Tony Kornheiser (59:09)
Yeah, over the shoulder from Bill Burns in case anyone is on the fence about going to TK Night in Syracuse, just go. Last year, my two time TK Knight partner and fellow show emailist Dave Thompson was out of commission. I DM Dan Byrne to find out. He won't be in attendance, but he wished me a hearty Lecheserie. Undeterred, I left the comfy confines of the Adirondack park and made my way to NBT Stadium. Upon arrival, I grabbed a Utica Club UC for me, as we used to say, and went on a mission to find Chuck and Roxy. Unfortunately, they weren't in attendance. Wondering if this event had run its course, I headed off to my seat. In a few minutes. I met Keith, your first emailer on the next day showed. We hit it off instantly. Soon the Littles flowed in and the fun began. The Littles are a friendly bunch and Dan Byrne's songs were played often. Jason came by to see everyone as he had done the previous years. A wonderful time was had by all. See you tomorrow night. Can Billy's Italian Restaurant be the official Adirondack Park Italian Restaurant on the Tony Kornizer Show? Yeah, and there's pictures of everybody. Look at these. These are great. Pass these around the room. Isn't this lovely? Jeff Rickson, Fairfax, Virginia On Monday's podcast, you discussed the death of Ken Dryden and cited his brilliance and brief NFL career. I know you don't usually cover hockey until the third hour of the show, but I have a few anecdotes with some accompanying statistics about Dryden that I hope you might share. During Dryden's collegiate career, Cornell he started in 81 games. He won 76 of them. When he joined the Canadiens in the spring of 1971, he won his first six regular season starts. Once the playoffs got underway, he stayed in net and backstopped the Canadiens to a Stanley cup championship, upsetting defending champion Boston Bruins in the first round before ultimately beating the Chicago Blackhawks in the final. Dryden won the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP in 1971, then won the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the year in 1972. In just eight seasons as a pro, Dryden won six Stanley Cups, including four in a row from 1976 through 1979. In 1973-74 season, Dryden set out for the entire year to clerk at a Toronto law firm while he earned his law degree from McGill University. To me, Dryden is the quintessential scholar athlete and the game of hockey will miss him dearly. Thanks as always for the laughs. Tell Patrick Smith I'm ready for our girls hockey season at Bishop o' Connell High School. He can set up a Chuck and Roxy episode. Let him know I'm ready. Yeah, I mean, so the comparable guy in the United States is Bill Bradley. Oh yeah, who left, you know, a basketball career for a couple of years out of Princeton to go be a Rhodes Scholar. You know, I've always respected Bill Bradley, Gary Sims and Chevy Chase, Maryland. I guess this is a David Aldrich moment, but one which is many melancholy. I was chair of the Cornell Hockey Fans Association, a position I earned by getting in line for three days before tickets were made available to students. I got to pick the first seats for the season at Liner Rink. I sat behind the visiting penalty box so I could give the opposition choice words. I was there this season when Ken Dryden led us to the NCAA Championship. I'll never forget him standing in the net upright, his hands resting on a stick, his head on top of his hands as he watched the Big Red keep the opposition mostly at the other end. I was inspired by him to try my hand as a goalie and in the intramural league after watching the greatest goalie ever, we won the championship. As you have said, he was the greatest and a wonderfully accomplished man. Thanks for Bringing back fond memories from Daniel in South Orange, New Jersey. Monday's mailbag made me laugh when a letter referred to how every contemporary of Sandy Koufax in Brooklyn had some story of playing against him being two generations removed. I do not personally have a similar story, but my brothers and I grew up hearing stories about Sandy Koufax from our grandfather who was born in 1931. Our grandpa's stories went one step further. Not only did he know Sandy growing up, but Sandy was in the family my father fought. My grandpa would see Sandy at family gatherings, and although Sandy was a few years junior than him, Sandy always wanted to win and usually did. The family's connection to Koufax was, let's say, extended, as I understand that Sandy's biological father was Jack Braun, and apparently Braun had a half brother on his mother's side named Harry. My grandpa's aunt Claire was married to Harry. As folks probably know, when Sandy was young, his mother remarried Mr. Koufax, which may have been the end of the connection to our side of the family, but at least for us, it's always been a great fun source of family pride. Imagine that. Having Sandy Koufax. Absolutely. Wow. Wow. It's just. That's just great. Thank you, Daniel. Kevin Disher Bay City, Michigan On Monday's podcast you said the following to explain the current success of the Nats bullpen. They got rid of bums confidence stats since leaving the Nats and joining the Tigers. 14 and 3rd innings ERA.000 walks, 3 strikeouts, 19 maybe all Finnegan needed was to be released from the weight of a balding orange albatross verbally draped him from himself from his neck every day. Finally. We love K. Finn and Motown. And you should, and you should, you should and you should. But if you lived here it was frustrating biting your hands off George McGough. I hope it's McGough or McGough I don't know. From Waxhaw, still southeast of Charlotte. Excuse me. A good while back I sent you a message that had the woman I'm related to by marriage calls the cows we pass when we're driving moo cows. Everyone in the family has reminded her that Monica is redundant. But we all now call them moo cows. Well, my wife has taken it to a new level. Because of our overuse of TikTok, she has fallen in love with Highland cows. She keeps trying to talk me into purchasing a Highland cow, which will never happen. She just turned 60 about a month ago and my daughter arranged for her to visit a nearby farm that raises these highland cows. Of course I had to go with my wife, my daughter, my son in law and two of my grandkids on this adventure. My wife was more excited about this gift than any birthday gift she's ever received, including the new car I bought her for her birthday. My thoughts on this visit is ho hum. The cows were friendly and they let you pet them but that was not something high on my things to do. My wife was over the moon and now has ramped up her desire to own one of these cows. Aside from the obvious reasons for CPA and a nurse should not own farm animals like all the dogs we've had over the years, the daily care of this cow will fall on me. My wife is like a five year old. She tells me she'll do everything for the cow but I will end up being responsible for 99.9% of the care. Hopefully also like a five year old, something else will catch our eye and this will pass One of the great emails we've ever had from our friend Jeff Barger in Hillsborough, North Carolina. I was teaching spelling today and the word sprung came up from one of my students. Immediately my brain went out to sprung from cages on Highway 9, chrome wheel fuel injected and stepping out over the line. Seeing that maybe nine year olds are not the demographic for Springsteen. I hummed for five seconds and I moved on. You're out on your bike Tyler. Everyone as always do wear what today.
