“We know that ramp”

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Tony Kornheiser Show – “We know that ramp”

Date: April 7, 2026
Episode Length: Approximately 56 min
Host: Tony Kornheiser
Guests: Doug Ferguson (AP golf writer), Bob Ryan (sportswriter), Michael Wilbon, Gary Edel, plus regulars

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Brief Overview

This episode covers a wide range of topics: recapping Michigan’s win over UConn for their first basketball title since 1989, discussing the Masters golf tournament with Doug Ferguson, analyzing current events in baseball (esp. Nationals’ woes), and a lively catch-up with Bob Ryan that delves into March Madness, coaching changes, and NBA awards. The show maintains its signature blend of sharp sports commentary, humor, and camaraderie among longtime friends.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Michigan’s NCAA Basketball Championship

• Context: Michigan beats UConn for their first title since 1989.
• Tony’s Nostradamus Moment:
  “Do I think Michigan can win the game? Yes, I do. But I think seven and a half points is too much ... I believe I had that exactly.” (02:13, Tony)
• Michigan proved their worth defensively, breaking UConn’s streak of 90+ point games:
  “Michigan was held to 69 points by UConn. UConn’s really good. UConn couldn’t make any shots. Michigan had something to do with that. Michigan is big and strong and plays defense and dominates the paint area.” (03:00, Tony)
• Big Ten dominance this season highlighted.
• Lively banter about bracket winners, prizes (like “my dad’s chips” and books), and the merits of various Big Ten teams.

2. Baseball: Nationals’ Ongoing Bullpen Problems

• Tony’s frustration: “The bullpen stinks. Am I right on this?” (04:54, Tony)
• Despite bullpen woes, the Nationals pulled off a dramatic comeback: “They put six runs in the ninth.” (05:30, Gary Edel)
• Praise for the new hitting coach, Matt Borgschulte.
• Quick rundown of home runs/plays, bullpen trivia, and a listener's humorous email about parking at sports venues.

3. Travel & Food: Wilbon’s Italy Adventure

• Michael Wilbon shares stories about a brisk, rain-pelted Italian vacation, historical sightseeing, Vatican bureaucracy during Holy Week, and culinary highlights:
  “The food is brilliant. You can’t have a bad meal there… The best meal I had, I got it completely by accident … risotto, saffron risotto with asparagus.” (11:01–12:48, Wilbon)
• Discussion about the authenticity of pizza in Naples, gelato, and the joys of fresh Italian dough.

4. Masters Golf Preview with Doug Ferguson (AP)

Segment begins: [15:54]

• Central Theme: The 2026 Masters is notable for the absence of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
• “It is odd… they’ve got eight green jackets between them. They have been for 30 years the biggest names in golf.” (17:33–18:10, Tony)
• Ferguson notes the shift in golf’s landscape without these icons and reflects on their era:
  “You could make that argument for Tiger and Phil … when Tiger completed his Tiger Slam, he’s with Phil in the final round there. That was a pretty good Masters.” (18:15, Doug)
• Discussion on who’s in form for the Masters:
  "It is wide open… Rory, you know, he hasn’t played great this year… It’s almost a victory lap from last year.” (21:39, Doug)
• Augusta weather expected to improve by the start of the tournament.
• Behind-the-scenes tidbits: When it rains at Augusta, the grounds “smell so bad... you feel like you’re in a dairy barn.” (23:05, Doug)
• The Masters’ prestige:
  “Over [the past decades], NFL just dwarfs everything now. And that’s kind of the way the Masters is, it overwhelms everything right now.” (24:04, Doug)
• Fred Ridley’s influence: “When Fred wants something done, it gets done ... he’s got a seat at every table.” (24:48–25:42, Doug)
• Augusta’s image evolution, especially with the Women’s Amateur, is discussed:
  “It became the one tournament all those women wanted to win... It’s a gold standard.” *(27:21, Doug)

5. March Madness & NBA with Bob Ryan

Segment begins: [29:46]

• Michigan’s win: “Michigan, Thoroughly legitimate champion. A better team. The Big Ten was very good… a new champion, and they’re a worthy champion.” (30:03–31:11, Bob)
• On Danny Hurley (UConn coach): “He’s a wonderful coach … gets results. I’m amused by him. I can just step back and enjoy the show.” (32:16–33:09, Bob)
• Coaching pipeline: Surprised at Mike Malone going to UNC; “The world has changed ... It’s no longer a matter of going into the living room of the kid, you know, it’s a matter of do you have the money… I think it'll be tremendous.” (35:04–35:44, Bob)
• NBA MVP race:
  “You can make a case ... for SGA, Doncic, Jokic, and for Victor Wembanyama. Right now… it’s still Jokic, but Wembanyama is on the rail.” (39:17–40:34, Bob)
• Praising Wembanyama:
  “This is a very rare, unusual young man… He could be from Nebraska—there’s no accent. He gets it and he’s gotten [it] ... The package is phenomenal." (40:49–41:43, Bob)

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On missing Tiger & Phil:
  “The Masters, the official Masters will begin on Thursday and there’s all sorts of walk up ... yet the headline for me... is the oddity of no Tiger, no Phil.” (16:09, Tony)
• On Augusta in the rain:
  “It is the worst smelling piece of property in golf ... you feel like you’re in a dairy barn.” (23:05, Doug)
• On new Masters champion aspirations:
  “If you could win one tournament, they [women amateurs] said it’d be this one right here ... So much for history.” (27:17–27:48, Doug)
• On the definition of MVP:
  “I wish they had never come up with the word ‘valuable’ to describe the award... they should have been player of the year.” (39:25–40:14, Bob)

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Notable Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment Topic | |-----------|--------------------------------------------| | 01:18 | Recap of Michigan-UConn, NCAA tournament | | 04:34 | Nationals’ bullpen discussion | | 09:00 | Wilbon’s Italian vacation and food stories | | 15:54 | Masters preview with Doug Ferguson | | 21:39 | Open nature of this year’s Masters field | | 23:05 | Augusta’s quirks, “the worst smelling…” | | 27:17 | Women’s Amateur at Augusta | | 29:46 | Bob Ryan on Michigan’s legit win | | 32:16 | The UConn Hurley coaching gene | | 35:04 | Mike Malone’s surprising UNC hire | | 39:17 | NBA MVP debate | | 40:49 | Wembanyama’s rare star qualities |

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Tone & Style Highlights

• Conversational, wry, and lightly self-deprecating:
  Tony’s “the most important thing is parking” and “you know, bullpen stinks!”
• Collegial camaraderie:
  Banter with Wilbon and Edel about food, NCAA brackets, and old friends.
• Rich context:
  Both Doug Ferguson and Bob Ryan give deep, sometimes historical, perspectives on sports, connecting past with present.

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Miscellaneous & Listener Involvement

• Regular listener engagement: Bracket competitions, listener emails, quirky life updates, and food recommendations.
• Light-hearted plugging of local ice creams and travel tales strengthens the “community feel” for listeners.

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In Summary

This episode weaves together the big stories of the sports week—Michigan’s NCAA win, Masters anticipation, MLB drama, and NBA intrigue—with the wit, wisdom, and warmth that characterize the long running Tony Kornheiser Show. The conversations with Doug Ferguson and Bob Ryan deliver both insight and anecdotes, making even the uninitiated welcome in the world of sports talk.

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For the Full Experience:

• Listen around [15:54] for the Masters preview if you love golf.
• For classic Bob Ryan sports perspective, start at [29:46].
• If bracketology, food rants, and old-man-yells-at-cloud humor are more your speed, the first 15 minutes are gold.

Closing:
The show closes with emails, shoutouts, and recommendations—never missing a chance to connect with listeners’ lives or offer a good-natured dig at beloved sports institutions, all wrapped up with Billy Joel lyrics and reflections on ice cream and travel.

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we will preview the Masters with Doug ferguson of the AP. And we'll talk to Bob Ryan about Michigan beating UConn to win their first title since 1989. But first, commerce.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

Little to the left. No, wait.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yep.

[Kelly Clarkson]

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[Tony Kornheiser]

It was a sofa.

[Kelly Clarkson]

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[Bob Ryan]

Previously on the Tony Kornhauser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't really want to sit on the floor. I don't. It's okay. Everything has screens. It's a television experience. It's okay. So they get us seats in a suite with mostly Greg's friends and family, right? Yeah, mostly Greg's. And that's fine. That's wonderful. That's way up on the top. More important than that. More important than everything. As you know, if you listen to this show is parking.

[Bob Ryan]

Oh, yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Parking is the most important thing.

[Gary Edel]

That's the focus of my supplemental essay for the University of Pennsylvania admissions process.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. This is General George Washington, and you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Okay. Obviously, we're going to talk at some point about the Michigan win over UConn. Bob Ryan is going to be on the show later. I will just say this. If you watched PTI yesterday, you saw me say the following words. Do I think Michigan can win the game? Yes, I do. But I think seven and a half points is too much. So I believe I had that with 69. 63. Right. With six points. Not seven and a half. I believe I had that. Exactly.

[Michael Wilbon]

You have a future.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'll just say this about. Michigan's a very good team. If you're Duke this morning, you're waking up and you're going, oh, boy, we beat them in a neutral side. If we hold on against UConn, maybe we win the national championship.

[Gary Edel]

But the gym's neutral territory.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right. You know. So look sharp, dress good. Tony's gonna be there.

[Michael Wilbon]

Riff's gonna be there.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're all gonna be there. Really? Look tall. We're jets, right? Is that.

[Gary Edel]

Yeah, we walk tall. Okay, guys, share our bracket winners.

[Bob Ryan]

Oh.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Can I just say one thing? Just about the game? The one thing I wanted to say was UConn's a really good team. UConn held. Michigan had scored 90 or more in five straight NCAA playoff games. 90 or more. Michigan was held to 69 points by UConn. UConn's really good. UConn couldn't make any shots. Michigan had something to do with that. Michigan is big and strong and plays defense and dominates the paint area. Dominates it. Michigan's the Big Ten's the best conference out there this year. Michigan's better than Michigan State. They're better than Purdue. They're better than Illinois. They're better than Iowa. They're better than Nebraska. All those teams won games in the tournament.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No other conference had teams that many teams win games in the tournament. Big Ten did Their. Michigan's better. Michigan's worthy. Okay, good game. And stay up for the end of it. Good game. Two good teams. I love Danny Hurley. Danny Hurley's post game, which I saw this morning, is wonderful. Wilbur doesn't like him. Don't like him. I do. I like him. So two other small things or three other small things, and then we get to Nigel.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, well, we'll get to Michael with the bracket. One is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, we'll get to that when I just go through this.

[Doug Ferguson]

Okay.

[Gary Edel]

Well, it seemed to be the appropriate time for the bracket winners.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, go ahead.

[Gary Edel]

No, no, You. Of course. It's your show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jenny's Key Lime Pie.

[Gary Edel]

That's what you wanted.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That ice cream's great.

[Bob Ryan]

Yeah, it's great.

[Michael Wilbon]

A key lime pie ice cream.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's great. It's got the graham cracker crust. It's great.

[Gary Edel]

How do you get the key lime flavor into the ice cream?

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's great. That's all I'm saying. Jenny's Key Lime Pie ice cream remind

[Gary Edel]

you of the bomb?

[Tony Kornheiser]

All that reminds me of Joe's.

[Gary Edel]

Joe's?

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, Joe's. Oh.

[Gary Edel]

Do they try and recreate the crust that you think of with a key

[Tony Kornheiser]

lime pie, there's graham cracker crust inside of it.

[Michael Wilbon]

That sounds.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's really good. I'm not a flavor guy.

[Gary Edel]

No, you don't.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I like coffee and chocolate. That's all I like. This is fabulous. That's another bullpen disaster. Another bullpen implosion. You know, a starter pitch is good enough, and they're winning, and the bullpen comes in stinks.

[Gary Edel]

Immediate walks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It stinks. So you have a new GM and a new manager, and you got the same old problem that you had with the old GM and the old manager. The bullpen stinks. Am I right on this? Yeah.

[Gary Edel]

And it's one of those things, you see the walk that then leads to a home run that gets you, you know, leads. It's not just solo shots.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You get beat and they hit.

[Michael Wilbon]

Can I just point out.

[Bob Ryan]

But how surprised.

[Gary Edel]

How surprised are you? So I'm still up watching the basketball game. I get this update on my phone saying Nats actually come back and win.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did they?

[Gary Edel]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh. So I don't know that bullpen stinks is all I wanted to say.

[Gary Edel]

That's your take on it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So what was the score?

[Gary Edel]

They won nine, six.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I missed it. See, they hit.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, yeah.

[Gary Edel]

They put six runs in the ninth.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Nats really?

[Gary Edel]

Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

Cardiac kids.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Nats hit. This guy who is the hitting coach, knows his job. Matt Borgschulte, brother of Andrew Borg Schulte, Columbia member. Last year was with the Twins. I don't know if the Twins hit last year.

[Gary Edel]

He was with the Orioles before that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Nats are hitting now.

[Michael Wilbon]

That's all that matters.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But their bullpen stinks. Who got the save?

[Gary Edel]

So I'll go to the home runs. James woods home runs was at the bottom of the eighth. And then you see in the ninth, you had Brady House homers, and you had those still in the eighth. And then you had a C.J. abrams home run.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's good. Why was Brady house not playing two games in a row? Why were they not playing two games in a row, so who pitched the 9th with a lead for you? Bullpen stinks.

[Michael Wilbon]

While he's looking that up, do you know which team has the worst record in all of baseball?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Boston Red Sox is my guess.

[Michael Wilbon]

Boston Red Sox.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So remember, we got this. We got this email yesterday from Barry Finkenberg, who was giving us the music. J. Plank.

[Michael Wilbon]

J. Plank. J. Plank.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I said that he enclosed a picture. He's standing. Perez. I think he's awful. He wasn't DFA'd Wow, he's lucky. He's standing between Magic Johnson and Jerry West. And I wondered about that. He says, thought I would make the record clear on my picture with the lakers. It was 1993 at Lahaina, Maui at the Jerry West, Magic Johnson and Executive Basketball Camp. It was a great experience, even though I was scolded by Magic. We were running three on two drills and he wanted us to pass the ball from the center to the wing, back to the center to the other wing. I'm on one wing thinking I've made conspiratorial eye contact with the other wing and throw a perfect cross court bounce pass to him. Of course, he had no idea what I was doing. Magic blows his whistle and says, I told you, center to wing, no cross courts. You might get away with that in your city leagues, but not at the next level. I say, dude, I'm 47. There's no next level. Yeah, doing the math, it shows I'm now 80 and still playing three times a week when the gym hasn't been flooded by rain. I've been hooping now for 67 years. And then he has an interview that he son did with him, but I haven't seen that. But it's nice.

[Michael Wilbon]

That's great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right, who won?

[Gary Edel]

Would you like to start with the listener brackets or with the bigs?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Listener brackets?

[Gary Edel]

How about this for name? Turkey club of brackets? Kevin Conway with Michigan gets our first place. We're going to place. If you're top 10, send me a picture of your bracket name and just a screen graduation screen grab showing that you're in the Tony Quezer Show 2020.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And we'll send you a prize of some sort.

[Michael Wilbon]

Something.

[Gary Edel]

We, we are, we are low in prizes, but Kevin Conway, you are going to get a mixed bag of my dad's chips courtesy of my dad, Gary Edel.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We can, you know, we can send books.

[Gary Edel]

We'll figure it out. But yes, if you are top 10, that goes down to bagels. Suzanne Lamb, it looks like. So, and then for the gigs, do you have any guesses?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Gary Braun, big time Gary Braun. Yeah, because he's sending. He spent a lot of tuition money

[Gary Edel]

on two kids admission, so this will make him happy. Spike, just, just out of the podium in fourth, right, we have Jeff Ma. In third professional, we have Sean Cherry just behind Gary.

[Michael Wilbon]

How about that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's wonderful.

[Michael Wilbon]

Well done.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Jeff Ma. He started out, we thought he started out poorly and then he's, he made the top three. He's on the podium.

[Gary Edel]

Yeah. I mean, this Is on the podium. Science behind this is you have a couple upsets early and then once you get to the round of 32, if you can. If you can, you know, clean house on those, you rise through the brackets.

[Bob Ryan]

All right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you want to talk about your trip? Oh, Nigel. Nigel went on a one week vacation to Italy.

[Gary Edel]

Brought the good weather with you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, Italy. How bad was the weather?

[Michael Wilbon]

The weather? We talked to locals there and they said people who had lived there 60 years are like, we've never seen it this cold at this time of year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, the first week, Florida, when I went down.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, it was. There was one day where iguanas falling off the trees. No, we did no iguana problem. But there was one day we had a tour of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius. The Vesuvius trip part was canceled because they said there's snow on top of the mountain. You can't get up top of it. And it was raining, like sideways and it was 40 degrees.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did you go to Italy or Ireland?

[Michael Wilbon]

We thought we were in Italy. One might have been in Dublin. Could have been in Little Italy, up in Baltimore for all I knew. So that was tough.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But you go because you're a history person.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You love history. You love ancient history and even modern history.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes. I walked 3 miles through 37 miles just so I could get to a bridge called the Milvian Bridge, which is the site of a very famous battle by Constantine in like 312, 80. So, yeah, everywhere I go, I'm very happy. Like, it does, the weather. As long as I bundled up, I was okay. It was unfortunate. My. My friends who I went with, they were going there to see their daughter, my goddaughter. She tore ACL two days before we traveled over there. So that was tough. Skiing. The best Lindsey Vaughan impersonation. Love you, Katie. But that was tough. And it was Holy Week, so the Pope was canceling stuff that we were like. We wanted to go to St. Peter's Basilica one day after a Vatican tour and he was doing a special mass.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What's he doing? You just hold up a White Sox jersey and say, hey, hey, Leo. Hey, white socks.

[Michael Wilbon]

I did want to say, I'm friends with Michael Wilbon. Can I please get through Chicago, friend? But yeah, we saw the Vatican. And you know when you're in this and you've. You've been to the Vatican? Yes. You're in the Sistine Chapel and it's just breathtaking.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So, yeah, you sing going to the chapel. I'm going to get married.

[Michael Wilbon]

No. You know, you're not supposed to talk with me in there now. Everybody does. Well, sure, but, like, there's all this softly. Yeah, they talk softly, but they're still like. You're not actually supposed to call Capella Sistina. There you go. Yes. From. From a Pope sisters, which I found out there's a Pope sister. So, yeah, it was. I mean, I don't want to say, oh, you've got to go to Rome, because I know it's difficult and it's expensive, but if you get a chance to go.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How was food?

[Michael Wilbon]

The food is brilliant. You can't have a bad meal there. I mean, you just. I was.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, unless you go to Sbarro's or something like that, Great local spot there was Papa John's.

[Michael Wilbon]

I did see an Irish.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I would imagine if you opened up a Papa John's Italy, you would be arrested.

[Michael Wilbon]

Would think so.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'd be arrested.

[Michael Wilbon]

There are a million pizza joints around there. Because pizza originated in Napoli or. Yeah, Naples. Yeah, Naples, Florida.

[Gary Edel]

Fried dough. You have to try and figure out, are you dealing with frozen dough or is it going to be a fresh dough made in house.

[Michael Wilbon]

Everything felt fresh and it was great. It was great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And they put toppings on pizza or. No.

[Michael Wilbon]

Sure. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know because I don't know if that's an American thing.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's. It's not like that is loaded. Yeah. It's not like, well, I want sausage, you know, peppers and all that. They've got sort of the main sort of set ones.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Michael Wilbon]

I had something called pizza diavolo a lot, which is like spicy salami. Okay, very good. And I will say, my bed. The best meal I had, I got it completely by accident. So after we went to the Vatican, my friends had to go to a doctor's appointment for the doctor. And they're like, hey, you know, would you. Would you like, come back to the hotel with us? No, I'm going to. I walked to the Milvian Wall that day, or the bridge. But about 20 minutes into the walk, I realized I need to use the facilities I plan out. We just had lunch, and it's very difficult to find a restroom in Italy or in Rome rather than, you know, there's no restrooms in a gas station that I could find. There's no restrooms, like public restrooms in a park. Really didn't want to go in an alley where I'd probably get arrested.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. So I'd be sent back in disgrace.

[Michael Wilbon]

It'd be terrible. So I found. I was like, I'm gonna have to go to a restaurant. And I didn't want to just barge in and say, excuse me, I'm a tourist. I've misplayed my hand. I need to use your excuse. Yes. Koozie, Scoozy. And by the way, that's everybody there. Excuse me. Excuse me. Antonio. It's just. It's just lovely to hear, but I sat down, said, order something. And I looked at the menu and there was risotto, saffron risotto with asparagus. And it was the best meal I had the entire day.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And they let you use the bathroom.

[Michael Wilbon]

Use the bathroom. So I didn't, you know, get dessert for that. It was. It was. Yes. And if. If it hadn't been so crazy with the Pope doing something on Friday night, we would have gone back. There was a place called Lola's on Via Flaminia is an outstanding place.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Owned by the Kinks.

[Michael Wilbon]

Exactly. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So it's. It's just for those of us that love history, it truly is just a wonderful place.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Are you planning any other trips just so I know and we can call Sean and. Sean was great.

[Michael Wilbon]

Sean is great. And I do thank you. Thank the two of you.

[Gary Edel]

He timed it perfectly for opening. Opening week of baseball and the tees right before the Masters.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes, yes. So thank you guys for letting me go off that with my friends.

[Gary Edel]

It was great. When you told me where you were going, I look back through old photos and just. There's just a corner shop, like, sort of what you're describing. Antigo Forno Rossiolo. A pizza to go place. And it's just great for us. You're pointing at a pizza and it's cut and weighed, and you just eat it right there standing up.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Is that right?

[Gary Edel]

Yeah.

[Michael Wilbon]

Right.

[Gary Edel]

So this is what I. I would.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And the pizzas are smaller there.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, yeah.

[Gary Edel]

It would be a rectangular sheet, pan style pizza. For me, it'd be more of like a focaccia dough. That is. That is topped, but it's. It's cut. It's meant to be eaten right there.

[Michael Wilbon]

And gelato every night.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Key lime pie. Gelato.

[Michael Wilbon]

No, I went, no, I'm gonna try that from Jenny's.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That sounds great.

[Bob Ryan]

I.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Again, I'm not.

[Michael Wilbon]

That's not your typical flavor.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, no. All right, we'll take a break. Doug Ferguson will join us when we return from the Masters. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

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[Progressive/Ad Voice]

this is the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This music is sent to us by Paul Brandt in Eau Claire, Wisconsin who said I'd like to share two songs from the Jim Pullman Band's newest EP titled Snake Babe. I've had the great fortune to be the keyboard player in Jim's band for over a decade. Jim's an incredible songwriter, great friend, and a loyal Wisconsin sports fan. Making music is always fun, but having someone to complain about the packers with is priceless. Thanks for letting us share our music with your audience. Thrilled to hear it on the podcast. This is a song called Snake Babe Again by the Jim Pullman Bands of the title song from the album that they put out in place in Doug Ferguson in Augusta. You cannot turn on a television set without seeing pictures of Augusta this week because the Masters, the official Masters will begin on Thursday and there's all sorts of walk up with the par three contests and practice days and this, that and the other thing. And yet the headline for me, and maybe for you, Doug, is the oddity of no Tiger, no Phil. What are your thoughts on that?

[Doug Ferguson]

It is odd. 1994, Tiger was a senior in high school, had yet to win the US Amateur. Phil was recovering from a broken leg skiing. I don't think anyone missed him that year. But it's. Look, they won't on Thursday either. But it is odd, mostly with Tiger, and it came down in the same week and there was really nobody around to think about it. Now they're here and they're thinking about it. You know, different circumstances for Tiger and there's kind of a mixture of hope he comes out of this and even a few comments lately of what was he doing behind the wheel. Yeah, I think people are starting to look at some accountability, for lack of a better word.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think you're right about that. The oddity to me is they're not missing the Masters because of injury. They're not missing the Masters because of anything to do with golf. One is what appears to be a chemical addiction, and one is a family health problem. And I don't think you can stress this enough. They got eight green jackets between them. They got eight. They have been for 30 years the biggest names in golf. When you look around at other, I'll just go on and then I'll shut up about this. But when you look at other people who've been ranked number one for a long period of time in the last 10 to 15 years, Rory Rom, DJ Spieth Scheffler among them. They have six green jackets. These guys have eight. Eight. Like it's a big deal, right?

[Doug Ferguson]

It is. And you know, you think back to those kind of comical comments Gary Player made about how me and Jack and Arnold, we created the Masters, you could make that argument for Tiger and Phil. I mean, when you start with Tiger in 97 making his run, and here comes Phil and 4 and in 6 and in 10 and the couple times they played together, which was just dynamic. I mean, people, people forget when Tiger completed his Tiger Slam, he's with Phil in the final round there. That was a pretty good Masters in the one year that Cabrera won. I remember my whole boss was trying to tell me that Tiger and Phil in the show they put on that day is the lead. And I'm thinking, yeah, they got a guy in a green jacket that's kind of Important, too. Yeah, but that's, you know, that's their, that's their effect on the place. Well, not only they are the modern trio or duo in this case, not

[Tony Kornheiser]

only were they the greatest players, they were also the most popular. Scottish Scheffler is the number one player in the world. He's not beloved. Maybe. He's maybe hasn't been there long enough. But these guys were beloved and so popular. Right. Still right now.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah. They only, they really owned the. In the entire professional golf landscape. And then you come here to the greatest landscape of all and it just takes it up, you know, two or three notches. Yeah, but we will move on too, Tony. I mean, even, I think it was Justin Rose yesterday when they asked him about him, and, and he was so, you know, tunnel vision on his own game. He didn't even think about it. I'm sure by the time we get to Thursday, it's, it's, it's off we go. It's raised creek and azaleas and double bogeys and the whole nine yards.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, that's, that's exactly true. All sports writers will know this. You know this, I know this, all sports writers know it. As the saying goes, when the puck drops, the rest of this stuff doesn't matter. You know, now we're playing.

[Athletic Brewing/Ad Voice]

So.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, but I mean, that it. But the walk up to it is Tiger and Phil, I assume. I assume.

[Bob Ryan]

Yeah.

[Doug Ferguson]

And it'll come through again today when everyone, whenever it does all their press conferences and then one, then onto the par three on to the real show. Tony. The par three.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Which usually gets a hole in one or two and some eight year old is out there and, you know, it's fun. I don't know that this matters. I wrote as a question who comes in here playing well, but I guess I'm asking does it matter? Because the Augusta is such a unique course and people have seen it and played it their whole lives. Does it matter what your form is coming in at all?

[Doug Ferguson]

Get Ben Crenshaw on the phone. That'd be a good example. So.

[Bob Ryan]

Yeah, I agree.

[Doug Ferguson]

Now, listen, there's some numbers you can look at. For example, I think five of the last six champions had won at least twice leading into the Masters, which is alarming. Hidecki was the exception. Right. And then there's the other one too, with Rory and Scotty, which is kind of interesting because both of them have had three weeks off. Scotty, not by choice. And I think since 1983, only one guy has come into the Masters with three weeks off and won, and that was Adam Scott. So is that worth noting? Probably. But then you look at, you know, again, Crenshaw in 95 when he's. When he's off bearing Harvey Penick and comes back with not much form and wins.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Doug Ferguson]

Trevor Immelman. You know, I think people forget he only won twice on the PGA Tour and he had his. He had his best week of his life and it happened to be the first full week of April. Yeah, yeah. Form matters. I don't know who's hot, to be honest with you. I know we had Chris Goddard win twice, but that. That feels like a long time ago. It was February.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It does.

[Doug Ferguson]

And plus, he's new to this, and we haven't had a newcomer win since. Fuzzy.

[Bob Ryan]

I think it's.

[Doug Ferguson]

I mean, I think the one theme going into this is that it is wide open. It really is. And Rory, you know, he hasn't. Hasn't played great this year.

[Bob Ryan]

He's fine.

[Doug Ferguson]

But you get a sense that Rory is enjoying a nice drive down Magnolia Lane and straight up to the second floor in the clubhouse to his champions locker room. He is really soaking up. It's almost a victory lap from last year. And he's good enough to do anything, but I don't think he's getting a lot of attention. Like, look out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How is. How's the weather projected to be and does the place look perfect as it usually does?

[Doug Ferguson]

Good. And yes.

[Bob Ryan]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Doug Ferguson]

It's actually chilly right now. It's probably pushing 60 degrees right now. It's supposed to crank into the 80s starting, I think, tomorrow. Oh, that should be dry and dry and hot the rest of the week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I don't know if you were there. Were you in San Antonio over the weekend for that tournament?

[Doug Ferguson]

I was not.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. Because the weather looked terrible. Just terrible. You know, that's. Golfers are not. Everybody assumes that golf is this lovely leisurely sport in beautiful weather. But sometimes you have to play in rain and wind, and they don't let you not play. If there's no lightning, you got to play. That was awful conditions, it seemed to me, just awful.

[Doug Ferguson]

Very muddy and mucky and it's happened here, too, and a lot of things. One thing people don't know, Tony, is that when it. When it rains here, as it can, it is the worst smelling piece of property in golf.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Really?

[Doug Ferguson]

From. Oh, yeah, from the kitty litter and all the other stuff they put down to make it easier for the spectators to walk. By the time you get to the next day, you Feel like you're in a dairy barn. People don't like to talk about it. I can. It's true. It smells so bad.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's fabulous. I had no idea. I've never been there when it, when it rained.

[Doug Ferguson]

You don't want to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is. You cover golf. And I know that there are four majors, and I know that people try to make the players into something special, but I'm assuming that all golfers around the world, if they could win one, it's this, or am I wrong? Is it for some the US Open? Is it for some the British Open?

[Doug Ferguson]

It's hardly ever the US Open anymore, except for some, some older, you know, blue blooded Americans, if you will. But it's, it's the Masters. You're gonna, you're still gonna get the odd international player who grew up with the, with the British.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Doug Ferguson]

And rightly so. But the Masters, to me, I know this isn't apples and oranges, but it kind of reminds me of the NFL and that if you look back maybe 20, 30 years ago, you know, NBA, NFL, and you had your favorites. But over the last, over that time, NFL just dwarfs everything now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Doug Ferguson]

And that's kind of the way the Masters is it. It overwhelms everything right now. PGA Tour, you know, the, the US Open, pga, even, even the British. And everyone's basically trying to be like Augusta, I guess.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Obviously, here's, here's what I wonder about. Fred Ridley is the chairman of Augusta. Is he the most powerful man in golf?

[Doug Ferguson]

He's certainly up there. Is he? Yeah, he's certainly up there. It's a hard one to do because, you know, the Tour and the majors are so different. One's a year long thing and what have you. But if you look back to the world ranking and when they finally got around to giving Liv, like a portion of ranking points, I've always thought that was Fred really involved. We've been doing this for a couple years now, boys. Let's get this settled and let's get it settled now. That's one of the rumors that I heard. And all of a sudden they figured out a way to do it. I think when Fred wants something done, it gets done. I mean, they have a seat at the table for the world ranking and you know, on Olympic committees, they're involved in everything. And at the end of the day, there's just a really nice private club that hosts the tournament every April, and yet he's got a seat at every table.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I had heard. And I don't know if this is true. But I had heard that there was a personal phone call to Tiger from him, you know, about, let's make sure that this works and you get what you need. And I don't know if that's true, but it seems to me he could have done that and Tiger would take the call, like everybody in golf would take his call if he chose to call. Right.

[Doug Ferguson]

I actually asked about that and was told no. Just because I was told doesn't mean it's not true. Obviously.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Doug Ferguson]

But it was made clear to me that the tournament was in touch with him from the get go. And it's just Tigers, you know, Tiger's presence at this tournament. And plus, you know, he was. He was supposed to be here Sunday night with Fred with this great big grand opening of the patch, the municipal course that they've refurbished. And Tiger did a short course, and that was a rough day because it was very. You know, apparently they still, excuse me, opened it, but without any. Without any coverage, without any press or any public. It was just a kind of a private party that was. That was going to be a big deal for Fred, and I think it was going to be a big deal for Tiger. And at some point, he had to, you know, they had to. They had to decide, and it was the right decision. There's no way he could be here this week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Now, the. And it's not just with Fred Ridley, but in the last X amount of years, particularly with the women's tournament that they run, it just feels like Augusta has gone from being this unbelievably exclusive place to a very welcoming place that. That they're the sponsors of the best golf in the world. Do you get that sense?

[Bob Ryan]

It is.

[Doug Ferguson]

It is a complete standard.

[Bob Ryan]

And the.

[Doug Ferguson]

The.

[Bob Ryan]

The.

[Doug Ferguson]

The Women's Amateur, the Augusta National Women's Amateur, is a really good point, Tony, because, you know, the U.S. women's Amateur has been around for about 100 years. The very first year of that thing, it became the one tournament all those women wanted to win. Yeah, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. If you could win one tournament, they said it'd be this one right here. Why? Location. It's associated with Augusta National. It's a gold standard, and that's what I want to win. And that was one year. So much for history.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I agree on that. Agree on all that. Listen, have a good time. Thanks for talking with us. Thank you, Doug.

[Doug Ferguson]

Thanks, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Doug Ferguson of the Associated Press. We will come back with Bob Ryan. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

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[Tony Kornheiser]

This is the Tony Kornizer Show. Once again, this is the Jim Pullman Band. This is a song called A Warm Bath for Cold Bones. That's a lovely title for a song, Michael. If people want to send their original music like the Jim Pullman Band, if they want to send it to us to get it played on the show, how do they do it?

[Gary Edel]

Send us your music by emailing it to jingles Tony Koenizershow.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And that plays in Bob Ryan, the quintessential American sportswriter. We should start. I'm tempted to start with Mike Malone going to Carolina, but I'll get to that. Let's just start with the game last night. Satisfying game for you. Satisfying ending, satisfying champion.

[Bob Ryan]

Michigan, Thoroughly legitimate champion. A better team. One I was rooting for UConn. There are territorial hopes these days and you know, obviously it's a rival in mind at bc, but I have been pulling for them ever since they started this, this wonderful run under Danny. And look, the game was. It wasn't a great game. It was. It was. It was an unsatisfying weekend, frankly from, for a basketball standpoint, started on Friday night. The two women's games set the game back their game back 50 years they were both awful. And the. The UConn Illinois game was of no interest to anybody other than people at UConn in Illinois. It didn't offer anything for the neutral fan to get excited about. The other game was a disappointment because we expected a major clash of heavyweights and Arizona didn't show up. And last night, it's not a game for the ages. It was better than the others, but it wasn't that great from an artistic viewpoint. But we have a new champion, and they're a worthy champion.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I mean, UConn, that team, Michigan had scored 90 plus in every single game. Five games in a row in the tournament. UConn held them to 69. If you can make shots, they win. But Michigan plays defense. The Big Ten was really good, Bobby. Really good this year.

[Bob Ryan]

Yeah, it was. And no question, remember, they didn't even win the Big Ten. And a team that, you know, there were lots of good teams. Purdue, I would fall into love, but I'd come to appreciate Purdue. I liked watching them play. I love that backcourt. And I was infatuated by Oscar Clough. So anyway, yes, it was a Big Ten was very good. And now they have a champion for the first time since 2000.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is. This is an oddity. I didn't realize this. This is Connecticut's first loss in the men's final ever. They were 6 and 0 to this point. Danny Hurley's first loss. He's now 2 and 1. Wilbon doesn't like Danny Hurley. I love Danny Hurley. I do. What are your feelings on Danny Hurley?

[Bob Ryan]

You know, I don't know him, of course. I've only met him. I've interviewed him, of course, of my duties back in 2011. That's the only time I ever encountered Danny early, personally. He's a wonderful coach. There's no question he gets results. He was spectacular from the beginning. At St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, he won over 200 more games than he lost in his nine years there. Then he goes to Wagner. And he went at Wagner. Who Wins at Wagner. PJ went 3 and 21, as I recall, at Wagner. Then he goes to Rody and he wins. And he gets this job. And you see what's happened, his methodology. We don't know exactly what he's like behind closed doors. He's a crazy hot, hot personality. We see his public displays during the games here. I really don't know what it's like to play for him, but he gets results. I'm amused by him. I can just step back and enjoy the show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Me too. And I also think he's sort of fair minded. I saw in the post game he said if you give me those three refs for the rest of my life I'll sleep easy every single night. That's not something you would get expect him to say. But he seems, he seems smarter than the average bear to me.

[Bob Ryan]

Well, there's a genetic thing going on here. You know, we all this. He is Bobby Hurley senior's son. And Bobby Hurley is a Hall of fame coach from, from a high school guy who turned down repeated college offers. Just keep his job as a probation officer and also he enjoyed working with young people at St. Anthony's High School. Anyway, he's Bobby's son and he's got a coaching gene a little more, a little better than his older brother.

[Tony Kornheiser]

His older brother who was a better player. His older brother was a better player, but he's a better coach.

[Bob Ryan]

Bobby Hurley is one of the great college players of all time. I mean he wasn't the assistant leader until just this year and as a collegiate and he wasn't a bad pro. His career ended in a very bizarre way as we know and face down in a ditch and it wasn't his fault and basically that was the end of his career.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. All right, let me get to unc. We had to talk about this yesterday. The news comes over at about 3 o' clock or 3:30 and we're gonna begin whenever Wilbon gets there, usually about a quarter to five or whatever. And I, you know, I'm sort of really. Mike Malone. Really. I had no feel for it, didn't expect it. I understand that his daughter is a volleyball player at Carolina and I know that the transfer portal opened yesterday and they probably needed someone, but you could have given me 100 guesses. I wouldn't have guessed. Michael Malone, your thoughts on it?

[Bob Ryan]

I thought I heard the name come up in at the 11th hour somebody. So when it happened it wasn't total shock. It was oh, interesting. I mean his credentials are sound and the thing is he hasn't been in College since 2001. He's been exclusively in the NBA since then. The world has changed. But he's a smart guy. I think he's going to be an interesting choice. It's no longer a matter of going into the living room of the kid, you know, it's a matter of do you have the money? And you know, go get the, go steal somebody's player and see if he's up for doing that. In terms of The X's and those. I think it'll be tremendous.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It usually goes the other way. Pros don't go to college. College coaches go to the pros. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. Rick Pitino and John Calipari didn't work out for them. Do you know anybody going the other way from pro to college?

[Bob Ryan]

There's not a good track record. People have done it, but not with great. Nobody's jumping out at me that had a notable success. Kenny Hardaway has been, you know. You know, and there's a few. Oh, Juwan Howard was awful.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Bob Ryan]

And got himself fired. And, you know, he was a legendary figure. And he couldn't do the coaching job. It's rare. It's very unusual. Now, we know football. We've got examples of people doing, you know, doing it and not with varying degrees of success. It's not the usual path, no question. But, you know, Carolina was in a bind. They had no viable alumni candidates, and they. And they went in and reached for a guy with an NBA title and. Yes, and he's another guy with. He's a. Got a coaching gene. His father was a guy. We all loved Brendan and. Anyway, so on that basis alone, I'm rooting for Mike to do a good job.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They hired a pro coach to run their football program who's got lots of rings, and it appeared to be a disaster last year. May not be this year. Right.

[Bob Ryan]

Well, that's a specific case. I mean, that is a truly generous thing, Belichick. I'm sure there will be comparisons made with people, but for people. But I don't do it. There was no connection between the personality and. And, you know, the scope of. Of Mike Malone and Bill Belichick.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, that's fair. I'll stay in the NBA that Mike Malone has recently vacated to talk about the Lakers situation. Now, you lose Doncic and Reeves, and they were playing very well. I'm not saying they were a championship team, but they were playing very well in the harder conference, I think. You can't. You can't even win a playoff series without them. Right. You can't.

[Bob Ryan]

Oh, I don't see how, though. It's. That's good now, you know, you make these judgments instantly, but, you know, be careful. Be something. Look at Detroit. When Cunningham went down, I figured, you know, that we'll find out how they're going to get exposed.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Bob Ryan]

And they held up very, very well. But Doncic was on his, you know, making another hall of Fame bid, and Reeves just turned out I had no idea Reeves was going to turn out to be this good a player. That's a.

[Doug Ferguson]

That's a huge blow.

[Bob Ryan]

No question. I never thought they were going to be a championship contender, but they were going to be the proverbial tough out, probably. And I don't know if they were going to be in that category. I don't see how they could possibly be without those guys.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. You mentioned hall of Fame with Doncic, and it just leads to MVP and whether he had credibility as an MVP candidate. What are your thoughts on MVP this year? Who would you. Who would you vote for?

[Bob Ryan]

Well, I'm glad I don't have a vote. I'd be. Sleepless nights. It's really. You can make a case. I can make the devil's advocate case for sga, of course, for Doncic, for Jokic and for Victor Wembliana. And right now he's playing spectacular basketball and he's not even close to what he's going to be when he puts his entire game together right now. That's a tough one. I'm big on him right now. He's carrying them, but I don't know. I know I'm waffling here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. You left out Jaylen Brown. You left out Jaylen Brown.

[Bob Ryan]

I know. I'm trying not to be parochial.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I would vote for him. I've said that before.

[Bob Ryan]

Then you have Brown. Well, I know. And Brown. Look at. No one ever dreamed they'd win 50 games. So my call on them before the season, I said the floor is 37 and the ceiling is 45. If they play great, they're going to win. They might win 45 games and now they're going to win. You know, they're already 150 anyway. Jokic is still the. If I had to go with. Let me just have to give a preface here. An all sport. I hate that. I wish they had never come up with the word valuable to describe the award. And this goes back to 1931 in the institution of the baseball awards as we know them now. And they should have been player of the year, being a lot easier to do it that way. Valuable. Look, so many. Of course, if you take that guy away from the team, where would they be? You can say that for every team in the league.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Bob Ryan]

It's, you know, even the worst team in the league, they'd be even worse if their best player wasn't there. So I hate that. I always railed about that. But right now. So if that being the case, and I stick with my player of the year, the most accomplished player, it's still Jokic, so I'll go with Jokic, but Wembiana is on the rail.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, I would not. I would vote for Jaylen Brown if I had a vote, but I don't have a vote. I think. I think Jokic is the greatest player in the world. And I think Wembanyama is set to go past him. What is Wembanyama? 23 years old, whatever he is.

[Bob Ryan]

No, no, he's not even that old, though. He's 20. What? He's. Oh, no. And the package is phenomenal because the thing that makes him so intriguing, this is not just the awesome athletic skill at 7 4, it's the whole mental package. He's got everything going for him. He gets it and he's gotten. This is a guy. I keep harping on this because it's so unusual. Here's a young man in France who at the age of 13 or 14 said to Rousseau, I'm going to be playing basketball in America. I want to get there with speaking perfect English. And not only did he get himself taught books English, he got himself taught colloquial English. You listen to him speak and he could be from Nebraska. You have no idea. There's an accent there now. There would have been other guys like that. Nowitzki was like that. But still, this is the kid. This is a very, very rare, unusual young man.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Agree with all of that. Thanks, Bob. Thank you for being on Talk Soon. Thank you, Bobby.

[Bob Ryan]

Okay, bye. Bye. Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Bob Ryan, the quintessential American sportswriter. We will come back with email and jingle. I am Tony Kornheart.

[Bob Ryan]

Thanks, sir.

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Gonna read song for all of you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That is Cane Bay High School. We just had communication from them right the other day.

[Michael Wilbon]

I think we did.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Didn't. Somebody wrote us the. The director of the Kane High School choir wrote us the other day.

[Michael Wilbon]

Oh, very nice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's very lovely.

[Michael Wilbon]

You want to do the Bethesda Bagel ad Bethesda Bagels. We love them. You will as well just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area suit and pop one in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And before we get to the mailbag, let me just quote the words of a fellow long Islander. It's 9 o' clock on a Saturday. The regular crowd shuffles in. There's an old man sitting next to me making love to his tonic and gin. He says, son, can you play me a memory? I'm not really sure how it goes, but it's sad and it's sweet and I knew it complete when I wore a younger man's clothes. That's William, Joel and Piano Man. Thanks to our guest today, Doug Ferguson and Bob Ryan. 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,

[Gary Edel]

please leave us a review the Bird Song from Augusta. How does that not get you excited for this show?

[Michael Wilbon]

That was great and I was a

[Gary Edel]

very cool dad when I get to talk about our guest Noah Petra yesterday.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes, very cool dad. Yes. That's great. That's great. You should take the boys there. I would love to. From Aaron Alexander in Tulsa, Oklahoma. As a St. Louis Cardinals fan, I'd like to welcome you, Michael, and anyone else rooting for the Washington Nationals to the Miles Micalis experience. By now, I'm sure you figured out that he's truly awful. In two starts this year, he's given up 17 hits, 17 runs, 15 earned and five home runs. Some will say, well, at least he eats innings. But the problem is that those innings are completely unwatchable. Micklis has started at least 30 games in each of the last four seasons. During that span, he has surrendered 367 earned runs and 106 home runs. So unless he miraculously gets DFA, my suggestion is to simply find something else to watch every fifth day because no one wants to watch Meatball Micolis show batting practice and turn the opposing lineup into the 1927 Yankees. As always, thanks for the laughs and entertainment.

[Michael Wilbon]

Meatball.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Mark Hughes Ashton, MD Dear Captain, As a Nats fan for many years as you have been, is it possible that this is the worst bullpen in team history? Yeah, it's terrible. No lead seems safe, and it truly ain't over until it's over. I don't think help is on the way. It's terrible. Chris in Pittsburgh as a little it's not often I have a shared experience with you, but your Verizon center parking story brought back a memory 20 plus years ago I metroed into D.C. from Virginia with my roommates for a show at the 9:30 Club. One of them didn't close out his tab before the show ended so by the time he had the he had the Metro station had closed there we were three guys new to the city looking at a locked gate on u Street after 1am A 10 mile walk from our car. Two other guys missed the train and said they would give us a ride to our car if we walked to G Street with them. When we got there, one of them banged into the employee's entrance door besides the then MCI center loading dock door. We walked down to the garage, hopped into the back of the van and at that point realized that the Capitol's mascot Slap Shot was giving us a ride back to Virginia. Now that is TK level service. That's a great story. We know that ramp from Matt aisle in Lakeland, Florida. I woke up around 5:30 on Sunday morning prime chessy walking time a little early for me, so I put in an earbud and queued up last week's shows hoping to fall back asleep. What happened next was a special kind of scream out loud moment as I heard you casually announce that my sister in law is pregnant. This was news to me and the rest of the family as well. My brothers and I are close, but we don't stay in touch when we see each other. It's like no time has passed, but a full put a phone call in between visits is rare. I've moved down to Florida while everyone else still in the Philadelphia area, so I understand missing the occasional detail, but I didn't realize I needed to rely on Mr. Tony's mailbag for major life updates. At this point I'm just bracing for what's next. I assume I'll hear about the birth sometime in October between a read about Dom Smith's postseason heroics and an email explaining how to quell a moth infestation. I'm getting married in November and it sounds like we'll have to add one more to the guest list. Can he ask my brother Jack if the baby will be having the steak or the chicken? Thank you for always giving me and my family something to talk about. That's.

[Bob Ryan]

That's great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's truly unbelievable. From Jason Anschutz in in Fargo, North Dakota. I recently returned home from a family trip to Scotland. My father in law doesn't play golf and my boys are still too Young. So I snuck away for a few hours all by myself to play around at Royal Dornoch. I've attached some photos for you and the fine folks who are watching on this channel late. You can see me at the tee at seven with the Dornick Firth in the background. The view is so beautiful. It genuinely, genuinely brought a tear to my eye. I cried for a different reason on the second hole. That's my ball right up against the face of a giant bunker. But let's just say if I'd been in a cart, it would have been a bipsick situation. Ball in pocket sitting. The last photo though is the one that is show related. That's me and my caddy, 24 year old Scottish pro named Ryan McCaskill. Ryan shared stories with me about some of the famous people for whom he's caddied. And he asked, do you know the American actor Chris ODonnell? Sure, I said. That's Johnny O's brother. Even when I'm 3,000 miles from home, I'm still spreading the gospel of the TK show and giving non littles like Ryan information for life. May you and Michael play another unforgettable round like mine very soon. It's lovely. These are. Yeah, that's a tough show. Played Royal Door.

[Gary Edel]

Yeah, years ago.

[Michael Wilbon]

It's beautiful.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Kyle in San Francisco while our annual trip to Palm Springs. While on our annual trip to Palm Springs for the kids spring break, the woman to whom I'm related by marriage decided to break up the drive by stopping for a night in Santa Barbara, California. As you may or may not know, Santa Barbara is the home to the delectable McConnell's ice cream. The company was founded there in 1949 by Gordon Mac and Ernestine McConnell. So I had the divine pleasure of stopping by an actual McConnell's Scoop Shop. Photo attached for those watching on News Channel 8. Needless to say, I had to go with a double scoop of coffee. P.S. tell my friend Elliot Green to eat it. Yeah, McConnell's fine ice creams. Wow, that's great.

[Michael Wilbon]

Do they have.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't, but no, that's a different company. Yeah, from Carl Shea in Silver Spring, Maryland. Maybe Tony should skip the robo cabs on his next China trip. Robotaxi halts traffic in Wuhan. Wuhan. We know about Wuhan. A system malfunction in Wuhan, China saw dozens of and by some reports, hundreds of robo taxis stop in their tracks. The driverless cars were operated by Baidu's Apollo Go program and by accounts they stopped Dead in intersections and even on high speed roads, stranding passengers and disrupting traffic. Video circulating on Chinese social media appeared to show stranded passengers inside immobilized vehicles, including one in a traffic lane as trucks sped by at speed. One post also suggested at least one minor collision involving a stuck robo taxi. It is unknown if the stoppage caused any injury. Wow. Wow. Steve from Fairfield. Is it Fairfield, Connecticut? I assume it just says Fairfield. I'm guessing that's the one I know was Fairfield. Yeah. Hi guys. Just got back from Australia. Lefty or not back to normal. Out of all the things you did, what ended up being the best remedy? Funny. As we were descending into lax, my ears started popping and thought about you. I started writing the email and my wife was rolling her eyes. She said, just ask your physician. I said, I am Dr. Tony. Well, back to reality for me. After being away, the only thing that happened happen to me. I still have a little bit popping in my ear. It's just time.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, time.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's just time. Although we get messages saying to take certain.

[Gary Edel]

Are you using a nasal spray?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I have not. I should. Everyone says to use it.

[Michael Wilbon]

Children's Afrin.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, use any Afrin. It doesn't really matter. Haven't done it. Dusty in Hazlehurst, Georgia. Longtime listener, fourth time emailer I've emailed. With the birth of my kids and the passing of my mom, you guys were gracious in your words. Now something different. In a couple of weeks, I'll be traveling to Alexandria for an educational conference, looking at schedules. I'll be able to see the Nats on Wednesday the 8th and the Wizards make their playoff push on the 9th. That's tomorrow. Yes.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Any recommendations for receiving the full Washington sports experience? If not already taken. Can I be the educational system manager of the show? Yeah, you can be that. I mean, I would see the Gnats, although it's going to be cold tomorrow.

[Michael Wilbon]

Yeah, bundle up.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, bundle up for that.

[Gary Edel]

Be nice for the game though.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know you can. The Wizards. What are you talking about? About, you know. What are you talking about? Rick Franzosa Episode 252 I guess with Chuck and Rock Love the song Save the Last Dance for Me. It was performed by the Drifters lead singer, the inimitable Benny King, as you probably know. But some, possibly some littles don't know. The song was written by Doc Pomas, born Jerome Solon Felder. He suffered from polio using leg braces and crutches and eventually a wheelchair to get around. The song was inspired by his wedding. That's a very famous name in the history of music. Yes, very famous. And from our friend Alex Lau in New York City, it's taking the Artemis 2 crew 10 whole days to fly around the moon. Wilhelm could do it in four that I need plan a flag saying the midwest on the moon while he was at it. If you're out on your bike night everyone is always do wear white.

[Bob Ryan]

You know they all get involved and

[Tony Kornheiser]

they all got their gear already and so they're going to be all colored

[Bob Ryan]

up in the maroon and black, black and yellow.

[Jim Pullman (musician)]

Hey, she said f you now you know that you b her eyes yeah if you're gonna go don't have to tell me twice

[Tony Kornheiser]

and all I can

[Jim Pullman (musician)]

yeah, I'm a snake wave thanks for the fake wave. Thanks for the big wave tore off your good sides are filling me. Yeah Living around your own face underneath my feet

[Michael Wilbon]

hello.

[Jim Pullman (musician)]

I can see. What's happening Whatever's happening can we work it out?

[Tony Kornheiser]

What

[Jim Pullman (musician)]

can we still be friends? Can we work it out? Let's work it out yeah, yeah. You're like a long tail in the roofs of the rocking chairs I'm always worried you'll get hurt seems that you're always on crutches the heads can mean a sign you get first oh, and the way you hold my head yeah, you got this nervous chair Running your fingers back and forth from my knuckles to my l. Sam, You're right. You long t in a room full of rocking chairs I'm always worried you'll get hurt seems there's a hitch in your g.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Language

[Jim Pullman (musician)]

There's. Sam.