“The Wine Theft”

Summary

The Tony Kornheiser Show

Episode: “The Wine Theft”
Date: December 1, 2025

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Episode Overview

This lively episode of The Tony Kornheiser Show stays true to its wide-ranging, conversational spirit—mixing sports talk, personal anecdotes, and sharp commentary on current events. The main throughlines include a discussion of a high-profile wine theft, the evolving situation with Lane Kiffin’s move from Ole Miss to LSU, NFL and college football analysis, and the joys (and perils) of holiday family life. Regular guests Michael Wilbon and Pat Forde contribute their signature insights and banter.

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Key Themes & Discussion Points

1. Holiday Dinners and Family Stories

• [00:22–01:55]
  Tony and Michael Wilbon discuss their recent holiday dinner together, filled with family quirks and culinary highlights. Tony jokes about the versatility of taking home doggy bags and debates "soup and bread" as a proper meal.
  • Notable Quote:
    • Tony: “Are we in prison that we’re having soup and bread?” (01:35)
    • Michael: “That was a ham split pea soup like I had at Houlihan's as a kid.” (02:09)
• Family antics included a baby refusing to wear pants and the perennial competition for who gets to leave dinner first.

2. The Great Wine Theft Story

• [05:45–10:38]
  The central anecdote is a Washington Post story about a couple who brazenly stole high-end vintages from a restaurant’s cellar by disguising themselves as big spenders. An extended riff follows, mixing humor with actual curiosity about the logistics and economics of stolen wine.
  • Summary of the Heist:
    • Couple promised a huge party ($20k value) to gain cellar access.
    • The man, dressed in a long coat with deep pockets, swapped out expensive bottles for cheap screw tops.
    • The woman played the victim when caught; the man escaped after a car chase.
  • Discussion of value:
    • Tony: “This wine is no longer protected… is this like getting 50 bucks?” (08:29)
    • Michael: “Is this like a baseball—once it leaves the field of play, you can’t guarantee it?” (08:57)
  • Wilbon worries about the difficulty of fencing hot wine compared to jewelry or artwork.
  • Tony dryly notes, “He’s gonna be on the corner peddling to a guy in a sabrett stand,” underscoring the heist’s absurdity (10:06).
• [10:42]
  Wilbon likens the tale to cinematic capers, and the group discusses other famous wine thefts, including one involving a tunnel under a cellar in France.

3. NFL & College Football Storylines

a) NFL Parity & The Chicago Bears

• [18:14–25:46]
  Wilbon revels in the Bears’ surprise run—9 wins in their last 10 games—describing the city's delirious response and reminiscing about past NFL glories.
  • Notable Quotes:
    • “It's the delirious autumn of our lives as Bears fans.” (18:54 — Wilbon)
    • “For the first time in recent memory, there’s like nine teams where you say, ‘Yeah, maybe.’” (24:32 — Tony)
  • The shifting “best team” debate (Cowboys, Seattle, Rams, Patriots) shows league-wide unpredictability.

b) Lane Kiffin and the Ole Miss–LSU Coaching Drama

• [11:02–14:11, 25:46–33:11]
  Kornheiser takes a contrarian position: even after Kiffin’s announcement to leave for LSU, Tony argues Ole Miss should let him keep coaching through the playoff run—prioritizing the rare chance to win a national title over pride or “macro” principles.
  • Tony: “I'd go as far as I could with Lane Kiffin, then I'd curse his name for the end of time. But I would, I would think short term, we got a chance…” (12:02)
• Wilbon vehemently disagrees—“Get out, get out, get out” (25:58), arguing it’s impossible to keep a departing coach, especially when moving to a blood rival.
  • “It’s a divorce. It’s over. You declared it over, so it’s over.” (27:52 — Wilbon)
• They reference the Bo Schembechler/Bill Frieder-Michigan precedent, where a coach hired elsewhere was dismissed before the tournament, leading to a surprise NCAA championship.

4. Pat Forde Joins: CFB Playoff Picture & Kiffin Analysis

• [35:52–47:51]
  Pat Forde agrees with Tony on prioritizing the playoffs—“Lane Kiffin hijacked Rivalry Weekend” (36:43)—and it’s worth swallowing school ego for a title shot.
  • “You do everything possible to protect that and prioritize that over next year’s recruiting class… swallow your pride and ego.” (39:18 — Forde)
• Florida, Kiffin’s other suitor, shifted to another candidate only after Kiffin chose LSU. Forde notes Kiffin is “attracted to chaos.”
• CFP ranking intrigue:
  • Mississippi’s slot without Kiffin will be telling.
  • Parity and messy conference structures raise questions about fairness.
  • Tony and Pat discuss Miami’s exclusion from the ACC title game owing to confusing tiebreakers.
• Potential playoff expansion from 12 to 16 teams is debated, given the year’s chaos.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Wine Theft:
  • Tony: “This is like, not DB Cooper jumping out of an airplane 50 years ago. No, if he had a plan, he's already out. Right.” (07:56)
• On Lane Kiffin:
  • Tony: “If I care about the University of Mississippi, I'm going to let him coach. As much as I hate him, I'm going to say I hate you. But, yes, you can coach as far as you go.” (13:25)
  • Wilbon: “You made the choice. You have every right to exercise this choice and …go wherever you want…but you have to go now.” (25:58)
• On Team Fandom:
  • Wilbon: “It's hard when you're a fan of a franchise that's 110 years old to say you're having a fall like no other.” (23:14)
• On College Football Conference Chaos:
  • Forde: “Welcome, Tony, to College Football 2025 where you have a 17 team conference … and your teams don't play each other often enough to know who's really actually good.” (43:58)

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Noteworthy Timestamps

• [01:55] – Tony & Michael discuss the soup dinner and NFL games.
• [05:45] — [10:38] – The full breakdown of the $20k wine theft.
• [11:02] – Tony editorializes on Kiffin/Ole Miss, establishing his minority view.
• [18:14–25:46] – Chicago Bears’ renaissance, NFL season analysis.
• [25:46–33:11] – Deep-dive: Should Lane Kiffin coach Ole Miss in the playoffs? Contrasting views, reference to Bo Schembechler/Bill Frieder.
• [35:52–47:51] – Pat Forde segment: CFB Playoff, conference drama, agreeing with Tony on the Kiffin question.

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Tone & Language

• Fast-paced, irreverent, with sharp asides and wisdom born of decades in journalism.
• Banter between Tony and regulars (Wilbon, Forde) is familiar and candid—often blunt, occasionally sentimental.
• Regular callbacks to sports history, personal foibles, and pop culture.

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For Listeners Who Missed the Show

This episode offers a classic blend of sports, unscripted personal moments, and the sort of off-kilter storytelling that defines the Tony Kornheiser Show:

• You’ll laugh at the holiday dinner stories, get drawn into the “great wine theft” caper, and learn how Tony’s short-term pragmatism on college coaches stacks up against his friends’ hard lines.
• The show provides a clear, opinionated breakdown of the chaos and excitement surrounding the college football season and playoff landscape.
• Key highlights include the “soup and bread” prison meal joke, the debate over what really happens to a stolen $20,000 wine, and a nuanced look at the Lane Kiffin saga—illustrated with callbacks to classic sports moments.

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End of Summary

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we will talk to Michael Wilbon about another big win for his Bears and also about Lane Kiffin leaving ole miss for LSU. Then we'll talk to Pat40 to get his thoughts on Lane Kiffin's move, as well as what to expect in this week's College Football Playoff rankings. But first, let's do some commerce, kids. Previously on the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Michael Wilbon]

And I got to ask you in the middle of the round if you're okay with our starting time for the holiday dinner tonight. And there was some back and forth, and I think at one point you threatened not to come.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, what I said was, we have Chessy. I have to make sure Chessie is walked, and everything is okay with Chessy. And then I'll come over and, you know.

[Michael Wilbon]

But we're going a little bit earlier than you'd like.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Michael Wilbon]

So just change your clock.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's just not good enough.

[Michael Wilbon]

I'll make you to go.

Bag.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, you know, I know. I know who's there. I know the names. I don't really have to be there for any length of time.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

So.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Tony Korneiser show is on now. I made the dinner at the correct time. The dinner was great.

[Michael Wilbon]

Most participants.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Pants.

[Michael Wilbon]

Wore pants.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Most other than the baby. The baby didn't wear. The baby doesn't like to wear pants.

[Michael Wilbon]

Nope.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He wears pants. And then given any opportunity, takes his.

[Michael Wilbon]

Pants off and dances.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, he's happy. He's happy.

[Michael Wilbon]

Just shimmies back in.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

That is a great way to be.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's happy. Baby is happy. So Michael made a turkey breast and Michael made stuffing. And then also picked up pies and potatoes and salad.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And it was a great dinner. Great dinner. And I took home a doggy bag and ate the next day and still have more that I can eat, which is great. But Michael also. Last night, Michael made some. This was soup season. Michael said, I'm making soup, and dinner is soup and bread. And I said, are we in prison that we're having soup and bread? And then he said, no, you know, soup and bread.

[Michael Wilbon]

You got a full slice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let me just say this, that that was. So that was a minimum security prison meal. I mean, as is the chain. As you can go, describe the soup that you made just fast.

[Michael Wilbon]

This was in. Do you remember the restaurant Houlahans?

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Oh, yeah, sure.

[Michael Wilbon]

So when I was a kid, I would get this soup for dinner. That was a ham split pea soup.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So we had.

[Michael Wilbon]

We had a spiral ham the other week. And with the leftover ham cubed, it froze it. So I was looking forward to making a split pea soup. I don't think dad has never had this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, never.

[Michael Wilbon]

So the night before, you know, I chopped up some carrot on the carrot looked beautiful in the soup. Some celery, onion.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The soup was tremendous. The bread was tremendous. These are all homemade things. These were. Made me so happy.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

That doordash.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And yes. And because it was not a formal dinner, I could just leave when I was done eating, which is really what I like to do. I don't like to sit around, I like to leave. I've eaten. That was the fun part.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, the 425 game was over at that point.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that game was over. So it was okay. And I was gonna go home. I could have used as an excuse to watch the Washington game, but the truth is I watched like three plays because it didn't matter. I mean it ended the great ending. Yes, it's a great ending, but it didn't matter. They are out of all contention.

[Michael Wilbon]

Credit to those fans who stayed to the end of that game.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Good for you.

[Michael Wilbon]

Got something exciting.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, you get Marcus Mariota in the overtime, throwing it all over the place. Fourth and something regardless of the penalties against his team. Throws it again and gets a touchdown. And then they failed on the two point conversion. And you say, well, why did they go for the two point conversion? Because it's overtime. What do they want with the tie? Why not? Yeah, yeah. You got to win. You got to win. So they went to win and they didn't win. So was. I watched it today. I certainly didn't watch it last night. But I went home having eaten a soup and bread, feeling very, very good about that and then attacked what was left of the apple pie that Michael sent home to me. So it's like one of the best dinners that's three days past Thanksgiving. One of the greatest dinners of all time as far as I was concerned. I. I want to talk about a couple of things. I'm not. You don't care about my golf. It's okay. Carville got crushed.06 over 06. You got to get rid of T boy and. And ACL or who's ever. It's not the injury, it's. It's the service.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Sports betting service.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Oh, and six got crushed. He got crushed. Where am I in this?

[Michael Wilbon]

This is probably his most traditional slate of games as well. Like reasonable lines teams you've heard of.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, yeah.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Was not taking like first quarter over under.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

No.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Or Anything like that? No, but he went.06, so we're not sure he's showing up this week. He may have an engagement that precludes. Yeah, showing up this week. We love carbo carpool. Had such a great year last year.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Oh, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Such a great year. Anyway, I did play. I didn't play yesterday. Yesterday was rainy and it's a wintry miss at one point. Yeah, it wasn't good. I mean, I. I got. I went over to the course and I said, you know, are you crowded? And he goes, are we crowded? We have 16 people all day signed up. 16 all day. This was at 8, 8:30, 9 in the morning. Anyway, I didn't play, but I played on Saturday. Steve Rose and I played. We were the first group out. We played in three hours and 10 minutes. It was fabulous. You know, Saturday was a beautiful day. The sun makes a difference. Not in terms of warmth, but in terms of your attitude. You know, when it's bright out, you say, okay, I can do this. I had lined pants on, I had sweaters. I was. I was fine. And yesterday I would have been fine, but it was sloppy yesterday. And it just didn't. I honestly didn't think anything could be served by playing. And I could have played in the afternoon because it was better in the afternoon, but I was already watching games. But that's, that's not. That's neither here nor there. I would love to do a story. There's a story in the Washington Post I've just read in a very cursory manner. Michael and Nigel have read it more carefully. It is about the stealing of very, very, very expensive wine. Fabulous. Do you want to explain the story?

[Michael Wilbon]

No, you can go. You just read it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's a couple worms their way into a restaurant.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Restaurant with a high end wine cellar.

[Tony Kornheiser]

High end wine center. I'd love to see the wine cellar. You know, we know a lot about wine.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yeah. They say we're gonna have a big party of 20 people. It's gonna be huge for you guys.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it'd be 20,000 bucks for you guys. You're gonna make a lot wine. So the guy brings them to the wine cellar and. And there's. There's a man and a woman. And a man is wearing essentially my Halloween cape. Just a full duster, a real long jacket with apparently interior pockets.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And he starts stealing wine. I don't, you know, I mean, he's. He's replacing. He's got bottles, apparently, bottles of wine. Screw top stuff. Keyed detail. And he's lifting 17 and $18,000 wines and putting. And. And the. The guy who's showing it to him, who's the owner.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. Yeah. He gets a bad feeling after a while. Well, he gets a bad feeling and. And he rushes back downstairs and he sees screw tops in place of these really, really expensive wines. And you know, there's. Now there's a full tilt boogie on to stop these two people, this man and this woman, and they. They corner the woman, you know, who comes up with being abducted. Thank you.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

You saved me.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Nonsense. She's going to jail. You know, it's a conspiracy to rob.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, this is like. This is not. They didn't just do this on a whim without any planning. This is a planned out deal.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And she's going to jail. They don't have him yet. No, he got away at the moment. High speed chase.

[Michael Wilbon]

And of course with a Porsche.

[Tony Kornheiser]

A Porsche chased him and got hit, you know, in an accident. And he's gone.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

He is gone. In the wind.

[Michael Wilbon]

Right?

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's gone. And my guess is, since she is a British national, my guess is he is not from this country.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yeah, I think that's probably.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's my guess. So that he. If he had a plan, he's out. It's not like DB Cooper jumping out of an airplane 50 years ago. No, if he had a plan, he's already out. Right. We would think he's already out of the country. I would. So it's really. It's terrific story.

[Michael Wilbon]

It'll make a great movie.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it's great.

[Michael Wilbon]

I wonder about the wine. If because of the nature of wine, is it easier to move it around versus jewelry or artwork? Because it's not as specific, obviously. There's, you know, there's markers for different labels and, you know, vintages, but it might just be easier to sell that to a third party.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This wine is no longer protected. It is not in a cabinet. It's not in temperature control. It's not in any of that.

[Michael Wilbon]

The right humidity.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So if it's a $17,000 bottle of wine. I think that was what they said. $20,000 bottle of wine get on discount. It might have been worth that. Totally protected, totally guarded. It's not that anymore. You're not getting that. So is this like getting 50 bucks?

[Michael Wilbon]

Is this like a baseball that once it leaves the confines of the, of this, of the stadium or the field of play, that it'. You know, you can't guarantee it?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, I think it's less guaranteeable than a baseball Yeah, I mean, the quality is dependent on. It's in his jacket and now it's in a car and now it's rolling around.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Did he drop a couple bottles as he was running to his.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So you know the story better than I, but it's a great story.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's a wonderful story, you know, related to that. There was a time when I, when I drove down to New Jersey to talk to Liz's parents, to, you know, to explain my intentions and ask their, ask their permission in the traditional way. In celebration, her dad gave me a bottle of wine and I'm driving back to Boston to go back to grad school. And it's just rolling around on the floor while I'm, you know, on the Merritt Parkway, which if you know, is a very up and down road and I'm, you know, trying to hold onto the wheel and just praying that this bottle does not just crack all over the back seat.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So, you know, and, and that is better protected than that's a $60 bottle of wine. This is 17 to 18 to $20,000 bottle of wine. However many there are, he's not, he's. He's going to be on the corner pedaling it to, you know, a guy in a sobrette stand.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

It's, it's planned, didn't go the way they thought it would.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, and it's tough because this is not just like the online operation of trying to, you know, to source bottles and, and to sell them locally. This is, you want to, you want to share, you want to open up your doors and let people. I think he'll explore the seller.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think he drinks it himself.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

I do think at this point he says, I'm not going to get anything for it, so I might as well.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean, I think he makes a couple of inquiries, but you're really on the, on the. I think you do a dark market.

[Michael Wilbon]

You do a private event and you just, yeah, you give it to everybody.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, I got this wine.

[Michael Wilbon]

No, I think, I think now people want to taste it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

But I love.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They don't want to spend 22,000 to taste it.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

But within the story, they talked about other high profile wine thefts and there was something with it in, I think in France where they drilled underneath, tunneled underneath the wine cellar and stole millions of dollars worth of wine.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Of course in France, where two people walk into the Louvre and steal everything. Steal everything.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Passcode for the security system.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Morons. Yes. Okay. One other thing I want to talk about. I want to Get. I want to get to my sense of this in case it doesn't come out with either Wilbon or Pat40 today. And this is Lane Kiffin. It is the sort of what to do next with Lane Kiffin. I understand that the University of Mississippi does not want. Want Lane Kiffin anywhere on its grounds. I understand that. I understand they don't want him coaching their team anymore. I understand they don't want him near their players or near their coaches for fear he will poach them, take them to lsu. I understand all of that. I understand their anger. I get it, you know, and I know why they've said, no, you're not coaching us. Okay? I go the other way in this. I think I'm in the minority. I go short term, not long term. I go micro, not macro. You've never made the playoffs before. You don't know if you're ever going to make the playoffs again. You know this guy can coach because you offered this guy whatever money they were going to give him anywhere else you were going to match the money. You know he can coach. You know the players like him and you know the coaches like him. And you know players can leave at any time, go into the transfer portal. Coaches can leave at any time, sign a new contract. They can do that. Lane Kiffin proved what you can do. I'd let him coach team. I'd go as far as I could with Lane Kiffin, then I'd curse his name for the end of time. But I would, I would think short term, we got a chance. We got the same chance as Everybody else. There's 12 teams in this thing and we're going to be one of them. We have a chance and we have our best chance with this guy. So I'm going to let him coach. I don't think Mike feels that way. I don't know. I talked to Mike last night and Mike and Don don't feel that way. But. But I don't know about 40. So we're going to deal with that in this show. But I just wanted to establish my belief here. Is that Lane Kiffin. It's sleazy. You know, I'm not defending it on any level, but if I care about the University of Mississippi, I'm going to let him coach. As much as I hate him, I'm going to say I hate you. But, yes, you can coach as far as you go. And then if you lose, I'm going to say you tanked. You know, I'm going to make it personal. I'm going to be mean down the road, but I don't want to blow it up beforehand. Yeah, I don't want to blow it up beforehand. It's my story. I'm sticking to it. We will have Michael Wilbon when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. You know how fast NFL game days move. One big play and everything changes. That's why live betting on FanDuel is a game changer. With FanDuel, you can bet in real time while the game unfolds. Score just flipped. Jump on a new spreader. Live money line, that wide receiver's heating up. Bet the next touchdown scorer or total yards. Think that drive stalls on the red zone? Take a live field goal prop or fade the total live player props team totals, drive results, updated spreads, next play markets. It's all there. It's fast. It's fun. With FanDuel, your live bets move as quickly as the game does. So whether you're riding momentum or Fading the hype, FanDuel puts you right in the middle of every moment. Visit FanDuel.com Tony K to download the app and bet the NFL live all season long.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Michael Wilbon]

You just did the unboxing the other day.

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[Michael Wilbon]

I like to see where you place them in the freezer.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're in the freezer.

[Michael Wilbon]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Unidentified Female Speaker]

That sounds great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm gonna hide that from my family and I'm gonna try and eat one of those by myself and see if I like them first. But Omaha Steaks is a great brand name and always has been. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show. This music is by Phil Klum. It's sent to us by the Reverend Dr. Brad Taylor at the Lima Community Community Church in Lima, Ohio. Is it Lima or Lima? I don't know. It's Lima, Peru, maybe. I apologize for that. Please Find link below 2 songs written and performed by my friend Phil Klum. Phil's an up and coming singer, songwriter or songwriter from Lima, Ohio. He recently had the opportunity to record his original music with some national talent like Andy Davis, who's Ann Wilson's guitarist, and Travis Laws, who's Matthew West's drummer. I don't know them, but I'm sure they're fine. You can find Phil's music on Spotify and other platforms. It's called Raise up plays in Michael Wilbon, the son of the Midwest. Is it Lima, Ohio or Lima, Ohio?

[Michael Wilbon]

Do you know Lima? In my experience, Lima. Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, yeah. I'm Lima, Peru. Yeah. And Lima, Ohio. Okay. I didn't know that. You know, normally, I mean, Mike and I spent a lot of time as sports writers and we agree on this. We agree that the big story out of the weekend is Lane Kiff. You know, that doesn't mean it's the number one story on PTI because of the NFL, but it's, we think from a news value judgment, it's the number one story. But I'm not opening with that. I'm opening with the Chicago Bears because the Chicago Bears are now officially amazing. You had a fear they would start on five. They are number one in the nfc. What do you make of this?

[Michael Wilbon]

I don't know. I don't know. It's the delirious autumn of our lives as Bears fans. I'm serious. I was talking to friends all weekend back at home and they were talking about how the city is reacting. Like this was the first season on the run up to Michael Jordan's first championship. People are nuts. And about the team and about the way these games have unfolded. Of course, every game has got drama.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

All close, you know, and there's. There's so much to unpack every week, you know, with the team and how it's playing and what is Ben Johnson doing and what is Caleb doing and what is. And it doesn't have the, it doesn't have the melodrama that say the Ditka teams had when people were in love with that outfit for about a seven or eight year span when Mike Ditka was the coach and you had Jim McMahon and Walter Payton. It doesn't have be to quite that. We don't even have an mvp.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You don't, you don't have an MVP candidate. You might finish first in the league and you don't have an MVP candidate. No.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. And so. And there's still games now. I mean, so they've done this thing with one 9 out of 10, which. Come on, 9 out of 10 for a team that started the season getting beat by J.J. mcCarthy in his debut. J.J. mcCarthy, who is, you know, might as well be in the G League right now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

And 52 to 14 or 52 to 17. That said, Detroit, that's how season started. So by the way, when I said to you in August, I fear we could start 0 and 5. We got off to a start. That justified my feeling that way.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, but since then, you've won nine out of 10.

[Michael Wilbon]

Nine out of 10.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And you have, for the first time in recent memory, you have a coach who seems to be the right coach. He seems. He's an offensive minded guy. Chicago's never had a good offense and he's an offensive minded guy. But now, true to you, true to you and who you are now, you're panicked about going to Lambeau this week, right?

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, not panicked, actually. This is as close as we have been to going to Lambeau playing with house money in a long time. I feel pretty good about this. We are excited to the point where I admit I wake up thinking about Lambeau on Sunday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's like a little kid. Like, I was like, this is buckets and sayers and I'm 12 years old. I mean, this is. And apparently, again, I talk to people, everybody the same way. The text chains are all, we cannot wait for Sunday and Lambeau. And we get them twice in the next three weeks because we get them in Chicago two weeks from now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, there's a bunch of. There's a bunch of divisions that have that.

[Michael Wilbon]

Every division, they have that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There's two teams from each division that has that. Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Which is good scheduling. This is, this is. This is a fabulous year for the NFL because there's no best team. You don't know.

[Michael Wilbon]

There's no. There's no great team. It doesn't appear to have one. There's no best team. It moves around from week to week. It is. Tony, I agree with you. This is their wildest dream, is to have this kind of parody. Not just parody, but a kind of season where literally from week to week, you don't know. And three or four weeks can pass. And now you go, Daniel Jones, mvp. What?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Not now.

[Michael Wilbon]

Talking about not now, not now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, those things. Those things move around.

[Michael Wilbon]

We agree on the season and, you know, with the Bears, I don't know, this is the kind of thing you don't. You have to enjoy it while it happens because it doesn't come around. This is just insane that they're on this kind of roll. And you know, my son got carried away last night. He goes, dad, we should run the table. I said, I'll throw you out of.

Here for that phrase.

I'll throw you out of the house for using the phrase run the table. We got the packers twice, the Lions and at San Francisco. Don't get crazy. Yeah, but it's, it's a, it's a. It's only, it's hard when you're a fan of a franchise that's 110 years old to say you're having a fall like no other. It's different when you, when you're saying that and you're a fan of the Bears and the packers or the Cubs or the, you know, Yankees or the Red Sox. It's. You just. It means something. It's not in the get up era. Yeah, it's a hundred. It's 1920. That's when the Bears came on the scene.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So.

[Michael Wilbon]

This is insane.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that's good. That's good. It's. It's good that you have that. And it'll go up and down it goes. It's like what we are watching, for example, the Eagles. The Eagles went through this last year. They went through this lull last year. And then we're good enough to win the Super Bowl. So really, all you have to be is by week 15, by week 15, and then you go into a sprint and then maybe you win. But for the first time in recent memory, there's like nine teams where you say, yeah, maybe, maybe. Like, this is going to sound crazy to people out there right now. Mike and I talked about this last night. Who's the best team in the league right now, right this minute? You could actually say the Dallas Cowboys.

[Michael Wilbon]

No, I wouldn't.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think you could, though, because they beat both super bowl teams in two weeks. Two weeks.

[Michael Wilbon]

I gotta have more than a two week sample.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. Yeah, but every. But by the third week, somebody's losing.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah. Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that's.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes. And if I want to say the Rams. Wait a minute, hold on. Not. But I'm going to say Seattle. That's, that's, that's my.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, well, the Rams beat them much.

[Michael Wilbon]

Of a team yesterday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, but the Rams beat them on a field goal in Los Angeles.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

Rival.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael Wilbon]

You know, I'll take I'll take my chances with Seattle. Right. If I had to rank the teams right now in the league, I would say Seattle one, New England, too. Not because I believe they're omnipotent or anything. I wouldn't rate New England.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They haven't beaten anybody.

[Michael Wilbon]

They haven't. So I say one is Seattle, two, maybe San Francisco.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. They get hurt.

[Michael Wilbon]

The top three could be in that division.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They could be in that one division. They could. All right, let's move on. Let's move on to Lane Kiffin. Earlier in the show, I gave my thoughts on Lane Kiffin. What are your thoughts? If you were Mississippi, what would you be doing with Lane Kiffin right now?

[Michael Wilbon]

Get out, get out, get out, get out. You gotta go. You know, you made the choice. You have every right to exercise this choice and to go and, you know, work and live wherever you want. And we respect that. We thank you for the six years you gave us. We wish this was turning out differently, but you have made this decision. We're gonna match the money. And in this day and age, you can win here. You can't even say, honestly, I got to go to LSU and try to win because LSU is not in the playoffs. You are, we are. So if you don't want to do that, and we're going to match at least the compensation and we're going to match it with your assistant coaches, if you don't want to do that, we understand you've got to go now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So you don't think that's being small minded at all?

[Michael Wilbon]

Exactly. Small matter. What's the alternative?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Let him coach.

[Michael Wilbon]

Let him coach. Really?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Michael Wilbon]

That. That's because that's simple.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, these are the only alternatives you have. You let them coach or you throw them out.

[Michael Wilbon]

No, you don't have any alternatives. It's.

[Pat40]

Throw them out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay?

[Michael Wilbon]

There's no alternative in 2025, when every single day the entire national sports media is going to ask what just happened? Your offensive coordinator just walked out and left and went to Tulane. Your defensive coordinator, because you're not taking them with you, he just walked out and went to Michigan State. What? There's no alternative.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So you think. Right?

[Michael Wilbon]

That's not even, that's not even bordering on reality when you have a guy who's out the door.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So your, your position, your position is stop the bleeding right now. Right now. Stop it. Get him out of here. Right. Get him out.

[Michael Wilbon]

I wouldn't even call it bleeding. I don't even call it that. It's a divorce. It's over.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Mm.

[Michael Wilbon]

You declared it over, so it's over. Do you remember we're not in the business of promoting lsu. They're a blood rival. Tony, this is not even. He's going to Purdue. He's going down the street.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's going next door. Yes, he's going next door. Yeah. Do you think anybody is old enough besides you and I to remember when this happened in at the University of Michigan?

[Michael Wilbon]

Bill Freeter.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Bill Frieder. So Bill Freeter. This is at least 40 years ago, right? It's got to be 40.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well, not quite, but.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, so Bill Frieder is coaching the University of Michigan basketball, which is not an insignificant job. It's not. It's a big job. And he takes a job to go to the University of Arizona. And this is right before the tournament. He says, I'm going to leave next year. I'm going to coach at Arizona, but I'm going to coach my team in the tournament here. And then he gets a knock on the door from Bo Schembechler, who says, I want a Michigan man coaching Michigan. Get out. And Steve Fisher, a guy that nobody heard of, including Wilbon and I, they don't know who he is. Some little geeky looking guy, gets the job and begins a wonderful career that I think includes a national championship, if I'm not mistaken, right?

[Michael Wilbon]

That year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, not that year. He didn't win that year. He won with Ramil Robinson at one point.

[Michael Wilbon]

That's right. It was great when Bo Schembechler. And people don't even remember Bo Schembechler anymore. Bo Schembechler, who described himself as 205 pounds of blue twisted steel. Okay. And, you know, I'm one of those people who, you know, got to ed late, got to know Coach Schembecher a little bit, and it was so great when he did that. Get out. I want a Michigan man coaching Michigan, not an Arizona man. Get out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, get out.

[Michael Wilbon]

Okay. Didn't they go to the Final Four?

[Tony Kornheiser]

They might have. I don't know. What. What year was it?

[Michael Wilbon]

I think they did.

[Tony Kornheiser]

87 was. 87 was the year they won with Ramil. They beat Seton hall whenever that was. That's gotta be 40 years ago. God, I'm so old.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's just old. It's so good. So. No, you have to. Have to tell Lane Kiffin.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, well, you know, you.

[Michael Wilbon]

You got to go. We're not. Let me, let me. Seriously, let's go back to reality for a second. So Lane Kiffin has now announced he's going to lsu. Do you think that the business of LSU football is going to wait until the middle of January?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Michael Wilbon]

What? You know about an sec football program?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Any365, baby. No. It's not waiting. No.

[Michael Wilbon]

So they're going to shut down for business. What are they going to do? They going to Cancun?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, they're not. They're not. You're right. We just disagree. We disagree on who should coach that team. But there's no question that Lane Kiffin is the protagonist here. And if I. Yes. If I lived in Oxford, if I was a William Faulkner scholar teaching at Oxford, I'd hate his guts. I understand you.

[Michael Wilbon]

I'd let him videos of the students who's standing out there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Michael Wilbon]

Chanting something particularly vile and appropriate at his. At his private plane as he boarded it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, no.

[Michael Wilbon]

Have a look at that. Okay, Have Nigel pull that up for you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Sorry. I've been looking up Fisher.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

They won the tournament that year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That it was that year.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So that was Neil Robinson year.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

No, that was Glenn Rice. I don't know if Robinson was on that team, but that was Glenn Rice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ramil Robinson was on that.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Was on that team as well.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

So, yeah, six. And then Chambellar was like, well, how'd.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You like the job full time?

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, Come on, man. And what a great story that would be if the. If the Mississippi kids band together and really, you know, come on, they're a good team or they're one lost team. And by the way, if you think there's no great team in pro football, there's no great team in college football.

[Tony Kornheiser]

There is not. There's not a great team.

[Michael Wilbon]

I am now rooting. I find myself rooting for Mississippi. I've never rooted for Mississippi. I don't even know one player on the team. Do they have the quarterback? Is that kid Chambliss?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Is that the kid Trinidad Chambliss? He's a junior college transfer, apparently.

[Michael Wilbon]

He reminds me of the kid on the Charlotte quarterback. He's a small slight. When you see him interviewed. Bryce Young. I can easily root for him. And I don't like Lane Kiff in any way.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, I know you've never liked him. You've called him a punk a number of times.

[Michael Wilbon]

I'm invested. I got a team to root for.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All I know about Miss Mississippi is where it is. I can spell it. And. And have you been to Oxford? I've not been to Oxford. And Katie from Cake Bread Cellars loves Michigan and her claim. Her claim is like, even if we don't win the game, we can win the party. So apparently the students at the University of Mississippi have some good idea what they're doing. All right, I'll see you later. I'll see you later.

[Michael Wilbon]

All right, Tom.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Goodbye, Michael Wilbon boys and girls. We'll take a break. Pat40, will join us, and we'll talk more about this when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Does this holiday pattern seem familiar? You tell yourself to be thoughtful, then you panic at the last minute and end up buying a gift card. This year, skip the panic and give an aura frame. With Aura, you can choose the photos that you know they'll love. Then you can preload them before they open it. And seeing their reaction will absolutely make your day. You can upload unlimited photos and video straight from your phone. Personalize your gift with a message and keep adding new memories anytime, anywhere. Every frame comes in a premium gift box with no price tag. You can't wrap togetherness, but you can frame it for a limited time. Save on the perfect gift by visiting auraframes.com to get $35 off Aura's best selling Carver mat frames named number one by Wirecutter by using the promo code Tony K at checkout. That's a U R A frames.com promo code Tony K. This deal is exclusive to listeners. Well, of course it is. Of course it is. You're listening. Yes, Excuse me. It's exclusive to listeners. And frames sell out fast, so order yours now to get in time for the holidays. Terms and conditions apply. Now I go off script. Michael got me one of these. And every so often do you see.

[Michael Wilbon]

The holiday card refresh?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I It's every so often there are new pictures of the boys or pictures of Michael and Liz. Once in a while, there's a picture of me and Michael from 100 years ago when I wasn't a Muppet. And this is a lovely gift, right? This is a lovely gift.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's honestly like a live fire where the boys just go up to the frame and they just pause. They rewind. They just want to see it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's just really nice.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Once again, this is Phil Klum. Very nice. This is called Cheap Hotel played two of his songs. They're both very nice. Michael. If people, independent artists like Phil Klum want to get their music played on this high quality podcast, how do they go about it?

[Michael Wilbon]

Send us your music by emailing it to Jingles Tony kornizershow.com and he plays.

[Tony Kornheiser]

In Pat 40 this is, this is one of those weeks where, one of those weekends, it's an extended weekend because it starts with Thanksgiving thing. It's football, football, football, football. Even Wilbon would not say let's get basketball in the PTI show today because he's not getting in the PTI show. It's all football. And, and it's, it was a spectacular four days, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And we won't even be able to fit all the stuff that should be in the PTI show into the PTI show. But as I said earlier in the day as a newspaper man, Wilbon as well, 40 as well, newspaper man, the most important story, the biggest story, the story with the most ramifications, even with all of these games to me is Lane Kiffin. Right? Don't you disagree on that? I think it's Kiffin.

[Pat40]

Without a doubt. Lane Kiffin hijacked Rivalry Weekend.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, that's, that's what I think. I don't know if we'll put it first because so many people tune in to watch the US Talk about the NFL, but maybe, maybe you could say we'll get to the NFL in a moment. But first, here's Lane Kiffin. So I don't know that you're surprised that he went to lsu. I personally would have thought Florida was better. So I'll ask that first. Why do you think he picked LSU over Florida or wherever else he could have gone?

[Pat40]

You know, I think the track record at LSU is more recently indicative that almost anybody can win there. I mean, nobody is putting Ed Orgeron in the Strategist hall of Fame or Les Miles and they won national championships there, you know, within the last 20 years. I think the belief is that if you want an all in football place where there is plenty of talent and you're going to get paid like a sultan, that LSU is a better job.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Than Florida, I guess. I think that Florida is just an easier place to navigate because LSU fires people who win national championships. They fire them.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, yeah.

[Pat40]

Oh, yeah, they do. And the governor may fire you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right. You know that's right.

[Pat40]

It's entirely possible that governor, he haw is going to just sail in and say, I'm mad at you. Get out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Pat40]

So that's possible there. I. Yeah, no, they turn on you like nowhere else at lsu. Yeah, that's the, that's the risk. But it's a chaotic place. Lane Kiffin clearly is attracted to chaos.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Lane Kiffin's track record indicates he's attracted to chaos. And Lane Kiffin is not without controversy in his life. And so I would. I'll ask you this. If you're running and you got to take it first, not if you're living in Kentucky. If you're running the University of Mississippi in Oxford, do you let Lane Kiffin coach?

[Pat40]

Yes, I would have.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I do.

[Pat40]

Yeah. I'm kind of in the minority, at least among the punditocracy that I've seen. But my thinking on it is this, Tony, that you have a chance at the University of Mississippi, which last won a title or could claim a national title before integration. That's how rare this is. You have a chance. You're 11 and 1. You're going to host a home game, you should probably win that you're in a quarter final, which could basically be a toss up situation to go to a semifinal to play for it all. This is such a rare possibility there that you do everything possible to protect that and prioritize that over next year's recruiting class or next year's coaching staff. And so I would say, look, if the players believe, and we all believe, that we're better with Lane Kiffin and that gives us our best chance. Let him coach and swallow your pride and swallow your ego. You're mad that a rival came in and took him and that he's willing to go. But so what? You know what? If you've got a chance to play for a championship, do everything to maximize that chance.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's what I said at the beginning of the show. Take the short term view. This guy got you this far. If you can swallow hard, let him coach. Because if you lose without him, everybody's going to question if they made the right decision. If you lose with them, okay, but that you and I are in agreement on that. Florida turned to the two Lane guy. Did they? Do you think they turned because Kiffin said I'M really not interested. Right. Yes. Oh, yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Pat40]

Florida wanted Kiffin. No doubt. I mean, the Kiffin was the bell of the ball here with three chances, three choices at least, you know, Florida, LSU, or stay at Mississippi. And is going to get paid like Kirby smart money, which to me is preposterous because he still hadn't won anything.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Pat40]

But he definitely had his choices.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Is there a ranking show tomorrow or is that waiting for the end of the, you know, conference championships? Is there a ranking show tomorrow?

[Pat40]

There is, and it's a really significant one. For once, the ranking show actually matters because for a lot of teams, you're done. And so where you are slotted, theoretically, is not going to change much. And it will give us our first look at what the committee will appraise. A Mississippi team that doesn't have Lane Kiffin as its coach.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Pat40]

And who might be vulnerable to, say, BYU winning the Big 12 championship and jumping into the field and knocking someone out. So. So that's the intrigue for the ranking show tomorrow night.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. If BYU beats Texas Tech, they both are going to go. So that's two teams from the Big 12. You don't think so? You think it'll only be one?

[Pat40]

I do think so, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And so. And so that. That means that we're down to eight teams. Right. You have the gang of five, you have the acc, and somebody may say we should put in Miami as well. I'll get to Miami in a second, but Certainly there'll be two Big 12 teams. So now you just have eight teams that are available, and a team like Alabama could be out at that point. Unless they will, of course, if they win, if they're playing Georgia right, in the SEC final, they are winning.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

Get in.

[Tony Kornheiser]

If you're Alabama, Georgia probably get in anyway. But let me get to this. I don't know if you've watched this. I ended up on Miami games the last two weeks, in the last minute of the game. Games that could not be lost by Miami could not be won by their opponent. And in both cases, I assume the play came in from the sideline. They let the quarterback throw into the end zone to pad the score. I personally hold Mario Cristobal completely responsible for this. And I really didn't like two weeks in a row, and I really didn't like it. I understand, you know, that. That everything Miami does is to chase Notre Dame, and I understand everything Notre Dame does is to pull themselves away from Miami. Does Cristobal have that reputation at all as A guy just runs it up.

[Pat40]

I don't think so. I think, you know, and I, I can't say, you know, looking at his body of work, whether he really has or hasn't before, but in this case it's very obvious what's going on. Yeah.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

Yeah.

[Pat40]

And you know, I will say it's so obviously that I would be shocked if the selection committee didn't notice and say, you know what?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I noticed it. Yeah.

[Pat40]

Those are garbage touchdowns. We're not even factoring those in. So I get what he's doing. Last year they felt like they should have been in and they got left out. This year they feel like they should be in and they got knocked out or there looks like they're going to get knocked out. And so that's clearly the modus operandi there is. We've got to do everything we can to make ourselves look like we belong.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How can Miami, how does it work that they not in the ACC championship game? How does that work?

[Pat40]

Welcome, welcome, Tony, to College Football 2025 where you have a 17 team conference or 18 in the Big Ten or 16 in the Big 12 in the, in the SEC and your teams don't play each other often enough to know who's really actually good. And so you get Duke sailing in there via, you know, tiebreaker scenarios and you get Virginia in there without being penalized for losing to an ACC team in a non ACC game, NC State, and you get the best team in the league left out. Oops. We kind of probably forgot to work into the tiebreaker scenarios that we actually want our highest rated team to play in the championship game if all things are equal from a record standpoint, which they are. So this is an ACC blunder, but it's also really just emblematic of the stupidity of having these gigantic conferences where you can't tell who's the best teams because they don't play each other.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You don't have Miami in, do you, in the field of 12? You don't, right?

[Pat40]

I don't. I don't. I really feel like they deserve a strong head to head scrubbing next to Notre Dame and Oklahoma and Alabama. Those are the three that I think are at the bottom of the at large selections. I think Miami, Vanderbilt, Texas and BYU all deserve just at least to get a really hard look over for that one of the last spots.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So as I was going to ask you, if you look at Texas, if you look at who they lost to and you look at who they beat, I understand they have three losses. I would try to make a case for them. But you don't think they have any chance, do you?

[Pat40]

I don't think so. I mean, I think they, you know, they deserve, like I said, to really be examined and, and see whether their resume holds up. I mean, they did beat Oklahoma by 17 points.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Pat40]

The problem is that one of their losses was really bad. I mean, you lose a bad Florida team that finished 4 and 8, the name says Florida. It's a bad team. So you're excusing that, basically. But they do have, but otherwise good losses and some good wins.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's really something. I mean, I hate to say this because I'm one of those people who said, I don't want a 12 team field at all. I don't want it any higher than 8. Stop. What are you people doing? You don't know what you're doing. And now I can make the case for 16 based on this year. Do you know what I mean? Right.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Pat40]

And again, this is part of the problem of, like, I think this would be easier if we had a Big 12 and a Pac 12 and we could, I mean like a, a full Big 12 with Texas in Oklahoma.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Pat40]

And not just this muddle, this pile up of fourth, third, fourth, fifth place teams in the Big ten and the sec and you're trying to figure out who's better and it's really hard to do. So I, I just feel like I would rather have 12 than 16. I get the point. And I think we're going to end up with 16.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Me too.

[Pat40]

You know, some of these decisions are just being. They're almost coin flips because it's, it's very difficult to tell the difference between them all.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. And everybody's being fired this year. It's an exciting year because of the firings. It's an exciting year. Like big name people got canned in the middle of the year and put a lot of focus on college football. All right, plug your podcast for us.

[Pat40]

Well, by the way, yes, the firings have been good for business.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, very good for business.

[Pat40]

We thank you everyone for being interested in who gets fired.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know how Maryland is keeping this guy.

[Michael Wilbon]

I don't.

[Pat40]

I am shocked. I am shocked they're keeping him. But podcast others receiving votes. Sports Illustrated with Gene Wojahowski and Brian Fisher. Check us out. We record every Thursday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Wonderful. Thank you, Pat. We'll talk soon. Thank you.

[Pat40]

Thanks, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Pat. 40 boys and girls. We will take a break. We will come back with email and jingle.

[Walmart Advertiser]

I'm Tony Kornheiser in Walmart Soonuville Joy started to grow for online only. Saving should to steal the show Tech treats and toys so dazzling and new Walmart Cyber Monday deal soon ready for you. It's online only with very little time to spare. December 1st will soon be here, so be sure to be there. The who's are prepared. Are you ready to a day packed with savings. Amazing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Who knew?

[Walmart Advertiser]

Subject to availability terms and fees apply.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show.

[Michael Wilbon]

Here comes Tony's mailbag.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Got your email, faxes and your notes.

[Michael Wilbon]

Here comes Tony's mailbag.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Gonna read some boats.

[Michael Wilbon]

Hey, Nigel and Michael. You guys been good? Nigel, you want Santa to bring you a new email machine? Michael, you asking for a new pony?

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is a terrible, terrible idea. Ronnie Neumeier channeling Bruce Springsteen. Fabulous. Terrific.

[Michael Wilbon]

Beginning to feel a lot like fabulous.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You want to do the Bethesda bagel ad? Good day for us.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Oh yes, Bagel sandwich day. We're very excited about that. Just go to bethesdabeagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop one in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say, Mars ain't the kind of place to raise your kids. In fact, it's cold as hell and there's no one there to raise them if you did. And all the science I don't understand. It's just my job. Five days a week. Rocket Man. Elton John. It's really good song.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

What's his reg?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Dwight.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

That's right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Reginald Dwight.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Became Elton John. Thanks to our guest Today, Michael Wilbon. Pat40. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey. If you get the show through Apple, please leave us a review. I need to thank personally Neil Ayervase and John Dana and Paulie Coconuts for sending beautiful notes about loving the show. It's very nice. Yeah, it's very lovely. It's appreciated very much. Everybody who listens. You don't have to send everybody who listens. We appreciate that. We have. I have no idea who listens. I mean, I really don't. I'm always surprised when someone says they do. I'm always gratified when someone says they do. And. And I. And I. I'm grateful. I'm very grateful. From Bruce lawing in Concord, North Carolina and Frip island, which has two great 18 hole tracks. So look me up next time you're at Oldfield. Have you heard of Frip Island?

[Michael Wilbon]

I've heard of it, yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. My wife and I and our four daughters spend Thanksgiving at St. Simons Island, Georgia each year where my wife my wife grew up. My non golf playing family always indulges me a Wednesday morning round where I take my shots as a random single on a traditionally busy golf day. I'm 59 and back home in North Carolina. My normal group are all younger than me ranging from late 30s to early 50s. We're all mid single to low teens index so it's a good mix. And they say hanging out with younger people keeps you young. You know what actually makes you feel young? Getting paired with a threesome on Thanksgiving eve who are 77, 83 and 90. I absolutely smoke these geezers. Seriously. Mike Franklin and Tom were so much fun to get paired with. Tom. The 90 year old got up and down from just outside 100 yards on two consecutive holes. Golf is indeed the greatest recreational sport because not only can you play from cradle to grave, but you meet the greatest people who are complete strangers on the first tee box and sometimes you're rooting for them more than yourself by the turn. That expresses the feeling of almost everybody who's ever played golf. From David Baldner in Lubbock, Texas the woman to whom I'm related by marriage was outside in September working in the flower bed. She came into our house in Lubbock to say a fox came out of the tree next door and barked at her. Like you, I thought foxes were more feline because of their relative silence and their ability to climb trees. Among other observations, I'd never heard one of the gray fox in our neighborhood or in our area. Bark. I went outside where I'd been mowing and the fox was still at the base of the tree and sure enough, it barked pretty much like you described it. Then a smaller fox came out of the tree and took off in the opposite direction. The larger fox remained, so I went in our garage and got the electric blower. I went back out, turned it on and walked towards the fox which looked at me like I was a loser, turned and trotted off. I posted the occasion on Facebook. Only have a friend post about rabies. I ruled that out because it never behaved as suggested in the article she shared. I suspect it was protecting the smaller fox, possibly a pup. Like you. I was very surprised by the fox barking in its raspy sounding bark. I'm my wife's hero for my quick thinking on the leaf blower, by the way. After 42 years, she still learned something new about me periodically from Steve the Sycophant. Basking in the glow of post Thanksgiving heartburn, my thoughts go back to late November 1970, during my last Vietnam tour, when the word turkey became an epithet. Uncle Sam, through the auspices of the U.S. army, wanted to make sure every soldier in Vietnam had turkey for Christmas. All well and good, but after having a great turkey meal at my advisory team's mess hall and pretty good turkey leftovers for a couple of days followed by turkey hash with bread breakfast, I asked our mess sergeant how long this was going to last. Hard to tell, Captain, he said. I still have turkey. Twenty turkeys in the freezer after an eternity of such novel dishes as turkey salad, turkey and scrambled eggs and shredded turkey smothered in Nook mom sauce, the bird finally disappeared from the menu. It took me years to regain a semblance of a taste for turkey. I've recovered it now. If you offer me ham or prime rib for Thanksgiving, I'll jump at it. Turkey is vastly overrated. Steve the Sycophant has had had the Most Interesting life the most interesting life From David Epstein in New York While we still haven't been able to attract a Big, we were thrilled that among the hundred guests in our Manhattan apartment last Wednesday to celebrate the annual inflation of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons were the beloved chuck and roxy. 100 guests may be conservative given that friends often bring friends and sometimes those friends being friends this year, despite us putting out ample plastic wear for drinking and dining, one guest I don't really know was walking around with one of our our coffee mugs. How do I know it wasn't her mug? It had a picture of my daughter on it. Anyway, it was exciting to have Chuck and Roxy in person. As you might imagine, they are wonderful conversationalists and lovely people. They got to sample our pigs and blankets. I roll my own. We even threw in a rooftop visit with beautiful vistas of Manhattan at twilight. Having Chuck and Roxy here doubles the all time number of celebrities at our party, the first two being Betsy Brand of Breaking Bad fame and Michael's beloved Brian Stokes Mitchell, whose son made an appearance this year. But we're still aiming to get a Big here. And now with a year to plan, I'll have to figure out an offer you can't refuse. In the meantime, consider this a blanket offer to all bigs for November 25, 2026. Chuck and Roxy are terrific. Everybody says so.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

Yes, lovely.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I I mean I always watch and you'll forgive me. I've said this before. I call it the Macy's Day Parade. I've always called it the Macy's Day Parade. If Macy's ever goes out of business, still be the Macy's Day Parade. And the Rockettes are always in it. And they usually close it. Yeah, and I'd hope to see Roxy, but she was. It was not her turn, apparently this year. I mean, let's say The Rockettes have 40 on the line. They probably have 60. Oh, sure. You know, maybe more. Maybe more. So if I had. I'm sorry if I got this wrong, but I was told Roxy was not going to perform this year. Tom Targonsky, Sioux City, Iowa. I was listening to a podcast that was discussing the potential negative impacts of our gigantic AI arms race. One of the negatives was increasing utility bills because of the demand for electricity for data centers. And my first thought was, oh, no, Tony is not going to like this. No. No, I'm not. Rob Penland. Dear Dr. Ron, all the recent talk about bacon brings back a vivid memory from my college days. I went to school in rural Tennessee. Sawanee. Didn't Michael Farr go to Suwannee?

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

I think he did.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think Michael Farr went there and was watching the local news. One night, the reporter was interviewing a woman who was celebrating her 106th birthday. He asked her what was the secret to a long life. She turned to the camera and with a broad, toothless smile, said, bacon. I eat lots of bacon. So if you've been searching for that fountain of youth, take advice from Ms. Millie. And always eat your bacon.

[Unidentified Female Speaker]

It's good advice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And Patrick Sitter. We love Patrick Sitter. Sioux Falls, like South Dakota. I'm sorry to report that my daughter leased a new Subaru this week. Do I still have permission to listen to the podcast? P.S. we withdrew her Thanksgiving dinner invitation. This is brilliant. If you're out on your bike tight, everyone is always to wear one.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

What?

[Michael Wilbon]

Who is Tony?

Tony Cornheiser? Who is that? That's a PTI guy on espn.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Unidentified Male Speaker]

I've been sitting here praying that my life life would take a U turn up ahead no point stopping I've gone too far I just need a break to rest my weary head Life has its ups and downs Here we are going round and round in circles Never seems to end when time takes to you you gotta do what you gotta do Even when you don't think you can Raise up your praising hands. Life has twists and turns so keep your hands on the steering wheel and just know that there is a better Plan. Cause there's a God who's fighting for you. And he'll always be by your side. And he'll help you stand back up again. Life has its ups and downs. So here we are going round and round in circles. You never seem surround when time takes to you. You gotta do what you gotta do to win. You don't think you can so raise up your praise and hands. Even when you don't feel worthy. Even when you're at your low. He will never give up on you. You are not alone. He is always three steps forward. When you stumble two step he's gonna get you moving. Keep your feet on track. Life has its ups and downs. Here we are going round and round in circles. Never seems to end Times so long you gotta do what you gotta do. Even when you don't think you can. So raise up your praise and hands. Raise up your praise hand. Broken down AC compressor engine caught on fire don't get you far. And the only option you have now costs $29 on your credit card. And the smell of drinks put on a carpet floor from the party on the night. And the light bulb blinking above the dripping sink. You get exactly what you paid for. At a cheap hotel with the Gideon's Bible broken down this side of revival. Stuck somewhere in a state of denial and a cheap hotel with Gideon's bible. Woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a knockdown drag out fight. And the only thing I wanted was to hit the road running. But a voice said hang on time. I thought of reaching for my 45 but I want to live to see another day. But the words in red circled in my head. So I bowed in love to pray. At a cheap hotel with the Gideon's Bible broken down this side of revival. Stuck somewhere in the state of denial At a cheap hotel with a games battle. So I got some cried I hit the floor, I screamed again slam that door. I beat my fist against the wall and finally I surrender all. I surrender all. At a cheap hotel with the Gideon's bow Bible broken down this side of revival. Stuck somewhere in a state of denial. At a cheap hotel with the Gideon bible and a cheap hotel with the Gideon's Bible.