“What are your expectations?”

Summary

The Tony Kornheiser Show – Episode: “What are your expectations?”
Release Date: May 14, 2025

---

Introduction

In the latest episode of The Tony Kornheiser Show, host Tony Kornheiser delves into a variety of sports topics, offering his characteristic blend of humor and insightful commentary. The episode primarily focuses on the NBA playoffs, Washington D.C. sports woes, the Baseball Hall of Fame controversy surrounding Pete Rose, a preview of the PGA Championship with guest Doug Ferguson, and an analysis of the upcoming Preakness Stakes with Ron Flatter. Additionally, the show features musical interludes from listener Ava Anderson and engages with audience mailbag submissions.

---

NBA Playoffs and Predictions
Timestamp: 00:00 – 06:42

Tony kicks off the show by discussing the NBA playoffs, particularly focusing on his betting experiences with FanDuel. He humorously critiques his intern, Chris, highlighting the intern's lack of practical skills despite growing up in the digital age. The conversation quickly shifts to NHL performance, specifically criticizing the Washington Capitals' recent games.

Tony Kornheiser (00:54): "It wasn't crowded at all. There was a weird guy who had ordered before me, and he's one of these guys, he thinks he's the maitre d of the joint..."

Key Points:

• Tony expresses skepticism about the Washington Capitals' performance, citing a significant disparity in shots on goal compared to their opponents.
• He laments the Capitals' inability to capitalize on power-play opportunities, emphasizing the team’s inefficiency.
• The show touches on the Washington Wizards' drop to sixth place, attributing it to strategic tanking by the team's management.

---

Baseball Hall of Fame and Pete Rose
Timestamp: 09:23 – 13:42

A significant portion of the episode addresses the controversial reinstatement of Pete Rose into baseball's Hall of Fame. Tony shares his perspectives on the matter, expressing doubt over Rose’s eligibility due to his gambling on games, despite Rose's undeniable playing prowess.

Tony Kornheiser (12:03): "If you go in the normal way and the baseball writers vote on you, you know, Bonds and McGuire and Sosa and Clemens and A Rod, they're eligible now. They're not getting in."

Key Points:

• Rob Manfred's Decision: MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred reinstates members of the Black Sox scandal and Pete Rose, citing Rose's deceased status as a factor.
• Tony's Stance: While acknowledging Rose’s contributions, Tony maintains that Rose’s gambling undermines his Hall of Fame credentials.
• Critique of the Process: Tony criticizes the Baseball Writers' Association of America for potentially overlooking Rose's misconduct despite his achievements.

---

PGA Championship Preview with Doug Ferguson
Timestamp: 16:42 – 32:20

Guest Doug Ferguson joins Tony to preview the PGA Championship held at Quail Hollow in North Carolina. The discussion centers on course conditions, player preparations, and predictions for potential winners.

Doug Ferguson (21:16): "Most of the guys in the field, outside of a lot of European Tour, South African tour guys know this course. I mean, it's been a staple on the tour since 2003."

Key Points:

• Course Conditions: Heavy rainfall has waterlogged the Quail Hollow course, potentially making it play longer and softer. This affects player strategies and course management.

• Player Insights: Doug highlights players like Scottie Scheffler and Rory Burns, noting their familiarity with the course and current form.

  Doug Ferguson (23:05): "Right on point would be Scotty with Rory not too far behind because he's still buzzing and floating over the Masters."

• Expectations: Predictions include Indiana Pacers advancing in the NBA playoffs and detailed analysis of key golfers' performances and strategies.

---

Preakness Stakes Analysis with Ron Flatter
Timestamp: 32:20 – 45:08

Ron Flatter joins the show to discuss the upcoming Preakness Stakes, focusing on the decline in Triple Crown contenders and the implications for the race's prestige.

Ron Flatter (35:40): "They're going to have the Alibi breakfast tomorrow, which is the annual kickoff to the Freakness Week. And it used to be that, you know, you always showed up if you were a trainer, if you were an owner, if you were anybody, you showed up for that."

Key Points:

• Triple Crown Trends: The number of Kentucky Derby winners participating in the Preakness has dwindled since 2018, weakening the Triple Crown's allure.

• Race Conditions: Anticipated heavy rainfall poses challenges, with slippery tracks and potential impacts on horse performance.

  Ron Flatter (42:51): "But as far as everybody else else is concerned, I really think they're racing for second and third and, and you just try to figure out based on how they look on the track and workouts..."

• Participant Analysis: Discussion includes specific horses like Journalism and Ghosger, evaluating their chances based on past performance and current form.

---

Musical Interlude: Ava Anderson
Timestamp: 16:52 – 18:46

Listener Ava Anderson shares her song "Wonder Woman," a heartfelt tribute she wrote for her mother. The segment highlights Tony’s appreciation for original music from his audience.

Ava Anderson: "None of my siblings were able to top this gift. I'm happy to share this with your listeners. It's lovely."

---

Audience Mailbag and Humor
Timestamp: 46:02 – End

Tony engages with listener submissions, featuring humorous and whimsical letters that blend personal anecdotes with playful storytelling. Highlights include exaggerated tales of Tony fainting from a fan's affection and mock advice on potato farming.

Letter from Glenn and Alan: "When Mercy approached, you snuggled up close, placed a hand gently on your chest and purred in your ear. You were brilliant, Tony. That's when you collapsed to the floor."

Key Points:

• Humorous Interactions: The mailbag segment serves as a light-hearted conclusion to the episode, reinforcing the show's personable and entertaining nature.
• Community Engagement: Tony encourages listeners to submit their original music and stories, fostering a sense of community among his audience.

---

Conclusion

Tony Kornheiser successfully navigates a wide array of topics in this episode, from the intricacies of sports management and player performances to the enduring controversies in baseball and the evolving traditions of horse racing. With insightful guest contributions and engaging interactions with his audience, the show remains a staple for sports enthusiasts seeking both information and entertainment.

---

Notable Quotes

• Tony Kornheiser (12:03): "If you go in the normal way and the baseball writers vote on you, you know, Bonds and McGuire and Sosa and Clemens and A Rod, they're eligible now. They're not getting in."

• Doug Ferguson (21:16): "Most of the guys in the field, outside of a lot of European Tour, South African tour guys know this course. I mean, it's been a staple on the tour since 2003."

• Ron Flatter (42:51): "But as far as everybody else else is concerned, I really think they're racing for second and third and, and you just try to figure out based on how they look on the track and workouts..."

---

Listen to the Show

Catch the full episode of The Tony Kornheiser Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your preferred podcast platform. Stay updated with daily insights and engaging discussions on sports and more!

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's Tony. On today's show, we'll preview the PGA Championship with Doug Ferguson. And we'll chat with Ron Flatter to see who he likes in the Preakness. But first, commerce. The NBA playoffs are here and I'm getting my best in on FanDuel. Talk to me, Chuck.

[Chuck Todd]

GPT.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What do you know?

[Chuck Todd]

All sorts of interesting stuff.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Even Charles Barkley's greatest fear. Hey, nobody needs to know that. New customers bet $5 to get 200 in bonus bets if you win FanDuel. America's number one sportsbook 21 plus in President select states must be first online real money wager $5 deposit required. Bonus issued is non withdrawable bonus pass that expires seven days after receipt restriction supply. See full [e-mail] sportsbook gambling problem. Call 1-800-GAMBLER.

[Chuck Todd]

Previously on the Tony Cornhauser Show.

[Chris]

Were you doing the thing where you're sitting down at the table while you're waiting for your number to be called? Just trying to run the numbers of how much they're generating in that 15 minute period that you're there?

[Tony Kornheiser]

The they. It wasn't crowded. It wasn't crowded at all. There was a weird guy who had ordered before me, and he's one of these guys, he thinks he's the maitre d of the joint and goes up to everybody sitting down and talks to him. And I'm like, are you kidding me? Are you kidding me?

[Chuck Todd]

This is General George Washington and you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The guy was weird. I'm just telling you. Very odd thing. So our intern. But Chris is with us again today, day two. Yeah. And will be with us for the next show as well.

[Doug Ferguson]

Maybe.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I don't know what to do with him because we don't need an intern. Like, there's, you know, there's. We don't even have menial tasks. It's not even take out the garbage. There's one task in the show. It's get the bagels.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We're not trusting Chris to get the bagels.

[Doug Ferguson]

Too important.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. We can't. If he screws that up, he's done. Yes. So we don't want to put him in that kind of jeopardy. And other than that, there's really.

[Doug Ferguson]

Do we have a leaf blower?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. So I thought about this this morning because I figure, how old are you?

[Chuck Todd]

20 years old.

[Tony Kornheiser]

20 years old. So you grew up with computers your whole life. You grew up with cell phones your whole life. You're Very, I'm sure, conversant with how to do that. I don't know how to do anything. I need to get things printed. There are three things.

[Chris]

Choose not to learn. There's a difference.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, I don't know, but I don't know. It is accurate to say, changing the.

[Chris]

Tank of gas on the grill. You choose not to learn.

[Doug Ferguson]

Willful ignorance.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. I don't know how to do these things. And I have to print out a timer. I have to print out on my phone. I have to print out three different things. And I was gonna say to Chris, can you print this out? I assume you could print these things out.

[Chuck Todd]

Oh, I'm so good at printing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, well, but I didn't know. I said. And then I thought to myself, well, what if he screws it up and I lose these things? So I asked Michael to do it instead. Did you do it?

[Chris]

I have them saved to my phone.

[Ron Flatter]

The.

[Chris]

The show printer is out of ink currently, so I'll take this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Can we get new ink?

[Chris]

Yes, we can.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Couldn't we go get ink? Of course. It can't be that hard.

[Chris]

Not gonna share the company card.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Shaq always sure. Doesn't Shaq advertise ink all the time?

[Chris]

Shaq advertises everything?

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah, Shaq's got a piece in everything.

[Tony Kornheiser]

By the way, where's Shaq on the TNT show the last couple of shows?

[Doug Ferguson]

That's a good question.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I didn't see him last night. I didn't see him the time before.

[Doug Ferguson]

Off on assignment.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What possible assignment could he have? No, this is what he does for a living, so I didn't know what to do with you. I didn't. But you can print things out.

[Chuck Todd]

Yes, definitely.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What are your. I guess I'll just do this briefly. What are your expectations of an internship? I mean, most internships, you have an actual job there. We told you, there is no job here. What are your expectations?

[Chuck Todd]

I mean, I have no expectations. I'm here just learning whatever I can. And I just kind of wanted to see how the show worked and how, like, the behind the scenes worked. And so far, I'm having a blast.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, that's good to know, because we don't really do anything. We don't have an agenda. We just get food and sit and talk and eat the food afterwards.

[Chris]

Fret about the rain.

[Doug Ferguson]

Fret about the rain and be nice to Chessy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, but, I mean, we're not. It's not. That's why I'm really glad this show's not on television, because I Think it's boring to look at. I've seen so many podcasts. They all stink. They're boring because people are indeed just sitting there and talking. It's boring. I mean, go out and if there's no video and you have to carry it with you in your ear as you do whatever you do. It's better that way. Yeah, it's better. You're not distracted by people just sitting for no reason at all. None.

[Doug Ferguson]

But I think we're like the last holdouts. I think virtually every podcast is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Doug Ferguson]

Tries to do why.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Don't want to do it.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah, no, I'm with you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's more of an audio radio show.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah, it's a radio. It's an audio thing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's what I did. That's what I started doing radio shows. The only difference between a radio show and a podcast, the only difference is there's no hard out at 11:59. That's it. It's the only difference.

[Chris]

You still treat it as if there were.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, I do. I do treat it that way. You know, like, I have to get out of here early take. Because I have a dentist appointment. I have to be at the dentist.

[Chris]

Pass it off to News of Dan Davis, the Duke.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Just take it over. Yeah. Let me go over some things that we're not going to get to, because we're going to get. We're going to talk about the PGA and we're going to talk about the Preakness. So we're not going to get to the basketball or the hockey. We're not going to do that to catch people up. If it matters, one of the series in basketball is now over. The Indiana Pacers, as they do all the time, come back from 19 or 20 down and they beat Cleveland. You know, they beat them. They beat them in Cleveland. Cleveland lost all three home games. They were the best team in the East. I thought they could win the title. They lost all three home games in the playoffs to Indiana. So Indiana moves on. If. And the Knicks are going to move on. Yes. Jayson Tatum. So he's out.

[Doug Ferguson]

He's out a year.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The Knicks are going to be. Boston's not going to win three in a row without Jason Tatum. They're not going to do it. No. So you're going to get an Eastern Conference finals of Indiana and the New York Knicks. And don't tell me you had that. Don't tell me you had that. Nobody had that. Nobody had that. Nobody. And that's going to be the finals. And one of those teams Is getting into the actual Finals.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, and nobody. You. There was a better chance that somebody had one of those teams getting into the actual Finals than to get both teams in the Eastern Conference finals. And that's what's going to happen in the other side. Denver lost last night in. In Oklahoma City, close game. Jokic had a lot of points, but they didn't win because they're not as good as Oklahoma. Oklahoma City is going to win that.

[Chuck Todd]

Yeah.

[Doug Ferguson]

They're up three, two.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And Minnesota is going to beat Golden State. Yeah.

[Doug Ferguson]

With us.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I mean, I know I sit there every day with Will, but I think they can get two or three. Stop. They're not going to win this thing. We're betting on winners. We're not betting on how many games it takes. We're betting on wins. Mike wants all the series to go six or seven. So he can justify liking the NBA, you know, because it's so competitive. But they're not all going to go no 6 or 7. They're not in the hockey. What happened last night? The Stars. One game last night, the Stars beat Winnipeg. Winnipeg. Winnipeg's got this goalie, Hellebock, I think his name is. Is it Connor Hellebuk? Could you just look this up? Something like that. Winnipeg had the best record in all of hockey this year. Connor Hellebuk. And everybody says he's going to win the Vesna Trophy. The Vesna Trophy is awarded to someone who is considered the best goalie in the game that year. He's giving up six. He only gave up three last night on the road. He's giving up six goals a game on the road. Six. Six. He's winning the Vesna Trophy. Well, then. Then somebody needs to explain to the rest of the world why in the playoffs, this guy isn't anywhere near as good as he was in the regular season. Is it him? Him? Is it the rest of his team? Is it the opposing team? What is going on with that? The Capitals in Carolina do not play tonight, right? No, they don't play tonight. So we have another day of agony two days ago.

[Chris]

Now it's another day of acceptance.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, okay. Two days ago was dreadful for Washington D.C. sports.

[Chris]

Never trust a kid named Walker.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Dreadful. Just dreadful. The baseball team was walked off in Atlanta by a single. Wasn't even a whole.

[Chris]

It happened within, like, five minutes of.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Each other, you know? Okay.

[Doug Ferguson]

Was that the game with the catch?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, yeah, they were walked off on that. The Capitals lost and were competitive in the third.

[Chris]

Every time they tried to bring it Back, though, it was just a reminder about how. How the other team just flips the. Flips the ice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ultimately, the other team beat them by three goals, was five to two. And I did this research yesterday because we were gonna do this story, but the story got beaten around by another story that I'll get to in a second. The Capitals have been shots on goal in this series. Are there five games so far? Four. There's been four shots on goal. Carolina has 125. The Caps have 77. It's an incredible disparity. It's 50. It's 50 more shots. Not just shots into the boards. On 50 more shots.

[Chris]

The progression through the game, because in the first period, you're like, okay, they've.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sort of lost Carolina. They just fly at you. It's like they got seven guys instead of six guys. And it's stressful for the team receiving.

[Chris]

How efficient they're being on the power play and how inefficient the Caps are when they get their own opportunities.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. So it's. I mean, the Caps. Did he have six minutes at one point of power plays and nothing. So it doesn't look like they're going to win. And then the Wizards fell to sixth.

[Chris]

I like their odds.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, they fell to six.

[Doug Ferguson]

That was a good thing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. That was a karma. That was a good thing. That was a good thing because the owner tried to move the team to Virginia and everybody seems to have forgotten that it was like an hour ago. The owner tried to move the team to Virginia, you know, where they gave.

[Chris]

Some kids some basketballs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They deliberately tanked their director of basketball operations, this guy, Michael Winger. Is that his name?

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He tanked. He devalued your ticket to be Step Team one trying to win. Our team was trying to lose. They were coaching to lose. They were general managing to lose. They were director of basketball operation to lose. So that they could get the best odds. And they got the best odds, 14%. And the longest they could fall after finishing with the second worst record in the entire league, the longest they could fall was to sixth. Boom, they fell to sixth. So they can go get another guy From France at 6, they just get a. Yet another French team is a key pick in the NBA draft, you know, so. And that. And they got what they deserved, but it was terrible night.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So the reason that that story, the hockey story, wasn't on the PTI show yesterday was because at around a little after 4, when we're about to start to tape a little after four, there's A story that Rob Manfred has decided that all the members of the Black Sox who tanked games, who took money, took bribes to lose World Series games, they're now reinstated into baseball. Even though they're all way gone. They're reinstated into baseball and reinstated, I guess, for the hall of Fame. And Pete Rose is the headline. Pete Rose reinstated in baseball. Rob Manfred's reasoning and the president, Donald.

[Chris]

Trump meeting with the president.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He came out, you know, he wanted this to happen. And he talked to Manfred about it about a month ago. And the reasoning that Manfred has is that he says, well, that you're dead, so you can't negatively impact baseball on any level. And he's right. I mean, he can't. It's over. So he, he restores the eligibility for the hall of Fame to Pete Rose.

[Chris]

But the path to get into the hall is still very difficult. Just in terms of the timing as to when the committee meets.

[Ron Flatter]

That's right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. If it was going to be, if you were eligible via the normal route, which is the Baseball Writers of Association of America, P. Rose not getting in. Those guys are guardians of the game. They're not putting. I would put P. Rose in. I've said this thousand times. I put on his plaque what his sins were and what his accomplishments were. I would put Barry Bonds. That's me. That's what I would do. I'm not a voter. I'm not in that. Maybe the Old Timers Committee will put him in. They're not putting in Shoeless Joe Jackson. He dumped games. You can't do that. He took bribes. You can't do that and get in the hall of Fame. You get in. There's a wing in the hall of Fame that explains that. There should be. But you can't get into the hall of Fame with a plaque. Pete Rose is a harder call. But Pete, because he didn't, to our knowledge, he didn't do anything terrible when he was a player. And his player statistics are. What going to get him in is he's managerial.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah. When he's a manager. That was.

[Tony Kornheiser]

When he was a manager, he admitted to betting on games. Now, when you bet on games, when you bet on games, the worst thing would be, is if you bet on your team to lose. We don't know that. If you bet on your team to win in two or three games and you don't bet on your team to win the next time, it's because you don't think they're going to win. And that's, you know, there is. There's a logic to that that cheats the game. I don't know if he's going to get in or not get in. I don't. I think it's going to be a while. I don't think he's getting in on the first ballot. No, I don't. So. And anyway, that became a bigger story and it is a legitimately bigger story. You know, and Mike, and Mike and I were, were told to talk about this and not the hockey and that's the wreck. That was the right call.

[Doug Ferguson]

Oh, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, I will just say it again. If you go in the normal way, not as a veterans committee situation. If you go in the normal way and the baseball writers vote on you, you know, Bonds and McGuire and Sosa and Clemens and A Rod, they're eligible now. They're not getting in. These guys are not voting for them. They're not going to vote for them because they think they cheated the game. They think they cheated the most important thing in baseball, the statistics. Yes, they cheated that no other sport. Again, you can tell me how many home runs Babe Ruth hit, Henry Aaron hit, Bonds hit you. Everybody knows these numbers. If I tell you that the. Just give me the number. The most passing yards in the history of the NFL, Nobody's close. Nobody's within a thousand. You have no idea. You have no idea how many touchdowns. You have no idea. Those statistics don't matter. Basketball statistics don't matter. One statistic matters. 100 by wilt. Yes. Nothing else matters. You don't know what somebody averaged over the course. You don't know. You just don't know. Baseball matters. And baseball writers won't put them in. They cheated the stats. So we move on with the show today and when we return, Doug Ferguson from Quail Hollow in North Carolina, I'm Tony Kornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Now let's talk about that car you own but don't use, the one you're paying to keep registered and insured. That's taking up space out front and it's just sitting there doing no one any good. Let me tell you what you should do about that car. You should give cars for kids a call and have them take care of it for you. That's right. Just give them the info. They will come to you as soon as the next day. Take that car off your hands at no cost to you. Even better, they will turn that car into funds to help kids. So visit cars4kids.org Tony, that's cars with a K and the number 4. To donate or call cars for kids directly at 1-877-cars-FOR KIDS.

[Doug Ferguson]

You don't want to sing it?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm not singing it.

[Chris]

Donate your car today.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Now. I will never get that out of my head for the rest of the day. And they will get that car picked up in a jiffy.

[Chris]

Join the band.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Plus you can get a tax deduction, vacation voucher and life will be just great. They've been around for 30 years and have done this over a million times. Call now or head over to carsforkids.org Tony right now and get this done. That's carsforkids.org Tony. Remember, that's cars with a K. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. Every day you make countless decisions. But one of the easiest and most important should be securing your home with Simplisafe. The moment you arm your system, you'll know that your family and everything you've worked for are protected. Whether you're stepping out for the day or settling in for the night, that small action delivers something priceless. Peace of mind so you can focus on what matters, rest easier and go about your day knowing Simplisafe has you back in a crisis. You have this. You like it?

[Doug Ferguson]

I do. And you know, I have an extensive collection of Picasso paintings that need to be protected.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And they are.

[Doug Ferguson]

And they are. With Simplisafe. Yes. It's a brilliant system, easy to install, great customer service, gives you peace of mind.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Traditional security systems only take action after someone has already broken in. That's too late. Simplisafe's Active Guard Outdoor protection can help prevent break ins before they happen. AI powered cameras backed by live professional monitoring agents monitor your property. They detect suspicious activity. If someone's lurking around or acting suspiciously, those agents see and talk to them in real time. Activate spotlights, even contact with police. All before they have a chance to get inside your home. There's no long term contracts, cancellation fees. Monitoring plans start affordably at about a dollar a day, 60 day satisfaction guarantee or your money back. Visit simplisafe.com Tony to claim 50% off a new system with a professional monitoring plan and get your first month free. That's simplisafe.com Tony because there's no safe like Simplisafe. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. This is Ava Anderson. This is sent to us by her dad, Bill Anderson. She's been on the show before Wonder Woman, which is this song, was released Ava writes on my self titled album Ava Anderson and a gift to my mom on Mother's Day before I graduated from. From Berklee College of Music in 2018. The vocals were recorded in one take. To maintain the focus on the lyrics, we kept the instrumentation simple. My sister and I would joke around calling her Wonder Woman because she has worked so hard to give us a wonderful life full of love and support. I wrote the song when I was really homesick and missing her a lot. None of my siblings were able to top this gift. I'm happy to share this with your listeners. It's lovely. It's Ava Anderson. It's called Wonder Woman. Plays in our friend Doug Ferguson, who was at Quail Hollow. Quail Hollow is near Charlotte. Am I right on that? Within.

[Chuck Todd]

It is in Charlotte.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, it's actually in Charlotte.

[Chuck Todd]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chuck Todd]

But 10 minutes from downtown, maybe.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. And Jay Billis doesn't belong there. He belongs to another place, I believe.

[Chris]

Charlotte Country Club.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Charlotte Country Club. I always.

[Chuck Todd]

Which is also very good, by the way.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. Billis probably says I don't.

[Chuck Todd]

Tony. Any court where you can hear a train go by? Yeah, you know, it's good.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Same as like Oakmont, where. Where the Oakmont is on top of the highway and you can see the cars under you at Oakmont. Every once in a while I. Let's start with. With. With the largest question here pertaining to my life. Not yours necessarily, because where I live, it's raining all the time. It's a few hundred miles away from Charlotte, but I assume Charlotte is in the path of all of this rain that we're getting and everyone in the Northeast is getting. What is the weather like at Quail Hollow?

[Chuck Todd]

It's raining.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chuck Todd]

Funny, I just. Right before you called, I looked outside, I said, oh my God, it's raining.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chuck Todd]

Standing next to a guy from the weather Channel, which is just bad timing, but we'll see. It's rained. It's rained when it wasn't supposed to. Every single day there's been spots of just pounding. And every day it rains. You look at the scorecard at 7,626 yards and you add another hundred. It's going to be really, really soft. And think the greens will be fine, Tony, but it's really going to be long.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So. Yeah, this is what I wanted to know. How does that affect a preparation by these players if they can't get out because the course is waterlogged? And how does it affect in your mind, you know, who's. Who's in better shape to win it.

[Chuck Todd]

Maybe on the better shape. I mean, you'd be crazy not to look at your Rorys and Scotty's and Xander's and Bombers, you know, rom Bryson, blah, blah, blah. Prep wise. It's kind of interesting because the one thing that helps is that most of the guys in the field, outside of, you know, a lot of European Tour, South African tour guys know this course. I mean, it's been a staple on the tour since 2003. Some changes, but they know it inside and out. Scottish shoe is one who really doesn't. He's only played it at the President's cup in 22. And so he remembers the holes, but they were out of order because they, you know, rerouted for matches. Yeah, but he said yesterday, I thought it was pretty interesting. He goes, you do all your prep work at home. He said, the one thing you could, you could run into in a major is over practicing, trying to get too much in instead of, you know, rest or whatever. So really, if these guys get in 18 holes between, you know, Monday and Wednesday, they're fine. They're professionals, they're good at this stuff.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. You bring up the fact that for years Quail Hollow has hosted events, usually the Wells Fargo or whatever it was before that, and I was trying to think, is this common to have a major at a very familiar tour stop?

[Chuck Todd]

No. I think that's probably why I think Quails are a good golf course. Really good. I think the problem is it doesn't excite many people. Probably because they're used to it. When you go to a major, you want something that you haven't seen in, you know, five, seven, 10 years.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Chuck Todd]

So if they'd never had the bank tournament here, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, now, truest. I think that people would look at it a little bit differently. So you could look at, like Torrey Pines will get the occasional open pebble riv, for example. That's it, though. I mean, what else is out there that you, that you see year after year?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I thought of that. I thought that, you know, that because the PGA is clearly the least of the four majors that they just said, who cares? We'll just put it at a place that everybody's familiar with. And I wondered if it took away some of the. To me, it would take away some of the glamour to you.

[Chuck Todd]

Yes, a little bit. Because I think this is a good golf course.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Chuck Todd]

And I don't necessarily feel that when I, when I get here just because of that very thing. What's, what's weird is obviously a lot of money and influence that got it here not not once but twice because it was here in 17. But it, but it is surprising. I mean, they did have the President's cup. So this is a club that wants, you know, prestige. I'm just not sure you're, you're finding it as much as you would have thought just because of the regular tour stop. Yeah, it's a very good point, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So who comes in shaky and who comes in right on point to you?

[Chuck Todd]

Right on point would be, would be Scotty with Rory not too far behind because he's still, he's still buzzing and floating over the Masters. And Scotty, you can't put your finger on Scotty, he hasn't been playing bad. He just, he's been missing something. And then even though it was a fairly weak field in Dallas, he wasn't missing anything there. I mean, he shoots 253 and win by eight shots. The largest margin, I think on tour in probably five years or so. Not easy to do. He's got it dialed in. I actually walked nine holes with him on Sunday because he didn't play the tournament last week. And my God, he hits the ball. Well, I know I just said something exciting like the sun rises in the east, but he really hits it well.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I will tell you this. When you watch him on television and his feet are up in the air and you just think, you know, he controls it so well and it looks like he's about to fall and he never falls, he never falls.

[Chuck Todd]

So the footwork will always, always stand out. I mean, it's, it's always, it's almost like, you know, fury signature of looking like an octopus falling out of a tree or whatever he said years ago about him, that is going to be his signature. We don't have a clean, you know, tiger look, but everyone will tell you and they'll see for themselves. He just hits it on the button every time. Roy brought this up back in February, how few bogeys he makes. So many bogey free rounds this guy has, that's what wins tournaments, especially the big ones.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He, I think it, I've heard it said. I don't know who I can attribute this to. I think it was one of the analysts, you know, at one of the majors and probably at the Masters, but I'm not certain about it. And it was essentially this, don't kid yourself. He's the best player in the world and everybody knows it. You would agree with that. Right.

[Chuck Todd]

I think so. I think that's, you know, Rory knew it and he said it. You know, again, when he started the year on the US Tour, he wanted to take a page from Scotty. He was watching to see what he was doing and what can I do better that Scotty does for Rory? That was playing with a little bit more discipline, less mistakes, as I said. And it's worked out pretty well for Rory. I think there is a dynamic with. With him talking about Rory here just because he's. He's won here four times and very much like Augusta, minus the. The baggage you accumulated Augusta. He's got the game for this. He's got the. The high draw, the power, the deadly accuracy off the tee. I mean, you think of a course made for Ferrari and you think of a place like Quail Hollow, which is why he's won here four times.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Does it make it easier for Rory, for Scheffler, guys who hit it a long way, does it make it easier that the course is going to be so wet? You know, are they going to drive it past everyone else or without the bounces, are they in the same pack as everyone else?

[Chuck Todd]

You'd separate the long hitters. You just. You just have to. There isn't. There is no role. And, you know, the other thing I noticed, too, is the rough, which is overseeded with rye, which is also unusual for a pga. It's not dense like you can. You can grow it. They haven't cut it since Saturday because of the rain, but it's not dense. So when Scotty was out there Sunday, the one time he hit it in the rough, it's not thick enough for the ball to sink down. So every shot off the fairway is still sitting up. It's going to be. It's going to be wet. I think you're going to see, you know, water spraying off irons as contact is made with the ball. But in terms of having the gouge, I'm not seeing too much of that this week.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Doug, are the. Are the live guys there in Mass? Are there a lot of live guys?

[Chuck Todd]

Same. Same number as last year, which is 16, I think. Usual suspects, you know, Rom and you know, Capcom and the whole Reed and Speeds are playing together. That's kind of interesting, by the way. But, yeah, and you've got your eye on him for various reasons. Bryson, because he just, you know, bounce it from here. Eternity. And Rom, frankly, because he's. He's hasn't really shown up lately. I mean, he kind of backdoored a top 10 at the British last year. But he's been kind of a non factor in the last, you know, six or so majors.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So this is, this is something I wanted to ask you because I'm seeing. He, you know, when Dustin Johnson took all the money, he disappeared from the leaderboard. He just like you don't hear his name anymore. Excuse me. Rom who I thought was the best player in the world when he took the money. You don't see him anymore. What happened?

[Chuck Todd]

He's winning on. I took him all the win on live and it cracks me up when they rave about the fact that he's never finished outside of the top 10 and live. Leaving out the fact there's probably only 20 players that. That you know, can. Can play out there. Yeah, he hasn't won very much. You know, John likes a big stage. I've always come back to this and there's so many pictures and moments you see on live where he's hitting a wedge into a par 4 and there is looks like a PGA Champions event. I mean there is like nobody there and great athletes like performing on big stages. And at some point you got to wonder what am I, what am I doing out here? I think he thrives in the moment and he's just not getting enough practice, for lack of a better word.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No.

[Chuck Todd]

Doesn't mean he's not capable. And I think he's worth paying attention to this week because I think he's a. He's a guy who plays well, angry and I think he's getting angry at the lack of performance.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, I will bring up Sepp Strock, his name, because he won on Sunday. Shane Lowry opened the door for him. He struck a. Would have won anyway, but Lowry opened the door by boging 18th. Both those guys are big guys, big hitters. You like either of them on this course.

[Chuck Todd]

Shane, I think, has got to figure out a way to cross the line and not. Not make a bogey on the 16th holder to, you know, make it easier for the other guys. Seth is. Seth is a very quiet guy, so he's hard to embrace as you're watching because he's really good and he strikes the ball really well, but he's not very dynamic. And it's just. It's hard to get overly excited about him except for the fact that he's really good. He's one of the top 10 players in the world. Yeah, Lacamir, I mean the PGA is to me is one of the hardest majors to win because a. It's got the strongest Field B, it's the closest thing to a PGA Tour event. And C, I don't think guys get wound up the way they do at a U.S. open or Masters. And so they play with a little more, you know, devil May Care and play better. Any of that makes sense?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, it actually does. I mean, the field is. Is the best. And. And unlike the Masters, where there's only 20 guys who can win it, there's like 100 guys you think can win. This Straka interests me. Just where he's from, Europe. Is he from Poland? Do I have that right? Where's he from?

[Chuck Todd]

He's from Austria. He's from. I'm laughing at my own self on that one, Tony. But he's. He is an interesting story. He's born and raised in Austria until he was 14. Mom's an American, they moved back to Valdosta, Georgia. You find someone who's moved from Austria to Valdosta, Georgia. And then he became a Georgian, went to the University of Georgia.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is exactly. Yeah, this is exactly what I'm gonna say. Cuz I associate him with being a European golfer. And when he takes the thing out of his back pocket that says dogs, it makes me laugh all the time. Does. No, I don't think of him as a dog, you know, as a Georgia Bulldog. All right, pick us a winner.

[Chuck Todd]

Listen. You listen to him and you'd think he's a. I wouldn't call him a redneck, but he's pretty close.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Really.

[Chuck Todd]

Starts speaking German just. It's amazing. I love the guy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Do you have a winner in your head on this one?

[Chuck Todd]

My first thought is, Scotty, I think Rory's a mystery, because you don't know when a guy plays with. With freedom after being kind of unshackled by, you know, by the. By. By Augusta all those years, if he's now free to just, you know, play his best golf, or does he not have the edge or care as much? Mystery to me on Rory. I gotta start with Scotty. And the hunch for me is ROM.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, well, that'd be good. I would love to see two big guys like that, and they're large people. I'd love to see that. Doug, thank you so much, as always. Talk soon.

[Chuck Todd]

Thanks, Tony.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Doug Ferguson, Boys and Girls, goes to all the tournaments, right? AP Goes to everything. He's really good to have on the air. Seven thousand, six hundred and twenty three yards. Could you play that?

[Chris]

I could play it over two days, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's long. That's really long. I. You know, People who play golf, I'm.

[Chris]

Sure they have some front tees for you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm saying people who play golf have no idea. You know, they play from members tees, wherever they play, have no idea how they stretch out these courses, how incredibly long they are. And they get there in two all the time. You know, that's a 500 yard par four. Are you kidding me?

[Doug Ferguson]

Like the Dalai Lama.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's five shots. It's a big hitter. Yeah, he's a big hitter. All right, we'll take a break. Ron Flatter will join us, and we'll preview the Preakness when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Ron Flatter]

Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Once again, we're playing songs by Ava Anderson. This is a song called Crystal lady, and she writes. Crystal lady is an unreleased song I wrote during COVID that I continue to revisit and hope to release soon. I'm a big fan of Led Zeppelin, so I was channeling their style when I wrote it. While I believe the song can be interpreted in many ways, the inspiration came from a ladybug I saw crawling on a chandelier. That's great. That's an artist. That makes me so happy. You know, that's something that I think Norwegian soft kitten would write. I just. It makes me very happy. Once again, the song is called Crystal Lady. Michael, if people like Ava Anderson want to send in their original music and get it played on the show, how do they do it?

[Chris]

Send us your music by emailing it to Jingles Tony cornishow.com and we have the the promo code TKBS. Time to go check on your pollinators.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Maybe they're growing. Yes. They have not been drowned yet in all this.

[Chris]

Maybe I throw in one of those on course T shirts that we got you and those bright colors.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, you got me a buzz pink and a light green. Yeah. Johnny O. I'm Michael's children are the best dressed children in America. I'm the worst dressed old man, I think every time.

[Chris]

Every time we do laundry and I just pass down the Q zips from one kid to the next. Power of summer babies.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Ron Flatter joins us now. Ron sent me a note earlier in the week when it seemed like every horse in the world was bailing out on the Preakness. Ron sent me a picture of Michael on a pony and said, this horse is the third choice in the Preakness right now. Where? Where? Let's go to the philosophy first. Okay, sure. Where are you on sovereignty missing the Preakness. I will say that there was a period of time from 2000 to 2018, I think that every single Derby winner went to the Preakness. And then from about 2018 on, it's only two or three that have done that. Where are you on a Triple Crown not being contested because the Kentucky Derby winner is not running in the Preakness.

[Ron Flatter]

Both disappointed and unsurprised. Bill Mott has only ever brought one of his Derby horses to the Preakness, and that was his very first Derby horse more than 40 years ago. Godolphin, which really, really wanted to win the Kentucky Derby for the first time, has shown disinterest in the Preakness with only one horse ever. And it was not recent, so it didn't surprise me. But as I listened to you and others, especially those who are more in the mainstream of sports coverage, expressing their chagrin, I had to be right there, too, because I was like, well, I guess I can cancel my plane to reservations for New York now. That's about the only convenience there was, was the uncertainty was removed. But it sucks. It just sucks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So your friend and my acquaintance Kenny McPeak said in hindsight, and he won the Derby with Mystic Dan, finished second in the Preakness. He said in hindsight he wished he had not run Mystic Dan in the Preakness. Well, I mean, it strikes me that there are different mentalities between trainers and sports fans, right? I mean, because these guys don't want to do it.

[Ron Flatter]

Well, part of the problem is the horse doesn't want to do it either. I mean, it used to be that they were bred for the thorough part of thoroughbred. There was stamina bred more into these horses, but now their mommies and daddies are more for speed. It used to be get a sire for speed and get a dam for stamina, and we're seeing less of that now. So we're seeing more horses bred for distances like seven furlongs. And then there gets to be the whole medication complication and how fast they can recover. And it turns into, you know, like Wilbond said on PTI the other day, it does turn into load management. And it's really become that now. And I think it brings up the question, do we need to spread the Triple Crown races out? The Preakness is going to be operated by new folks after. After next year, you've got the new Maryland Jockey Club that's going to be running things. So maybe that's a good point for a reset for those who want to reset it. I don't. But I would begrudgingly say let's make them three weeks apart instead of two and three, and then see where we go from there. But you have a very popular belief now, let's spread these races a month apart, otherwise the Preakness could end up becoming irrelevant.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. You know, I wrote down as a question, is there a solution for this? But the second part of the question was, or is it not truly a problem? You know what I mean? Are we making too much of it? And it's just not hard to, if you want to keep the Triple Crown going, to just extend, you know, the time between races.

[Ron Flatter]

The problem is what you cited at the outset, that starting with Country House in 2019, when he was promoted to victory in the, that very sloppy Derby where Maximum Security won. Bill Mott, the trainer of that horse, Bill Mott, the trainer of Sovereignty, he wasn't going to be coming here. They were never going to be coming here. Now Country House wound up getting sick, and that made it convenient for them, I guess. But you had Rich Strike, didn't come here. The 80 to 1 long shot from 2022. It's becoming more of a trend. And you also look at this, this Preakness has only three graded stakes winners in the field of nine. Three. That's as few as there ever have been since graded stakes started in the year of Secretariat in 1973.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I have to tell you that. And I say this as a sports writer and a sports fan, I'm annoyed by this. I am annoyed by the notion that trainers would duck out on the second leg of the Triple Crown. That winning the Triple Crown and all of the immortality associated with that just doesn't mean that much to them. And I want to say, well, who are you? But they're the trainers. So they know more about horses than I do.

[Ron Flatter]

They know more about them on a day to day basis, though, Tone, because we know more about the history of it overarching. And I just don't think. They look at that. They don't look at being caretakers of the history now. They just don't. Yeah, and that's. That is annoying. It's. I mean, they're going to have the Alibi breakfast tomorrow, which is the annual kickoff to the Freakness Week. And it used to be that, you know, you always showed up if you were a trainer, if you were an owner, if you were anybody, you showed up for that. Now, even if you have a horse in the Preakness, some of these trainers don't even get to town until Friday. And that just seems unheard of. And that seems a smack in the face of the tradition as well. So it's like, tradition be damned. It really does.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Does to me. Journalism is running in this race. I had been told the day after the Derby by a friend of mine that Journalism was a West coast horse and was done. Was done. Was going back west. Is there truth to that?

[Ron Flatter]

I don't know that that was ever 100% the case. I know that could have been a lean. I think that could have happened if he had not shown so well in the Derby. And then all of a sudden, when Sovereignty was out, then it became, well, okay, do we. Do we have a little bit of that duty to the history of the race to go on in? But the other thing is the horses looked good. I mean, the horses just looked like he wants to continue to go again. And that. That's been a big factor. They waited until Sunday night to decide to come here, but I think they were always leaning to come. The way they were talking, in hindsight, I'll grant you that, right. The way they were talking, it just seemed like they had already made the plans. Almost like they didn't want to be canceling dinner reservations on one another when they came here. And here they came, and it was almost an eagerness. They said, well, we'll decide Monday, the very day they were taking entries for the race. Well, they actually couldn't wait. And they did the social media thing on Sunday night. And here he is. So. Any. Any, you know, it's the old thing. He looks fine. I mean, they all look fine until they, you know, until they actually run the race.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How would you know? They're horses. I mean, come on, you can't ask them. You said. Ron, you said there were nine in the field. Who else from the Derby besides Journalism is in it?

[Ron Flatter]

You got American Promise. Who finished? I think it was 16th. Finished well up the track. And you've got Sandman, if I remember correctly, was ninth. Sandman's got a little bit of a social media following. I just saw his trainer here, Mark Cassie, a few minutes ago, Griffin Johnson, who is a social media influencer. I'll let Nigel explain that to us. He's. He's involved in this, the folks with what? Metallica. I believe that's what the kids call Metallica. They actually sent a bunch of shirts to Mark Cassie's barn because they got wind of Sandman from the song Under Sandman, of course. So they sent a bunch of shirts and so they're backing. So there's a big, there's a, there's a certain popularity about this horse. He's going to come from behind though, and I'm not sure that he is going to find enough of a pace out front to close into, as we would say, you know, are the front runners going to tire out enough at the end of the race to allow him to catch up? So he's in here. I think, I think there was a bit of reluctance there to send him from the Derby in here. So you got those three.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's rained here significantly and it's going to continue to rain significantly. We saw a sloppy track at Churchill Downs. This is a shorter race. What are they anticipating and how will that affect the strategies of the race?

[Ron Flatter]

Well, you have some horses in here because there are six who were not in the Derby, some of whom never have raced in the slot before. So then we go and look at the pedigree of these horses and see how they might do. And then you go from there. And so there's a little bit of mystery. But I think largely because the best horse in the race is Journalism, because he was able to handle the slop as well as he did and then wind up finishing second in the race. I think you start right there and if he looked vulnerable in any way in the slop, then you would probably look the other way. But as far as everybody else else is concerned, I really think they're racing for second and third and, and you just try to figure out based on how they look on the track and workouts and, and just if they're prone to being able to take dirt in the face, let alone slop. And you go, you look at that in terms of how to handicap the race, it's fabulous.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The race last time, everybody was the same color at the end of the race. Everybody was covered in mud. And that's. And if Journalism is not a front running horse, right, he does not go to the lead.

[Ron Flatter]

So he doesn't go to the lead, but he stalks. And what happened in the Derby was that he got shuffled back because you may remember the number one horse, Citizen Bull, took a big right hand turn, started the race and that created, while it wasn't a chain reaction that we would just hold our breath and say, don't let that happen, it did create a traffic jam and Journalism got caught on the wrong end of that. But then his jockey, Umberto Rispoli, he quickly found a spot along the rail and it wound up being a nice pocket trip. But he'd never been that far behind in a race before. Not even the. He's normally prone to being within two or three lengths of the lead.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Oh, I didn't realize that.

[Ron Flatter]

Yeah, that was an exception to the rule. So I would expect him to be closer to the lead this time.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Why was Baffert's horse Rodriguez scratched again? I thought everybody was. Was aiming for the Preakness with that horse.

[Ron Flatter]

Foot problems don't come around as quickly on horses as maybe hoped. I think they were hope against hope in that particular case. He just did not recover from the foot injury and that foot bruise is still there. And so now they'll try Belmont and see if they can come back for that. But he's. But he's been working out. They just wanted to be at 100% for the race.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. And do I take it that you like journalism in this race?

[Ron Flatter]

Yeah, I should put on my best Andy Byer voice. Journalism looks the best. I would agree with that if he were to say that I like journalism. And as far as horses underneath, I'm actually staring at past performances now. There's a horse named Ghosger coming in here who I think is the good long shot. He won the Lexington Stakes. And I mentioned there were three previous winners of state graded stakes. He's one of them. He's the one who's coming under the radar. I think he's actually trending in the right direction. I think he would love to get this distance. And so that's my long shot pick. But, yeah, I like journalism.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okey dokey. It's a great Andy imitation, by the way. We'll have Andy on the next show we do. Thanks, Ron.

[Ron Flatter]

I think he does an impersonation of me. You can find out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We'll find out. See you later, Ron. Flatter boys and girls. We'll take a break. We will have email and jingle when we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser. This episode is brought to you by Disney's Lilo and Stitch. Only in theaters and this Memorial Day, a reimagining of Disney's animated classic Lilo and Stitch is the wildly funny and touching story of a lonely Hawaiian girl, Lilo, and the fugitive alien Stitch, who helps to mend her broken family. Lilo and Stitch crashes into theaters May 23rd. Rated PG. Get tickets now. You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show. The Tony Kornheiser Show. Here comes Tony's mailbag. Got your email, faxes and your notes. Here comes Tony's mail bag.

[Chuck Todd]

Gonna reach up for all you folks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Bryant Adler, quick. Yeah, good, that's gotta do. The Bethesda Bagel there.

[Doug Ferguson]

Bethesda Bagels, we love them.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You will give him Chris Bagels. He got a bagel sandwich. He loved it.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah, the bagels. Well, the bagel sandwiches are fantastic. Yeah, Bethesda Bagels, we love them. You will as well just go to Bethesda Bagels for the location in the DC area nearest you, then pop on in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Before we get to the mailbag, let me just say we skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels across the floor. I was feeling kind of seasick when the crowd called out for more. The room was humming harder and the ceiling flew away When I called out for another drink the waiter brought a tray and so it was le Yay. Yay yay yay. When the miller told his tale that her face at first just ghostly was a whiter shade of pale Proko Harem One of the great songs of all time. Brilliant. Thanks to our guest today, Doug Ferguson. Ron Flatter thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple Podcast, Spotify and ought to see if you get the show through Apple. Please leave us a review from Kelly Hodges, who is our potato expert in Pocatello, Idaho. I'm relieved to know your immune system is rejuvenated after your trip to get your greasy burger medication at five Guys. If I'm not mistaken, a burger combined with sharing peanut butter with a dog who vomits after eating deer poop is a surefire recipe for preventing a myriad of communicable diseases and will also protect you against dementia. As the previously appointed official Potato and French Fry Authority of the Tony Kornizer Show, I'm a little surprised to see my position so easily usurped by Buster only. Did he provide you with seed certification number? Did you get official variety names of your seed pieces? Will you be planting 1.5 or 2.5 ounce seed? Will you use the single drop method? What fungicide are you mixing with when you pre dust the seed? Are you using any starter fertilizer? Do you know what the nitrogen curves are for your cultivars? No to all of those? No, I'm cutting a potato up, I'm putting the eyes facing up. As Buster said, it's going to be like, you know, 1 inch by 2 inches and I'm sticking it under the ground. May I suggest a mild organic fungicide and insecticide for your front yard farm? You can find some using the links below in small bottles that can be sprayed on every two to four four weeks. It'll protect your canopy from blight and aphids. In July and August, your first application should be at row closure, which typically happens by the 4th of July in your growing region. Be sure to keep your soil between 70 and 80% moisture holding content throughout the growing season, and be sure to cut the nitrogen by August 1st or earlier based on your petiole results. I'm available by phone. This is great. We love Kelly Hodges.

[Doug Ferguson]

It's a good resource.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This. We hold on.

[Doug Ferguson]

We absolutely hold on.

[Tony Kornheiser]

From Brett Hobbs in Linton, Indiana Growing up in corn country, I never had much insight into how potatoes were grown or harvested until I spent my summers working at Yellowstone National Park. During the fall, I would venture into Idaho on my days off, packing a lunch and parking on the Idaho side of the Grand Tetons beside a large potato farm. I was mesmerized by the machinery used to dig up the potatoes and deposit them into carriers. As I ate my lunch, I watched the machines move back and forth, harvesting thousands of potatoes. Potatoes. Having witnessed corn and soybean harvesting before, I thought I knew what to expect. But there was something uniquely captivating about watching the potato harvest with the majestic Tetons in the background. It remains a special memory. This is why I love doing this show. I never thought anybody would. I think I'm talking to people who live in apartment buildings. Okay. That's what I think. I mean, I just don't know. Love this show. This is from Glenn and Alan, Norwegian Soft Kitten. We were recently in the Twin Cities, the home of Hot Pink Hangover. And that of course, brought up tales from our 199192 winter tour of campuses across the country when you might remember. Or maybe you don't, since you're unburdened by memory. You played bass for us. It was late January and we just finished our gig at the University of Minnesota campus. We were winding down backstage when the beautiful Mercy Danger, the lead singer of Hot Pink Hangover, stopped in on us to tell us how much he enjoyed the show. And that's when things got crazy. As you may remember. Or not. Mercy was utterly taken with your exquisite bass playing that night. And when Mercy approached, you snuggled up close, placed a hand gently on your chest and purred in your ear. You were brilliant, Tony. That's when you collapsed to the floor. Glen immediately started chest compressions while Alan began to give you mouth to mouth resuscitation. Our assumption being that Mercy's purrs and touches had sent you into cardiac arrest. We were thrilled when you came to maybe 15 seconds later and we realized you had merely fainted. Mercy was so relieved that she hadn't murdered you that as you sat on the floor and regained your bearings, Mercy leaned down, gave you a kiss on your forehead, which left a hot pink lipstick stain on your forehead in the perfect shape of Mercy's lips. You were in heaven while we were jealous. You refused to shower for the next 12 days as you didn't want to have Mercy's lipstick washed from your forehead. By day four of your hiatus from bathing, you were so ripe. So after the next eight days, as we drove from campus to campus on our tour van through the Dakotas in Nebraska in the depths of west winter, we had to leave the windows down in the van so as not to succumb to the stench and keep the heat on full blast so as not to cover frostbite. Were we mad about this? Not in the least. We were in awe that you, Tony, had rocked it so hard that warranted purrings, touches and kisses from the amazing Mercy Danger of Hot pink hangover. Is that. Come on, Come on. Just fantastic. From David David Mayo as always, I very much enjoyed Dan Burns latest song, but I'd be remiss not to correct any important fact misrepresented in Pope Deep Dish. You see, my uncle in law is a Catholic priest and belongs to the same religious order as Pope Leo the 14th. That's the Augustinians, right?

[Doug Ferguson]

I believe so, yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. They overlapped at Villanova as students and are close friends, having lived together in Peru for a decade while working together as missionaries. The Pope also wrote the forward to my uncle in Law's most recent book. Anyways, my uncle in law was interviewed on CNN within an hour of the new Pope being named and spent much of the weekend being interviewed by U.S. canadian, Japanese and South American news outlets. One interview got on the subject of what the Pope is like. Part of it went like this. Lyndon Lydon, rather, uncle in law, he used to make us pizzas in Peru, which is another Chicago tradition back when you couldn't really get pizzas. Sydner Wait, Father, was it deep dish or was it something else? Leiden well, this is the 90s in Peru, very poor. So we had to make the, you know, the most to go around for a lot of people. So it's thin pizza cinder. That's a problem. Father. All this fuss about Chicago but no hard hitting reporting on how big a hitter His Holiness the Pope is. Come on, man. What are you even doing out here? Just come on. How is this possible?

[Chris]

All about that Chicago Tavern style.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How is it possible? From Ed Walman. You were so right Monday about Pope Leo in Chicago. And as a newspaper guy, I wanted to make sure you saw the front page of the Chicago Sun Times. From Saturday, it's Pope Leo XIV ripped straight from SNL ranks right up there with headless body, a topless bar, and by the way, you can have it on a T shirt for just $35. And it's the Chicago Sun Times. And it says Da Pope. Da Pope. Just brilliant. Barry Tate. I now can't look at the Pope without thinking of Pope deep dish. Being Catholic, I then look to the sky and apologize that darn. Dan Byrne. Josh Cromwell, Moselle, Mississippi. You've established that Tim Kirchen loves avocados and Buster only loves potatoes. If you don't have Jeff Passon on the show within the next week to do solid five to seven minutes on his favorite item of produce. What are we even doing out here? And one. We'll just do one more from Matt Quigley in Galloway, not Galway, New Jersey. Galloway is the golf course.

[Chris]

Golf course. The golf course just outside of ac.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. On Monday's show, while discussing five guys and fast food prices, intern Chris mentioned how there was McDonald's near his school and where we used to order online and get value meals by using a code. Imagine my shock when he said this and your response was, what do you mean a code? Is this not the podcast that ends every advertisement on your show with you saying, use the code people to promote discounts? Come on, man. What are we even doing here? Also having a large potato crop in my garden. I figured I'd share a few tips to help you on your journey. Take them as you will. 1. Once some foliage sprouts through the ground, cover it entirely with a fresh pile of soil. This will help strengthen the roots and help generate a bigger yield. 2. Potatoes can be a thirsty crop, so water semi regularly. 3. Remove any flowers that bloom on the plants as they could potentially steal nutrients away from potatoes in the ground.

[Ron Flatter]

4.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Potatoes are generally ready to harvest when all foliage dies back and turns a bright a yellow or light brown color. Hope this helps and good luck.

[Doug Ferguson]

Maybe we found something.

[Chris]

That one.

[Doug Ferguson]

Yeah, maybe we found something for Chris to do.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm saving. Yes, he can take care of the potato.

[Chuck Todd]

Potato duty.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's nothing wrong with that. As somebody in your family once said, you plant a potato, you get a potato. If you're out on your bike tonight Everyone is always do wear white. Come on now. That means everybody Just cool out, will you cool out, everybody.

[F]

I am not a little girl.

[Chuck Todd]

I.

[F]

Still walk around your heels and give you twin Even though you got in oh gold I'd still dance around the living room to fields of gold Somehow I got so far away from you I'm not home if I not with you Satan Sing to me, mama Sing, sing, sing that sweet kiss me good night hold on to me T you wonder when When I was younger Ooh, you'd still love me When I drank too much and broke all the rules yeah, we both have a million scars Are so perfectly flawed like all that twinkling stars Somehow I got so far away from you I'm not home if I am not with you Sing to me Sing, sing, sing that sweet lullaby Sing to me Mama Kiss me good I O Sing to me mama Sing, sing, sing that sweet lullab Sam Last night I saw Crystal Lady Clear as the January sky Don't know if I believe in angels but this lady she could fly she did it ask much from me and I didn't wonder why Bearing witness every smile Every tear and every sigh Won't you stay well and keep me company Crystal la me and I can nature still for me Crystal Lady Lady Arriving with no invitation I greeted with serenity and now and then she leaves no trace Coming and going I speculate Fearing her grand departure My heart tells me it's for the best if summer wind should be her fate I'll salute her into space.

[Doug Ferguson]

Won't you.

[F]

Stay a while and kiss Keep me company Crystal lady follow me how can nature sail for me Crystal lady me you stay a while and keep me company Crystal how can nature Sweet symphony Crystal Crystal la.