including the trade deadline, because nobody knows what's going on with them. What do you make?
Tony Kornheiser
What do you make of the Red Sox?
Michael Wilbon
They made a managerial switch early. They brought in another guy who had no particular salutary effect on the team for a month or two. But now something is going on there. What is going on?
Buster Olney
Yeah. And Chad Tracy, you know, the son of former major league manager Jim Tracy, you know, Chad Tracy, who, you know was drafted. He played in the minor leagues for years, but he never got to the big leagues until he was hired, offered the job by Craig Breslow when Alex Cora was fired. And the team is responding. I think the primary reason, of course, is the pitching. You know, for all the criticism that, you know, folks like me have given Craig Breslow about leadership and how do you build a team without power? He focused on pitching and the pitching has manifested. The bullpen has an ERA just over one since this winning streak began. And let's face it, Tony, it's the American League. It's, it stinks like it's so wide open that you could see a team that could make a run like this. And the funny thing is because the, the Red Sox have searched forward. They're now in the third wild card spot. It is totally complicated the equation for the Detroit Tigers who now have drip drifted backward to five games out in the race for the third wild card. They're not making up ground because the Red Sox are winning every day and
Michael Wilbon
they are doing it without Roman Anthony, without Story, without Crochet. I mean, these are the three of
Tony Kornheiser
their five highest paid and most highly regarded players.
Buster Olney
They're not there and there's no, those guys are, you know, they're not coming through the door anytime soon. Crochet has not started throwing program. Anthony has this, you know, this very touchy injury with his hand. He's not coming back anytime soon. They're making it work and I think forcing probably ownership to, to consider something it may not have even thought was possible a month ago and that's to actually be buyers before the trade deadline to go out and get the right handed hitter they so desperately need.
Michael Wilbon
I am familiar with Tarek Skubal's contract situation. He is about to become a free agent. So if you trade for him and you can't sign him, you are renting him for two months. Mason Miller is a fabulous reliever. Do you expect both these people to be moved?
Buster Olney
I think the Tigers are on an absolute on the fence. I mean, just hang it in there. I loved what AJ Hinch, their manager, said the other day about their games. Right now they're playing game seven every Day, Yeah, like between now and the trade deadline. And I think that's 100% right. Where, you know, on Saturday when they won, I was on SportsCenter and I said, look, they're playing at 102 win pace since the beginning of June. But you know what? Now they lost on Sunday and they lost last night. And their playoff odds, according FanGraphs, are down to 28%. If they don't make up ground here in the next, yeah, he's going to be traded. And a team like the Braves or the Tampa Bay Rays or, you know, maybe the Phillies, they'll be the team to make that move. And Mason Miller, I had a GM say to me last night he thinks the Padres are going to trade and this is the best closer in baseball. 0.89 ERA, struck out 48% of the batters that he's faced. I'm looking at the Yankees and I'm looking at the Seattle Mariners being potential buyers there. We know this AJ probably their general manager, the person I talked to yesterday said he loves to transact. You know, where he acquired Juan Soto and then he wanted flipping Juan Soto a year and a half later to the Yankees. Frank Cashman Yankees GM A.J. pro They've made that big deal before. Maybe they do it again.
Tony Kornheiser
Oh, I, you know, everything is day to day now because baseball is played every single day.
Michael Wilbon
Last night, Machado hit two home runs, Tatis hit a home run.
Tony Kornheiser
If I sat there and I ran
Michael Wilbon
the Padres, I might say, well, I'm not trading of a closer. If my guys, if we can get what we expected all year and haven't
Tony Kornheiser
gotten to this point, we can win.
Michael Wilbon
Right? Is that, does that go into that mindset?
Buster Olney
Yeah, it's so interesting when you talk to GMs and not necessarily AJ Prowler when you have this conversation, but a lot of GMs will actually quote their playoff odds. You know, it'll be like, hey, yeah, we've won the last two games. Their chances are up to 29%. Maybe that moves us in the direction the Padres chances for making the playoffs because the National League is so much better than the American League as of this morning is 11.8%. Those numbers aren't good. So if, if the Tigers are playing game seven, then where the Padres are is game seven. Bottom of the ninth inning, down two. Run like they have to turn it around right now.
Michael Wilbon
Let us get to the two best players in baseball who are not necessarily playing at 100% now, one isn't playing at all. Aaron Judge I think he's eligible to come back in about five or six days, but that doesn't mean he can come back physically. And Shohei Otani, who it, you know, it's half a loaf at the moment. He can hit and you want him to hit, but he's not pitching at the moment. Well, how does that complicate races and how does it complicate maybe the MVP balloting in both leagues?
Buster Olney
So with Aaron Judge, the Yankees, you know, they expect he's going to play again this year, but they have no idea exactly when that's going to be. Maybe it's, you know, late August, early September, and they don't know how he's going to be when he comes back and how he's going to hold up. They know he's not going to be completely healed when he comes back. So they'll just, you know, try to upgrade the team and try to play well enough to get in the playoffs and then they'll see what they get with Judge when he returns. I think the same situation is with Giancarlo Stanton, their dh, and with Ohtani. The other day when we talked to Dave Roberts, the Dodgers manager, we had the Dodgers on TV on Monday night. He told us that Ohtani is likely to throw a bullpen session this weekend and then he might pitch two or three weeks after that. This is classic Dodgers. They're slow playing, their injuries. You know, they're doing it now with Blake Snell, Tyler Glass, now, now Shohei Ohtani, because the message is we want to make sure you're right in October, but you are 100% right. I think it completely opens up the NL MVP conversation because Ohtani preeminence is based on the fact that he's a two way player. Yeah, we don't know if he's going to be able to be that as he goes forward. And Pete Crow Armstrong of the Chicago Cubs is a great two way player. His two way being offense and defense. You know, he's got 21 homers, 25 steals. He's on a pace to get on base more than 250 times this year. And it, you know, he also is tied for the major league lead and outs, above average. A great defensive metric. Craig Counsel's told me he's the best defensive player in baseball. So if he continues to be on the current trajectory and continue to play defense, yeah, I think it's going to be a coin flip in the MVP race when we get to get to the end of the year.
Michael Wilbon
And he's from that Same high school, right. Harvard Westlake in L. A that has produced so many major league pitchers in the last five years. Right.
Buster Olney
He, he, right. And he is, he is the cautionary tale in baseball now about giving up prospects at the deadline. You remember the Cubs got him for two months of Javier Baez, right. In a deal with the Mets. And you know, that now scares all these teams. It's why when we get to this time of year, they're not willing to give up their very best prospects.
Michael Wilbon
All right, you mentioned doing the game the other night. A dear friend of ours, Carl Ravitch, is close to you. He's a friend of mine, but he's, I'm sure, a closer friend to you. And you'd like to talk a little bit about him, I think.
Buster Olney
Yeah, we, Tony, we worked 23 years together at ESPN. You know, I got to do tons of baseball tonights and, and Sunday night baseball in recent years. You know, people ask me all the time, you know, who do you root for? And I always say, I root for good stuff to happen to good people. And that's why it just hurts, you know, Carl, every game that I ever worked with him, every show 100% passion, always prepared, love the job. The other night, we're in Dave Roberts office and, you know, we're joking around and, you know, stories are being told. Dave said afterward, boy, that was a great, you know, rounder. It's his. And, you know, Carl just has brought it every single day. And I have loved working with him. So it's really, really just heartbreaking to get that news yesterday.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah, yeah. He can also drive it to 80. He's a good golfer. No, he's a good golfer.
Caller or Guest
Can he plant potatoes though?
Michael Wilbon
I don't know if he can plant potatoes. So.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah, I, I feel the same way. I think he's really, really good. Thank you, Buster. This segment with Buster only has been
Michael Wilbon
brought to you by FanDuel. Play your game and we'll be back
Tony Kornheiser
with email and jingle.
Singer or Musician
Yeah.
Philip Martin
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Michael Wilbon
Here comes Tony Mayo. Back bag, email, faxes and notes.
Poet or Reader
Here comes Tony May your b going
Michael Wilbon
to read some for all of you.
Poet or Reader
For he's going to read some for all of you.
Michael Wilbon
I love that.
Tony Kornheiser
That's Pat Bass. I really, really.
Caller or Guest
That's a good one.
Tony Kornheiser
Wanna do the Bethesda bagel ad, please?
Buster Olney
Yes.
Caller or Guest
Bethesda bagels, we love them. You would as well just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area near Shoe, then pop one in and you'd be thrilled. And got a quick word from Lee Gordon from Boynton Beach.
Michael Wilbon
Yeah.
Caller or Guest
Send us sing a reminder that the summer of littles is back in Saturday, August 1st. He is going to be co hosting this year at the Yard House at Misner park in Boca raton starting around 5pm Once you give a shout out to Bob Welsh for creating the summer little, Toby Clark for picking up the torch. But looking forward to see everyone there on August 1st.
Michael Wilbon
Well, if it's in Boca, my friend Jody goes.
Tony Kornheiser
Jody and Nancy go. That would be good.
Michael Wilbon
All right, before we get to the
Tony Kornheiser
mailbag, let me just say, desperado, why don't you come to your senses? You've been out riding fences for so long now. Oh, you're a hard one. But I know that you've got your reasons. These things that are pleasing you can hurt you somehow. That's written and sung by Don Henry Stanley, whose birthday is today. He's 79 years old today and he's still great. Yes, he's great. Yes.
Michael Wilbon
Thanks to our guests today.
Tony Kornheiser
Jason Fraley, Steve Sands, Buster Olney, thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey.
Michael Wilbon
Get show through Apple Podcasts.
Tony Kornheiser
Please leave us a review. Let me say to Sean Plaskina at
Michael Wilbon
Bill's Ace Hardware in Arlington, Virginia. This is the greatest offer in the
Caller or Guest
history of the world.
Michael Wilbon
I'm not gonna go line by line on this, but it's very, very, very kind of you. And we put that in the special pie.
Buster Olney
Very special store.
Producer Nigel
I need to get a. I need to get some replacement enameled cast iron grill grates for a summit.
Michael Wilbon
So there you go. So talk to him.
Producer Nigel
Talk to Sean from Cowboy Cafe, a restaurant that I've not been to in 25 years.
Michael Wilbon
Well, go. Yeah, if it's across the street, go.
Producer Nigel
And down the street from the most expensive Dine Leinert.
Michael Wilbon
Oh, okay.
Tony Kornheiser
From Felipe Gattaca in Santiago, Chile, a few thoughts on The World cup final. Argentina and the dark arts. What Paredes did isn't surprising. It's culture. Growing up playing soccer in South America, you're raised on a guante, a culture that values honor and guts over pure football. You go in swinging, you threaten, you risk everything, even against the odds. Because backing down matters more than losing. Clean, bad losers by design. Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, the Atlantic Bloc genuinely don't know how to lose. Part of it is the culture above, but part of it is much simpler. They've won so much for so long in this part of the world that losing has become an anomaly and they won't accept it easily. On Wilbourne, warning stars like Bellingham and MLS won't happen soon. Glory still lives in Europe. That's still the biggest stage in the sport. The model MLS should actually watch as the Saudi league legends are thriving at the tail end of their careers, not their prime. For Taylor Twillman, I'd love his take on US Academies. American kids get to stay in school and still develop athletically, while soccer, almost everywhere else, forces an early either or between football and school, in his view, is that trade off part of what keeps American players from reaching the next level. Best World Cup I've watched in my 40 years of following the sport. Thank you for the space, Dr. Tony. Isn't that nice?
Caller or Guest
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
And on the heels of that from Mark Siegel in Seattle. On the day before the FIFA World cup, crowned a global champion in the planet's favorite sport, nearly 3,000 miles away in Oakland, Major League cricket determined a winner in the world's second most popular game, cricket. The Seattle Orcas and the five other teams comprising Major League Cricket are all working to advance this global game in America's 50 states. Please let me know if you'd like to connect with Seattle Orcas CEO and former professional fast bowler Sean Cary.
Michael Wilbon
I. I don't.
Tony Kornheiser
I don't even know how cricket is played.
Caller or Guest
Yeah, it might be.
Tony Kornheiser
I like the name the Orcas.
Caller or Guest
It's a great name.
Tony Kornheiser
And I'm giving you some run here,
Caller or Guest
Mark, but yeah, you shoot your shot. Yeah, that works.
Michael Wilbon
Good job.
Caller or Guest
Out of you.
Singer or Musician
Yes.
Tony Kornheiser
From Matt in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Wilbon. I watch soccer to get a pulse on what's happening in the world. Tony. I don't care about the ratings outside the United States because I don't live outside of the United States. This. This is why we listen. From Brian Sun. Dear Admiral Tony, on last Wednesday's pod, you mentioned you didn't know which three countries would host the next World Cup. You are Slightly mistaken because it will actually be held in three continents. What Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay will host each host once centenary match to honor the 100th anniversary of the first World cup before the event moves to Spain, Portugal and Morocco. It's speculated that FIFA used this format to clear the way for the 20002034 World cup to be held in Saudi Arabia. How many hydration breaks you think they're going to need there? From Brendan Borzelli in Lebanon, New Jersey. So Wilbon finds the World cup finale thrilling. The whole world thing riveting. He must have missed the three game stretch where the Nats gave away leads in the ninth inning at home, dropping all three to the Phillies. The first time in major league history a team has gagged up the game in the ninth inning in three straight games. 150 plus years of baseball, the Nats were first to do it. Let's see Argentina pull off that trick. From Dennis Bounds in Redmond, Washington. I looked it up. The pole vault record is held by Sweden's Armando Duplantis. 6.31 meters, 20ft eight and a quarter inches.
Michael Wilbon
20ft. I. I remember when 16 was undoable. Yeah, 20ft.
Producer Nigel
Remarkable.
Singer or Musician
Wow.
Tony Kornheiser
From Fred Unger in Tallahassee, Florida. Tony, you mentioned that no one broke 15ft in the pole voyage vault till the 50s. I'd like to nominate Dutch Warmerdam as the great one of the greatest pole vaulters ever. He set a world record of 15ft 7 and 3 quarters in 1942 and vaulted over 15ft 43 times. What makes this almost unbelievable is that he was using a bamboo pole. Fiberglass didn't come into use until the mid-50s. With today's fiberglass poles he could have easily gone over 20ft. Well, I don't know about that, but I know that that is true about fiberglass pole.
Michael Wilbon
And I'm pretty sure the first person to use it was John Uelsis, who
Tony Kornheiser
I thought was the first person to go over 16ft. From Ryan Mills in Greensboro, North Carolina. I think I may have found the source of your golf woes. You've been picking up found feathers on the golf course for good luck all these years. No, no, no. That brings bad luck. What you need to do is stick the feather in the ground as to plant a birdie. Now, I'm not sure if planted birdies experience the same agricultural biology as potatoes and can in fact fact die. So maybe you should bring along a watering can to the course to prevent this. If nothing else, you should hide some, go to breakfast sammies in there between this and your potatoes should be in for a bumper crop this fall. Carla Corrado and she also sends a picture we had never met Little Tim Raedersdorf when putting out the Dan Byrne is Performing in Town invitation to area Littles. He quickly responded and we secured a number of tickets together. Upon arrival, I called Claire Natola and David Merkowitz that I would wait for the second Tim fell in the lobby and go sit down at our table. When they got to the seats, a man introduced himself as Tim and of course they thought he was the Tim we were meeting. Who's on first? Situation rose this Tim was not a Little and looked confused when everyone greeted him with a hearty Lecheseria. For some reason was offended when offered the TK salute. Needless to say, the misunderstanding was corrected and apologies offered. When I walked in with the real Tim Raidersdorf and the stranger, Tim realized he'd been seated at the wrong table.
Michael Wilbon
Whoo.
Tony Kornheiser
Dan Byrne was delightful. Please see attached photo with Dan Burn. It's very, very nice. Thank you very much from Tony T in Brooklyn in dc. My dad was one of those guys. This is the Knickerbocker Theater. My dad was one of those guys. Every time we drove by, he would point out the block where the Knickerbocker Theater roof collapsed.
Michael Wilbon
We'd heard that story.
Caller or Guest
Yes, we have.
Tony Kornheiser
Lyle Graves, Nashville, Tennessee so the Knickerbockers collapse was DC's worst theater disaster.
Michael Wilbon
I'm sure Ford's Theater will be relieved. Yeah, well, it's not.
Tony Kornheiser
Yeah.
Michael Wilbon
I mean, I do think that shooting Abraham Lincoln.
Caller or Guest
Yeah, yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
John Buchanan in Annapolis, Maryland for several years in the early 2000s, I worked at an ad agency in Alexandria, Virginia. One of the founders of said agency was Greg Munford. Greg is the voice you hear singing lead on the song Incense and Peppermints. As the story goes, nobody in the band felt the vocals were right for the song. So they asked Greg, a 17 year old friend of the band hanging out in the studio that day, to give it a shot and the rest is history. Greg was a pleasure to work for, humble and funny, and went over and above the call of duty. When came I needed a reference even many years after leaving the agency.
Michael Wilbon
That's a very nice story.
Caller or Guest
Yeah.
Tony Kornheiser
Dave, who wants to be the robotic surgeon of the podcast. Longtime listener, first time emailer. I bring you greetings from Whitford Park Golf Club in Auckland, New Zealand, where Ryan Fox learned his craft. It's not often New Zealand gets a mention on your show. Justifiably While Ryan may not be a household name in the us, he has for a long time carried the flag for New Zealand men's golf around the world with a few wins including the Canadian Open last year beating Sam Burns in a playoff. Not only is he a really nice guy, he comes from somewhat sporting royalty here in New Zealand as we know now. Yes, his grandfather captain New Zealand at cricket, his mother was an accomplished tennis player and his father is one of New Zealand's most famous rugby players and World cup winner. It's a shame Lydia Coe is not going to the LA Olympics. How about that pair in alternate shot pairs? Anyway, thanks for all the joy you bring. I'd love to host you for a round in New Zealand. If you ever come, come here. Although I suspect you're more likely to
Michael Wilbon
play golf on the moon than travel this far.
Tony Kornheiser
From Dave in Milwaukee, Wisconsin like yourself, I'm a channel flipper. I cannot stand when events are on streaming apps. What provides some solace is direct TV stream. While it no longer requires a dish and it is an app, it works like cable where the channels have actual numbers. My brewers are on 670. I can flip to the local channels as well as having Peacock and Netflix at my fingertip. I pay $120 a month and it will have Red Zone this this fall on channel 213. It also has an old school guide with the names of programs, not pictures. Please tell Wilbon to eat it. There's not one sport over the last 25 years where the Milwaukee, Wisconsin team hasn't been more successful. Wilbon hates Philly, I hate Chicago and their whiny fans. From Ron Gujet Ski Hopkins Farm creamery from Route 9 has opened a shop in Lewis on Savannah Road. Many flavors including coffee and the ice cream is yummy.
Michael Wilbon
Well, that's good to know.
Tony Kornheiser
We have to go find that John Donnelly in Enfield, N.H. which ranks higher on the humiliation hierarchy. Sitting on the bacon or flushing the mouse? Flushing the mouse and ted Keniston Cincinnati, Ohio I bought a hot dog at the turn at Kiawah's Ocean Course. I teed off on 10 and returned to my car just in time to see a crow fly off with my hot dog. I'll never know if it was still
Michael Wilbon
hot or just warm enough. This still haunts me.
Tony Kornheiser
If you're out on your bike tonight, everyone is always do wear white.
Steve Sands
But we don't have the Shaputzvah to do it.
Poet or Reader
There's a lot out by the highway. Where a lonesome scoreboard stands. Like the Eyes of Ozymandaddyus. Overlooks the shifting sands. Where there used to be a ballpark Sounds like an old Sinatra song. An unsentimental number. Not some Mitch Miller Sing along. The ballpark's only brick and timber. The ballpark's only rust and mold Never was as big as you remember. Though the myth be manifold. Old boys like me we get nostalgic. For old times we never knew. When there were giants in the outfield Felipe, Maddie, JL. And I remember sam sosa and I remember homer peele. And I remember richie allen. And I wonder how he'd feel. He'd remember that old ballpark A place where he was cursed and booed. For the crime of being a pity. For his immodest attitude. These days we all love Richie L. He'd rather that we call him Dick. Finally made it to the hall of Fame. That SOB Was a big stick. We ain't the people of the sixties. We are so much, much more evolved. We ain't got strife and racial hatred Buddy, we got those problems solved. The ballpark's only brick and timber
Buster Olney
the
Poet or Reader
ballpark's only rust and mold Never was as big as you remember. Though the myth be manifold.
Singer or Musician
There's a gray rain in the Rue
Poet or Reader
de Rivoli There's a French girl with
Singer or Musician
her head upon my chest I don't suppose that you'd spare any sympathy
Poet or Reader
for
Singer or Musician
this rich boy's existential unrest. We see the sun sets in Los Angeles that's where the future crawls ashore I wasted my youth in Los Angeles and I hardly ever go there. Left handedness can be a liability
Buster Olney
I
Singer or Musician
can't play short or third or second base Baseball's been very, very good to
Jason Fraley
me
Singer or Musician
I spent my childhood Ralph. Her embrace. And it's a long flight from Rossi to Los Angeles My petite Amir eternally I let go and they give you scotch and soda when you're in first
Poet or Reader
class
Singer or Musician
to help you through the dark night of a soul. And I am going back to Los Angeles I have to check my privilege at the door But I hear See that Shirley dresses in Los Angeles
Poet or Reader
that's
Singer or Musician
where the future crawls ashore. Left handedness can be a liability
Buster Olney
can't
Singer or Musician
place you're a third or second base Big baseball's been very, very good Me, I spent my child wrapped in her embrace I spent my childhood wrapped in her embrace Spent my chatter wrapped in her embrace.
This episode of "The Tony Kornheiser Show" is packed with sports talk, entertainment reviews, and trademark banter. Tony is joined by Michael Wilbon, Producer Nigel, and regulars like Steve Sands, Jason Fraley, and Buster Olney. The show opens with a deep dive into Christopher Nolan’s new epic film "The Odyssey," transitions to a British Open wrap-up, and then to Major League Baseball’s latest twists and turns. The episode, as always, is distinguished by lively conversation, wit, and the effortless switching between serious analysis and comic asides.
Jason Fraley’s Review: Jason describes "The Odyssey" as Nolan’s first true "sword and sandal" epic, praising the technical craft, especially its innovative use of 70mm IMAX (04:39–05:53). Jason says, "It’s definitely another epic piece of work by Christopher Nolan. It’s his first time doing a sword and sandal epic like this..." (04:47).
Spectacle & Effects: The Cyclops scene receives high praise for its updated CGI, and the Trojan Horse sequence is called "refreshingly different" (05:53–07:13).
Performance & Cast:
Critiques:
Recommendations & Final Thoughts: Jason won’t call the film a "grand slam", but says "it’s a Homer – pun intended." He expects multiple viewings will enrich appreciation, as with many Nolan films. He ranks it among the year’s best so far (14:17–14:53).
Jason Fraley:
"I made sure to go see it up here in Frederick at the Regal Westview in IMAX so I could get the full effect. And let me tell you, when that Greek god Poseidon is angry and the waves are crashing on Matt Damon's boat, like you feel it. I thought the theater speakers were going to come crashing, crash me." (06:14)
Michael Wilbon:
"Matt Damon is a great actor, but he's not a comic book hero actor. Most of these large scale epic movies that have to do with thunder and lightning use special effects that are not realistic. Is this, is this realistic or is it a comic book movie?" (07:17)
Jason Fraley:
"It is a Homer. Pun intended." (14:18)
Tony Kornheiser:
"This is Jason. This is very good." (14:55)
Royal Birkdale’s Reputation: Sands notes that "dozens of players tell me that Royal Birkdale is the best golf course in England" (22:28).
Ryan Fox’s Victory:
Pace of Play:
The discussion emphasizes how fast players like Ryan Fox are often unsettled by slow players, which can become gamesmanship (25:58–28:04).
Major Moments:
DeChambeau’s Penalty:
Steve Sands’ TV Cameo:
Shout-out to Greg Garcia:
Bizarre Dodgers-Phillies Double Play:
Red Sox Resurgence:
Trade Deadline Speculation:
AL/NL MVP Race & Injuries:
Carl Ravitch Shout-Out:
| Time | Segment | | ---------- | ---------------------------------------------------- | | 03:41–15:10 | Jason Fraley reviews Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” | | 22:09–42:44 | British Open recap and golf stories with Steve Sands | | 43:57–53:56 | MLB roundup with Buster Olney |
This episode delivers the perfect mix of highbrow film critique, sports nerd-outs, and the kind of everyday banter that has made “The Tony Kornheiser Show” a staple for listeners who love both the games and the stories around them.