“What happened at the Publix?”

Summary

---

The Tony Kornheiser Show

Episode: “What happened at the Publix?”
Date: February 11, 2026
Podcast: This Show Stinks Productions, LLC

---

Episode Overview

In this episode of The Tony Kornheiser Show, Tony returns from Florida with tales of candy, ice cream, and an infamous Publix toothpaste mishap. Regulars Michael and Nigel join him in the studio as they riff on snack tastes, discuss dental hygiene strategy, and muse about President's Day confusion and personal health annoyances. Special guests include ESPN’s Brian Windhorst with an NBA/All-Star preview and sportswriter Barry Svrluga reporting from Italy on the Winter Olympics—covering the latest American triumphs and heartbreaks.

---

Key Discussion Points & Segments

1. Opening Banter: The Candy & Ice Cream Stash

(00:35–06:42)

• Candy Bar Dissection:

  • Tony and Michael debate the correct pronunciation ("Kinder" vs. "kinder") and merits of Kinder Bueno as Tony admits a Kit Kat aversion but lauds the gooey Bueno center.
    • Tony: “I’m not a big Kit Kat fan ... This is sort of kind of like Kit Kat, but the center is gooier, and I really like it.” (01:59)

• Jenny’s Ice Cream Review:

  • The team samples various new flavors (including coffee, banana pudding, strawberry buttermilk, dark chocolate, and goat cheese with cherries) gifted from Jenny’s, dispensing high praise for their “darkest chocolate.”
  • Michael assigns the family favorites; Tony admits to devouring an entire pint solo.
    • Tony: “There was one flavor that I thought was sensational. It’s called darkest chocolate ... It was that great.” (05:42–06:06)

---

2. Toothpaste Troubles at Publix

(06:43–08:54)

• The Shopping Saga:
  • Tony, without glasses, seeks value over brand but accidentally buys “cool mint gel,” which he doesn’t dislike but can’t say he likes either.
    • Tony: “I bring it back and I open it. It’s cool mint gel ... So I am on my own petard.” (08:33)
  • Michael explains nuances in toothpaste pricing, and the two evaluate different purchasing logics.

---

3. President’s Day, Holiday Confusion & Aging

(09:19–10:54)

• Holiday Musings:
  • Tony reminisces about celebrating Lincoln’s and Washington’s birthdays separately and admits to confusing President’s Day with Valentine’s Day.
    • Tony: “Whenever I have read about this holiday weekend, I assumed it was Valentine’s Day. How stupid am I?” (10:04)

---

4. Ear Problems After Flying

(11:00–13:20)

• Tony’s Hearing Loss:
  • He’s had no hearing in his right ear since flying home, experiments with dubious remedies (hairdryer, steam room), and expects a deluge of listener advice.
    • Tony: “Somebody at the show the other day said, take a hairdryer and blast a hairdryer into your ear ... Another person said, don’t do that. What are you nuts?” (11:53)

---

5. Weather, Snowmelt, and the Impending Golf Season

(13:36–14:30)

• Golf Course Lament:
  • Coming (or not) thaw at Columbia golf course prompts Tony’s pessimism about early spring playability.

---

Guest Segments

---

6. NBA Roundup with Brian Windhorst

(15:00–26:49)

Olympics Coverage & ESPN’s Dilemma

• ESPN personality Brian Windhorst calls in from LA to lament ESPN’s non-coverage of the Olympics due to lack of broadcast rights:
  • Tony: “They don’t mention the Olympics. Like, this is unbelievable ... It doesn’t exist.” (15:24)
  • Brian: “Some of these events look like they’ve been made up ... They’re like going down a mountain, going over bumps ... what billionaire’s kid made this up?” (16:09)

Olympic Men’s Basketball: The LeBron, Durant, Curry Experience

• Windhorst recounts highlights from the USA men’s gold medal basketball run—describing the electric atmosphere in London, a LeBron comeback, and an emotional final in Paris.
  • Brian: “It’s a top three sports experience of my life." (19:08)

NBA: Detroit-Charlotte Fight & League Discipline

• Tony baits Brian on NBA brawls and the league’s consistency:
  • Tony: “Does Silver have the guts to outlaw fights, really punish the fighters?” (20:31)
  • Brian: “No, he doesn’t. They don’t punish anybody for anything in the NBA ... Frankly, fighting is not that big of an issue. These situations are rare.” (20:38)

Tanking and League Integrity

• A deep dive on orchestrated losing, NBA regulatory loopholes, and Adam Silver’s policing:
  • Brian: “Tanking is done on the inactive list ... The Jazz are now tanking inside the four lines ... up by 17, benched starters, lost the lead.” (22:58–24:36)

Jayson Tatum’s Achilles Comeback

• Windhorst offers insight on Tatum’s G League workouts and timeline for return:
  • Brian: “With Achilles injuries ... they always take longer than the players think ... they’re going to protect him ... but unless he has a setback, he’s headed towards playing.” (25:07–26:23)

---

7. Winter Olympics with Barry Svrluga from Italy

(27:28–43:13)

Lindsey Vonn: Comeback & Crash

• Svrluga details Vonn’s remarkable return at 41, after years away and significant injury.
  • Barry: “She was the best downhiller on the circuit this season ... She crashed because she’s Lindsey Vonn, and the only way she knows to do things is at full bore.” (28:20–31:19)

Mikaela Shiffrin: Olympic Pressure

• Analyzing Shiffrin’s continued Olympic struggles despite being "the greatest of all time," with context about her World Cup dominance and Olympic underperformance.
  • Barry: “Yesterday was a really troubling start ... She finished 15th out of 18. The last time she finished 15th or worse ... was 2012. So you tell me whether the Olympics are having an impact on her psyche.” (33:48–35:55)

The “Quad God” Phenomenon

• Tony and Barry discuss rising skate star dubbed “Quad God,” and whether he’s the sport’s Michael Jordan or Usain Bolt.
  • Barry: “In watching him ... it was like watching Simone Biles ... You have no idea if it’s a quad or a triple, but it’s better than the other guy ... The hype is worth it.” (39:26–40:25)

“What Next” for Laid-Off Sportswriters

• Barry reflects on uncertainty at the Washington Post and the value of covering one last Olympics:
  • Barry: “I come home to incredible gratitude ... It’s a bit of musical chairs ... I was never owed the next [Olympics], but if the choice was to go or stay home ... I’m thrilled to be here.” (41:34–43:05)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Ice Cream Reality:
  • “There was one flavor that I thought was sensational. It’s called darkest chocolate ... I loved it that much.” – Tony (05:42–06:17)
• On Aging & Holidays:
  • “Whenever I have read about this holiday weekend, I assumed it was Valentine’s Day. How stupid am I?” – Tony (10:04)
• On Figure Skating’s New Era:
  • “It was like watching Simone Biles ... He jumps off the screen at you.” – Barry Svrluga, on the “Quad God” (39:49–40:25)
• On NBA Tanking:
  • “Taking is done on the inactive list. Taking is done when players miss seven games due to the flu ... That’s where [the Jazz] have crossed the line.” – Brian Windhorst (22:58–24:36)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Jenny’s Ice Cream & Candy Reviews: 00:35–06:42
• Publix Toothpaste Story: 06:43–08:54
• President’s Day/Valentine’s Mixup: 09:19–10:54
• Tony’s Ear Troubles: 11:00–13:20
• Golf Snow/Ice Update: 13:36–14:30
• Brian Windhorst NBA & Olympics: 15:00–26:49
  • On NBA Fights and Discipline: 19:57–21:43
  • On Tanking and League Response: 22:20–24:52
• Barry Svrluga Winter Olympics Recap: 27:28–43:13
  • Lindsey Vonn Segment: 28:20–32:13
  • Mikaela Shiffrin Analysis: 33:01–37:25
  • Quad God Discussion: 38:52–41:14
  • Barry on his Job & Future: 41:34–43:05

---

Tone & Style

Relaxed camaraderie, quick-witted cultural asides, and confessional storytelling are punctuated by classic Kornheiser sarcasm and laughter. Guests mirror Tony’s reflective and playful style, alternating between reverence for sports moments and exasperation at their absurdities.

---

For New Listeners

This episode showcases The Tony Kornheiser Show’s signature blend of sports talk, family banter, and unfiltered life commentary. The show’s effortless shifts from NBA scuffles and Olympic heartbreaks to grocery mishaps and “dad problems” ensure everyone finds something to smile—and think—about.

---

Transcript

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, it's Tony. On today's show, we'll go around the NBA with Brian Windhorst. We'll also go over to Italy to check in on the Olympics with Barry Zwaluga. But first, let's do some commerce, boys.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

And girls, avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start. Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte, paint, finish and satin or what that clunking sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro. You just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app. Download Today.

[Barry Zervluga]

Previously on the Tony Kornhauser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I remember this. You and I were sitting with Sonny and Sam Huff, and we had lunch. And when they left, I said, whoa. We just sat with Sam Huff and Sonny Jurgensen. Whoa.

[Barry Zervluga]

Yeah, it was.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Whoa.

[Barry Zervluga]

It was so great.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And on Sundays, Sonny would sit in.

[Barry Zervluga]

The locker room post game. He would just sort of sit in the middle with a notebook and he would share the observations. My God.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All the times I wrote columns where.

[Barry Zervluga]

Sonny would say, hey, did you see this?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did you know this?

[Barry Zervluga]

Of course I didn't see it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, he's. This is General George Washington, and you're listening to the Tony Kornheiser show. Lots of small stuff. Lots of small stuff. Today I gotta get to the ice cream and the candy. We got Jenny's open candy bar here. Yeah, I opened it yesterday. I ate half the candy bar.

[Michael]

You saving it for later?

[Tony Kornheiser]

For later.

[Michael]

Pti.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, right before pti. I'm gonna eat the candy bar.

[Michael]

Energy boost.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that. Okay. The ice cream is Jenny's. The candy bar, it's either kinder or kinder. Bueno. We think kinder. I assume it's kinder. Yeah. Because bueno is a foreign word and kinder is from kindergarten. It's a German word of children.

[Nigel]

Children. That's right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Small children.

[Michael]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I assume it's kindergarten.

[Michael]

Normally these are placed right at eye level at the checkout.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Mailbag Reader]

Right.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So that is.

[Michael]

That's one of these, the little eggs.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I as people know if they listen. I'm not a big Kit Kat fan. I don't really like Kit Kat. No, this is sort of kind of like Kit Kat, but the center is gooier, and I really like it. Kinder. Bueno. It comes in vanilla and dark chocolate and regular chocolate. The kids love it.

[Michael]

They did?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Michael]

And it's interesting to see the breakdown. Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I didn't understand it. We just. They just sent it to us.

[Michael]

The captain's developing a strong taste for chocolate.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. Okay. It's really good.

[Michael]

The hammer is going for the vanilla flavor.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You liked it too? Yeah, I've liked it as well. Jenny's ice cream. We have. They sent us a whole bunch of ice creams. Yes. I don't know why, but I'm grateful that they did.

[Nigel]

Well, it was because they wanted you to try the coffee.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And I'm gonna. I'm gonna talk about the coffee.

[Michael]

And what I loved about Jenny's is I forgot about this. But Liz reminded me when we visited her younger sister who was working in Nashville at the time, there was this great local ice cream spot that was a. Jenny. It was a. It was a corner spot and people were lined up around the block.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Really?

[Mailbag Reader]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. So they sent a bunch of coffee ice cream and a bunch of other ice creams, including gooey butter cake and Queen Charlotte sponge cake.

[Michael]

Big Bridgerton fan over here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Darkest chocolate. And what did you get, Nigel? What did you take home?

[Nigel]

I took home a banana pudding.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Did you eat it?

[Nigel]

I did.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Is it good?

[Brian Windhorst]

It is really.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Like, I'm not a banana guy, and.

[Nigel]

That'S why I felt.

[Michael]

Did you break out over two nights?

[Nigel]

No, I just. I just tried it last night. I keep forgetting that I have it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And Liz took home something.

[Michael]

Yes, she did. So she found the cold brew with coconut cream, which was a dairy free. That's, I think, the big winner in our house. The kids were not offered that.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So let me get to this because this comes from Sean Bach and the rest of your loyal littles at Jenny's, which is based, I believe, in Columbus, Ohio. Love that. Welcome back from Florida. We missed you last week. We caught your spot on tgl. As promised, we're proud to deliver our new house coffee. To see how we measure up, we're releasing our house coffee this weekend to celebrate ice cream for breakfast that occurs in all of our 94 scoop shops on the morning of February 7th. So that happened already, including the seven shops in the D.C. area. We partnered with our friends at Verve Coffee Roasters, steeping their deeply flavorful Bronson blend into our cream and finishing it with espresso. Fine grounds for a second brighter hit of coffee. There are no stabilizers, no artificial flavors or dyes, no shortcuts, just real flavor built from the ground up. We're confident that this house coffee will become a fixture within your freezer and devoured Next to your kitchen sink, which I did last night. I went through an entire pint squad. Should you want a red wine recommendation, we would pair our house coffee with a nice bottle of barolo chinato. We also took the liberty of sending you a whole box of that, which includes many of our fan favorites of double dough, bramble berry crisp, gooey butter cake, et cetera. We're hoping that there's something for everyone, including strawberry buttermilk for Nigel to help him connect back to his many days lounging around Wimbledon. Goat cheese and cherries for Steve Sands and his family at Calvert wine and spirits. Didn't Liz take that? Goat cheese and cherries?

[Michael]

I think that's still in the freezer.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. Maple soaked pancake. The hammer and captain to share. And of course, banana cream pudding for Reginald. Thank you for bringing so many laughs and levity to us every week. We hope we can become a fixture at your kitchen sink. So the coffee's really good. The coffee's really good. The kids love. Well, Henry loved all ice creams. Henry gives everything a 10. Henry gives everything a 10. He does. We need him in the Olympics. Bootsy is tough. Grater.

[Michael]

Oh, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Bootsy.

[Michael]

Oh, yeah. He doesn't know all of his numbers.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Bootsy. Boots is tough. The baby. The captain just eats everything.

[Nigel]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And that's fine. So I need to say this. There was one. There was one flavor that I thought was sensational. It's called darkest chocolate. It's really, really a dark cocoa color. It's fabulous.

[Mailbag Reader]

Really?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I ate that. I didn't stop eating that once because the kids had eaten it. And so it had already been breached.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

When I opened the. Open the jar now.

[Michael]

Did you try and put it away at any point?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I put. I. I had two scoops the first night.

[Michael]

And cover it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I recovered it the next day. Early in the morning. I opened it and ate the whole thing because it was that great. It was that great.

[Michael]

Wow.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Darkest chocolate. Darkest chocolate. And so I would also say. And I really like the coffee, but I'm sensing that if you made a darkest coffee as well, that I might.

[Michael]

These are helpful tasting notes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I might love that. Now, I don't think you build ice creams for me, but. But I love the darkest chocolate so much. Maybe it's an adult taste, maybe not a kid's taste. I don't know. I loved it that much. So we are very grateful to Jenny's. Very grateful to Kinder Bueno. Very grateful for all of these things. Thank you very much. And if you want to keep sending. It's okay. It's okay. So we did that. So that's ice cream and candy.

[Michael]

Check that off your list.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. Toothpaste.

[Michael]

Oh, no, no toothpaste.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Michael, do you remember at the Publix, do you remember? Remember?

[Michael]

Yes.

[Mailbag Reader]

Tell.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tell the people what happened at the Publix.

[Michael]

So I have to escort you to the Publix because you did not bring mouthwash and you ran out of toothpaste. So we're looking for a travel size toothpaste. And frankly, you're there long enough and we think you might extend the stay. So I'm going to get you just your normal tube of toothpaste. You're surprised because I immediately know where to go in the Publix. Go all the way to the left. You're about two aisles in from the dairy section and we find the toothpaste. And you immediately start looking for your old reliable crest regular paste.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Nigel]

You stand by blue.

[Tony Kornheiser]

The light blue. Yes, yes.

[Nigel]

Old faithful.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I see some. I see some tubes of toothpaste that are priced at about 459 to 549. They're not particularly large tubes. No, that's a size. And then I look in another spot and I see a large tube of cavity preventative toothpaste. Crest for 350. I say, I'm gonna get this, Michael. I'm gonna get this. Do you remember your response? You were disgusted with me by that point.

[Michael]

Well, you were complaining that the smaller tube could somehow cost more.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Michael]

And I was trying to remind you that within brands there are different levels. And this might be, you know, it might have a different whitening agent or there might be something else that it's providing you. But you just figured smaller tube, lower price.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, bigger tube, lower price. I took the bigger tube.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Michael]

That is you. You argue that smaller tube should cost.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Exactly, exactly. That's my feeling.

[Nigel]

You got the value purchase.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. So I bring it. I bring it back. I. I bring it back. I don't have my glasses, so I don't see anything. I just see cavity preventative toothpaste.

[Michael]

Oh, no.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I bring it back and I open it. It's cool. Mint gel.

[Michael]

No.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I am on my own petard.

[Michael]

That's gonna take months for you to get through.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So it's, it's. Now I don't dislike it. That's an active feeling to dislike it. But I don't like it. Now I'm using it. I'm using it because I bought it. Yeah, because I bought it. And I'm admitting publicly to my son I made a mistake.

[Michael]

I'd say after a couple days, you get used to whatever toothpaste you have.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes. But it's, you know, so we're.

[Michael]

We're a Colgate household. And by that, I mean Liz used to buy Colgate, so now I use Colgate.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, that's fine.

[Michael]

But every time I go to the grocery store, I like to get the, you know, two tubes in one. And I always forget which is the icy version I like.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So this is.

[Michael]

One of them is too spicy.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is the cool mint gel. And so, you know. All right, I got another thing. It's a holiday weekend.

[Nigel]

That's right, it is.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So everybody. President is your president. Okay.

[Michael]

You're gonna buy a mattress.

[Tony Kornheiser]

In the. No, in the literature. In the literature that I have read, when I am reading something that mentions the holiday weekend, I don't ever think of President's Day as a holiday because I don't ever think of President's Day because I'm old enough that we celebrated Lincoln's birthday on February 12th and Washington's birthday on either the 21st or the 22nd. And then it was combined some years back into. Whenever I. Whenever I have read about this holiday weekend, I assumed it was Valentine's Day. How stupid am I? I assumed that, and then I would say to myself, how could Valentine's be an official legal holiday?

[Nigel]

Can't really get a really strong love.

[Michael]

This was in the 70s.

[Tony Kornheiser]

What was in the 70s?

[Michael]

Uniform Monday holiday, I guess.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I guess. I mean, I was out of grade school and high. I was out of, like. Your kids are off from school?

[Michael]

Oh, yeah, We're. We're entering disrupted weeks ahead.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I was beyond that. I was beyond going to school. I was either in college or whatever. And so I never affiliated in any way with President's Day. I never did. So I thought. I actually literally thought it was Valentine's Day. Another thing. I mentioned this before. I waited all day for the quad. God, you know, it's like. I feel like. What's her name? I waited all day for Sunday night. She sings. What's her name?

[Michael]

Oh, Carrie.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Carrie Underwood.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Carrie Underwood. Yeah. I feel like I waited all day and I missed it. I. I didn't get it. I didn't see it.

[Mailbag Reader]

Yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, and it's. Well, you know, we. I want to see it. I want to see this guy.

[Michael]

Are you allowed to watch NBC during the working day?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I do watch.

[Michael]

Okay.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But yesterday, they. I. Yesterday they said he would Be on at X and he wasn't on at X. And then I kept watching and I never. I never saw. I got one other thing. One other thing. My ear. Oh, no, my right ear. My right ear. I have not had any hearing in in my right ear since I took the plane ride from Florida.

[Michael]

You have to pop the ears to wash it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

How do you do that?

[Michael]

You squeeze your nose and you try and breathe through.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right. I tried that. It didn't work.

[Nigel]

Do you have a golf tee?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm not sticking a golf tee in my ear. Somebody at the show the other day said, take a hairdryer and blast a hairdryer into your ear and it'll melt whatever wax is in there. And then when we were done and he had left the room, another person came up to me and said, don't do that. What are you nuts? Don't do that.

[Michael]

ESPN does not sanction this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Don't light a match in the middle of your ear. That's insane. So it's still there. It's sort of partially better, but it's still there. I am still blocked. Somebody else said, go into the steam room.

[Michael]

Yeah. Have you gone to the steam room?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I went to the steam room. Any luck? Maybe a little, I don't know. I have some. I don't have full hearing, you know.

[Michael]

You don't hear any through Amazon or other stores. You can get one of those like eucalyptus sprays that you can bring to your own shower and that maybe will help clear up sinuses or ear stuff.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Eucalyptus spray? Don't they have that at Colombia?

[Michael]

They do. That's what, that's that pleasant smell that you often get in steam rooms.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So I should, I should go to the steam room.

[Michael]

They also have like little, little concentrated drops that you can put in the bottom.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Other people must this happen. Must happen all the time to other people. We're going to get 100 email by tomorrow.

[Nigel]

Oh, sure, sure.

[Tony Kornheiser]

You know, I'm just glad remedies to get healing.

[Michael]

Usually it clears itself like a day or two later. Mine, it's 11 days related to allergies.

[Tony Kornheiser]

11 days.

[Nigel]

I'm just glad that you're very sure that it's the flight result of this because how many, how many medical shows have we seen with it? Hey, there's something wrong with my ear. And they pull like a spider out.

[Mailbag Reader]

Of it or something.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay. No, it's not that. But that is when it's. I noticed it after the plane ride. Seems.

[Michael]

Was it just on the way home or did this. Did you notice It. When you got down there?

[Tony Kornheiser]

No, Just coming back? No, just on the comeback. Just on the comeback. That's all. That's it. And it's 11 or 12 days, it seems like. It seems like too many days.

[Michael]

Well, I wonder when you came back, if the cold air had anything to do with it. Maybe, but now that we're out of the deep freeze.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, yeah, but we're going back in tonight and tomorrow night. But then we're going to be around 50 for five straight days in, you know, around 50.

[Michael]

Charge up those carts for you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Nigel]

A lot of this is going away, the snow and the ice.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's not going away. At Columbia, on the golf course. It's not going away. I looked at it the other day.

[Michael]

You'll be able to play your inner 12. You'll play your inner 12.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I'm not going to be able to play anything. Inner 9. I'm not going to be able to play anything.

[Nigel]

Well, the course would be so soggy, you know, from all the melt.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's not. It's not going to melt until March. It's not going to melt. There's too much. So it doesn't, you know, it's not. We're not into melt phase. There's. It's ice. Ice refrigeration. It's not snow. Snow would melt. There's no more snow. It's just solid ice. It's not melting.

[Michael]

Is melt phase waxing or waning?

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think it's waxing. I think it's waxing. If we get into the 50s, you know, but I don't. I don't think that golf course is gonna be playable. All right, what are we gonna do here? Who's first? Brian.

[Nigel]

Brian's first.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Brian Windhorst. When we return. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

This is the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Barry Zervluga]

Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is our friend, Midlife Crisis. It's actually our friend Scott.

[Barry Zervluga]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

But he goes as Midlife Crisis. We've played a variety of his songs.

[Nigel]

We like we very much.

[Tony Kornheiser]

We're happy to play his songs. This is called and it's also Midlife M I D L Y F E. And you want to say, Scott, you know, come on, we love you.

[Nigel]

It was like the circle.

[Tony Kornheiser]

C, Y R, K L E. Yeah, come on. How'd that work out? But he's really good. Yes. No, we lost Midlife Crisis. A little more time plays in. Brian Windhorse is up at 3 in the morning because he's in LA and he's got to do the Get up show and the First Take show and all these other shows to talk about the NBA because. And I love espn. They've treated me very well over the years. They don't mention the Olympics. Like, this is unbelievable. Like, most of the country is watching the Olympics. And I guess cuz, Right, Brian, they don't have the video rights, but it's like it doesn't exist. I mean, we do it on pti, but I don't see it anywhere else. I don't.

[Brian Windhorst]

Look, I respect the Olympics. I love the Olympics and everything. Some of these events look like they're made up. I mean, I'm not. They are not hard.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm not saying they're not hard.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Right.

[Brian Windhorst]

But some of these events look like they've been made up of, you know, privileged stoner, ski bum. I'm not talking about like, you know, there isn't like life and death on the line, but some of them, they're just like, they're like going down a mountain, going over bumps and they're like, they're going over like railings.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

Like, it's like a skateboard. And I'm like, Putin, what billionaire's kid made this up?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, No, I respectfully, I agree with you. I agree with you. And the reason that happened is because the television ratings were so good for the Winter Olympics for so long that somebody in production said, how do we make this bigger? How do we keep their interest? They seem to like young people flying in the middle of the air and occasionally crashing. They like it.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yes.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So they made up more stuff. Like once you have a bobsled run, you can put 2 people, 4 people, 10 people, or an entire city bus on it. You can do it.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right, right, right. Anyway, and I will say you talked about, you know, ESPN not having the rights. So during the Summer Olympics in Paris, this was my life. Because we're not allowed to do camera interviews inside the four walls of the arena.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Sure.

[Brian Windhorst]

And so what would happen is usa, you know, they were, they understood the importance of reaching ESPN audience, so they would allow me to give them do interviews with me after I. After they left the building. But Tony, for the first 10 days, they were staying two hours away in Paris. The first 10 days were at this football stadium way up north, you know, soccer stadium, way up north. So I was doing interviews with like Steve Kerr and Kevin Durant, like at train stations. And one night, like, we had to race the bus back to Paris to get them at the hotel two hours after the game. Was why it was. That's. That's the life on that sort of stuff.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I am not one of those people who. I'm not Wilbon, who thinks that the Olympics is built around the basketball. I don't believe that for a second. I believe that basketball was shoehorned in there the way hockey was shoehorned. And I don't believe any of that Wilbon stuff. But I will say that to watch Durant, LeBron James and Steph Curry win that game was, for me, the highlight of the Olympics. It really was. I mean, they were. They were great. I didn't care about anybody else. They were great. But didn't you feel that way? That was fabulous.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yes. And I will just say, you know, being with them for six weeks, playing in the Middle east, playing in London, where they were like the Rolling Stones.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And you being aware that you going to a basketball game on a Sunday night in front of 20,000 fans, and they don't get 20,000 fans for basketball in England, but on a Saturday night in London, going to watch Steph LeBron and Durant play. And in that particular game, LeBron, like, led this crazy comeback. And I promise you, like, no NBA fan will ever remember. They don't even know what happened. But I promise you, if you were there that night, you had goosebumps watching LeBron do, like, peak LeBron things in the O2 arena, like, that whole thing. And I will say that the night of. Of the. Of the gold medal game, which, by the way, started at, like, 9 o', clock, so it was, like, approaching midnight in Paris with the French national team and the fans singing the national anthem and Ed Steph Curry hitting those threes in that building. It's a top. It's a top three experience, sports experience of my life.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I can completely understand that. All right, let me get to the reason we called you. It's fun to chat, but the reason we called you. The Pistons Charlotte fight. I love Wil Bond. We worked together at the Post and we worked together for 50 years. I love him. He despises fighting in hockey. He goes on television all the times. It shouldn't be any fighting in hockey. Fighting is ridiculous. And then yesterday said, you know, I was sort of juiced up for that fight with Detroit and with Charlotte. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I sort of like that. And I went, how can you take this? Simultaneously held positions. You cannot take this. What? You know, are there punishments? Are there punishment? What is gonna happen because of this?

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. Both the Pistons and Hornets play today. So sometime this morning or Late this morning, midday, they'. They'll announce suspensions. And I expect basically the. The later into the fight that the people got in, that's. They'll get suspended more.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

So, yeah, Jalen Duran started it. And so he will be suspended, I believe, you know, a game or two, because he.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I think it should be 20. I think it should be 20 without pay.

[Brian Windhorst]

You think? David, you are living in a world of David Stern being in charge. That's not the world of the NBA now.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Well, that lead. That leads me to something. Does Silver have the guts to outlaw fights, really punish the fighters?

[Brian Windhorst]

No, he doesn't. They don't punish anybody for anything in the NBA. Frankly, fighting is not that big of an issue. These situations are rare.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yep.

[Brian Windhorst]

Actually, the interesting thing that I will see, you know, David Stern in the wake of that, you know, there was the Knicks fight, you know, Jeff Van Gundy and whatever. And then there was that one fight with the. In the playoffs with the Suns.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And, you know, so the big thing they. The big rule they have is you can't leave the bench. So obviously, Isaiah Stewart left the bench. He's going to get suspended the most is what will be five? Will it be seven? I don't know. I honestly, this just hasn't happened that much under Adam Silver, and so I just don't. I honestly just don't know what to say. But Lamelo ball actually came off the bench. And like, if you're watching the frame by frame, what's going on out there? And under the Stern policy, if you left the bench, there was no. It didn't matter whether your guy was getting beat to a pulp out there. If you stepped off the bench, you got fine, you got suspended. It was not negotiable. So actually, I'm more interested to see if.

[Barry Zervluga]

How.

[Brian Windhorst]

How aggressively they police that. What's now kind of an old rule about if you step off the bench, you're suspended. So that's that. That'll actually be the minor drama for someone like me.

[Tony Kornheiser]

One of the things that comes up in conversation, and Mike says, well, at least they played hard. You know, both teams played hard, my man. Both teams played hard because not everybody in the league plays hard. The Wizards are not trying to win, they're trying to lose. The Utah Jazz, I am told, bench their starters in the fourth quarter. It's obvious they are trying to lose. What does Silver do about this? So far, nothing.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. So this will be a big topic of conversation when he has his press conference this week here in Los Angeles. For the All Star Game by the letter of the law. The NBA's sort of policy on tanking is they don't want guys deactivated who are healthy. If you're deactivated, particularly if it's for a national television game, they want you to be injured. So that is where they have police. And I will also say that tanking, I think a lot of people believe, you know, they heard tanking and they think that, you know, they default to the idea that players are out there missing shots on purpose.

[Tony Kornheiser]

No. Players play hard. Players play hard.

[Brian Windhorst]

Correct.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's coaching and general managers who do it. Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yes. Taking is done on the inactive list. Taking is done when players miss seven games due to the flu, which happened to Lowry Markkanen last month. I hope he's okay. Seven games through the flu. I thought we shut things down and have contact tracing. This was a terrible strain. And so what's happened now, and that's basically, you know, that's what the Wizards are doing. The Wizards are like, boy, that Anthony Davis hand injury. That the maverick, he's never going to.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Play a minute for the Wizards.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, at least he has an injury right now. And the Wizards. The Wizards are like, well, I know the Mavericks said it was six weeks, but we think it's 10. You know, it's obviously manipulation, but at least the guy has an injury. But as long as you play the player, the league, you weren't in violation of the rules. Where the Jazz have crossed the Rubicon is that they are now tanking inside the four lines.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yes.

[Brian Windhorst]

Where. Where they, you know, so there was a game last week where Larry Markson had 27 points in 27 minutes and Jaren Jackson, their new pickup, had 25 points in 23 minutes, or 23 and 25, whatever it was. And they sat them for the fourth quarter, and they were up by 17, and they blew the entire lead and lost. And their coach, Will Hardy, sat there with his hands in his pockets. You think I'm kidding? He sat there with his hands in his pockets and didn't call timeout. Like, just let the game go. And so that's where we have crossed the line. And you say, well, why are the Jazz doing that? Why are they. How are they? What's the point? Well, the reason they're doing it is because if their pick is not in the top eight, they don't get it. They lose it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And so they're extraordinary, you know. You know, they're extraordinarily incentivized to. To lose these Games. And if you're extraordinarily incentivized to do anything in life, if it's possible, which this is, you're going to do it. That's just. That's human nature.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay, let me get to another subject which I wasn't aware of till yesterday. Jayson Tatum is, he thinks, ready to play, at least in the G League, whatever, and get ready. Do you, do you see him playing this year, even by the playoffs?

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, he's not ready to play. He's done some practicing. They brought the whole G League team from Portland, Maine down to Boston so that he could practice, because NBA teams very rarely this time of year can practice. And so it's definitely a step. You know, it's basically an indication he's doing five on five. What I will say about Achilles injuries, Tony, is I've never had one, thank goodness. But I do know that I see people say, oh, yeah, I've covered players who've had them and they always take longer than the players think. They always think that they're in a certain level and it always takes longer. So he is not, quote, unquote, close. I think literally next week is the nine month anniversary of the injury. But we are in early February and he is already getting on the court. And so, you know, they're going to protect him. They're not going to let him say, oh yeah, I'll be back on March 1, or anything like that. But, you know, common sense is that unless he has a setback, he's headed towards playing. And I don't know how he'll play if he gets there, but this is the most wide open the east has been in many years. I don't even know, like, I can make a case of, for and against five different teams winning the east and Boston is definitely one of them based on this development and the way that they're playing.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right, you have to go, right? You have to be on the get up show. You have to go.

[Brian Windhorst]

I do, I do.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Get out of here. It's okay. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, I love having you on the show. Thank you.

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm literally, as we speak right now, Greenberg is looking at me on the screen and I'm about to plug in. He's like, why aren't you talking to me?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Tell him to eat it. Tell him Kornheiser said, just eat it. We're doing a show here. Thank you, Brian.

[Brian Windhorst]

All right, take care.

[Mailbag Reader]

Bye. Bye.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Brian Windhorst, boys and girls, who we love. We will come back with Barry Zverluga, who's further away. Windhorst is in California. Sverluga's in Italy. When we return, I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Once again, we have Midlife Crisis. Scott. But he doesn't say Scott. He says midlife crisis. This is a song called Better Days. We like him very much. Michael. If independent artists like Midlife Crisis want to get their music played on the show, how do they go about it?

[Michael]

Midlife crisis. Getting a little close for myself. Please send us your music by emailing you to jinglesonykonozershow.com I have old age crisis.

[Tony Kornheiser]

I don't know midlife, Way out of midlife. Barry Zarloga joins us. He's covering the Olympics because this is what sports writers do. They go places and they cover them regardless of what's happening back home in terms of employment or newspapers or futures. No, they get an assignment and they go do it. Especially do the Olympics. The two biggest stories, well, I would say three, but I can't. I'll get to the quad. God. But I didn't see him on television. I couldn't find him. I sat in front of the TV for hours and hours and hours and watched everybody else and never got to him. But I would say Lindsey Vonn crashing. And I would say Michaela Shifrin blowing a big lead in a combined event and the bugaboo of the Olympics lately, not in our first two, but lately. I think we have to start with those things. I'll start with Lindsey Vonn. Your thoughts on the attempt and your thoughts on the story of it, how it ended?

[Barry Zervluga]

Well, I just want to make clear, like, yes, she came back at 41 for the Olympics and yes, it was a nearly six year absence from the World cup ski circuit from 2019 to last year. Last season when she really decided that her replaced right knee, titanium knee, pain free for the first time ever or first time in her memory. And while it started slowly, it built very methodically to the point where she doesn't, she wasn't just a skier out there going through the motions. At 41, she was winning. She was, she was the best downhiller on the circuit this season. She won twice. She never missed the podium in five races. She came here as an absolute metal contender. Now, she did tear her ACL, you know, 10 days before the downhill. You know, you can look at that all sorts of ways and there will be people who say like, well, she shouldn't have skied on A torn acl. But then you consider that injury and what it means to a downhill skier, and it really is a stability issue, not a. You know, I quoted Stefan Diggs in a piece before the downhill because he had shredded his knee as a football player, you know, a year ago and missed a bunch of time and then come back, and he was adamant that, like, look, people who tear their ACLs, they can run and they can jump and they can walk in, you know, the next days. Sometimes you don't even know you did it. It's the stopping and starting in quick motion and cutting that becomes problematic. And as a downhill racer, you don't have to do it, do that stuff. So she did her two training runs. It was set up for an amazing story on Sunday morning. And I would say that she went out in the most Lindsey Vaughn style possible, in that she was going to point her skis straight down the mountain and figure out the fastest way possible. And if that was cutting it really close to the fourth gate, that was cutting it really close to the fourth gate. She said in her Instagram post she probably missed it by about 5 cm. She hit her shoulder and her arm and then her pole and obviously calamity from there. But I think the thing I want to take away from it, Tony, is like, she didn't crash because she's 41, and she didn't crash because she had a torn ACL. She crashed because she's Lindsey Vaughn, and the only way she knows how to do things is at full bore. Full bore was going for gold on Sunday morning. The margins are impossibly slim, and this time, it didn't work out. And it was, you know, a catastrophic crash.

[Tony Kornheiser]

They're loons. Every downhiller is a loon. They're going 80 miles an hour on solid ice. They're crazy, aren't they?

[Barry Zervluga]

Well, and she's crazy among crazy, Tony. I mean, she. She just has always not only disregarded the risks, but disregarded the risks when she has significant scar tissue. And by scar tissue, I mean like, literally all over her body, but also mental scar tissue, which she has an amazing ability to just outright dismiss. She has for years gotten back up and pointed her skis directly to the bottom of the mountain. And, I mean, in 2019, I remember talking to her before World championships when she was getting ready to retire, and her last races were with a body that was fully broken. She had no cartilage in one of her knees. She just was. She was just beat up beyond recognition. What'd she do? She skied to a medal. Like, that's just who she is and how she's done it. This is more than two decades.

[Tony Kornheiser]

This is why I hesitate to completely count her out. Even though she'd be coming back at 45 in the next one. I hesitate to completely count her out because she is different than everyone. Right? She's different.

[Barry Zervluga]

She is different. I would say that. I spoke to her in November by phone, and she was adamant that February 12, which would have been tomorrow's Super G, would be her last race. Like, she was really giving it all into this.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Barry Zervluga]

I don't know. You know, maybe being scarred from this experience has her come back again. It takes a lot of effort, and she has a lot of interests. I'll be curious about her going forward. It's disappointing. Not only that, that happened on Sunday, but we lost the chance to see her compete in the combined yesterday, and we lost the chance to see her compete in the Super G tomorrow.

[Tony Kornheiser]

So now we turn to Mikayla Shifrin, who you know very well. And Mikayla Shiffrin always seems to be willing, much like John McEnroe. When John McEnroe lost a tennis match, he went on a couch in the interview room, not. Not literally, figuratively, and explained everything in his life. And you would sit there like you were Sigmund Freud. You were just listening, and you'd have to interpret it. Michaela Shiffrin is that way. She talks about herself. She considers all the possibilities. She has not. She did poorly in this event yesterday where Breezy Johnson gave her a lead, and she finished 15th out of 18 women doing the slalom. She won gold medals our first two Olympics. She got shut out in China. She's 0 for 1 here. Do we have, you know, do we have a story here? Do we have something you want to say about her?

[Barry Zervluga]

Yeah, we have an issue here, I think, and I think if you were willing to think that the performance in Beijing, where she didn't complete the first run of slalom, she didn't complete the first run of giant slalom. Those are her two best events. And then she didn't complete the slalom run of what was then the individual alpine combined, a slalom run and a downhill run. There were a lot of weird factors at that Olympics. She had recently had Covid. It was a fanless, supportless Olympics. It was in a venue that none of these people had ever skied. It was just strange all around. So you could, if you wanted to, dismiss that as just, wow, what a weird situation. Now we're in Cortina the women stop here almost every year. She is extremely comfortable in Italy with Europe on the surface, all of it. But she. Because as you address like, she will get on the couch and she has gotten on the couch for me bazillion times over, over a decade or more and assess like why the Olympics are different. She is not someone who is able to say or wants to say because she doesn't believe it's truthful that you have to treat this like just another race. She doesn't believe it's just another race. And in truth it's not. Because winning Olympic gold is so much more meaningful to the public than any of her record 108 World cup races. So yesterday was a really troubling start. She didn't need to lay down the best slalom rung again of all those skiers to win gold because Johnson had been so good. Last year at World Championships, Johnson, her teammates skied to the fourth best finish in downhill and Mikayla crushed the slalom and they won gold together. Shiffrin's finishes in slalom. Eight World cup slalom races this year are seven wins and a second.

[Mailbag Reader]

Wow.

[Barry Zervluga]

She finished 15, 15 out of 18 gears yesterday. The last time she finished 15th or worse in a World cup slalom that she completed, there were five DNF since this time was 2012. So you tell me whether the Olympics are having an impact on her psyche. It's just, it's fascinating. It's sad because there's a part of the American public who we know. Tony. You see these people every four years and you kind of like get them back in your consciousness. And if you don't follow skiing, you only see them through the lens of the Olympics.

[Tony Kornheiser]

That's right.

[Barry Zervluga]

She's the greatest of all time.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All time. 108 wins. More. More than any man. More than any woman. Greatest of all time. Yeah.

[Barry Zervluga]

And by 30.

[Brian Windhorst]

Not.

[Barry Zervluga]

Not by a couple.

[Brian Windhorst]

Like.

[Barry Zervluga]

I'm sorry, by 20.

[Brian Windhorst]

Something.

[Barry Zervluga]

Not by just like, oh, I edged out Inga Martin Marker. I just out.

[Tony Kornheiser]

She buried him. She's the top of the poll. I mean, yesterday we talked about this on the air and all I could do was say, I'm going to give you two names, Greg Maddox and Clayton Kershaw. I'm going to tell you how great they were in the regular seasons, their whole lives. And I'm going to tell you Greg Maddox with 355 wins and a.610 winning percentage is 11 and 14 in the playoffs. Clayton Kershaw with a.699 win percentage and a lifetime 253 ERA is 13 and 13 in the playoffs in the World Series. I cannot explain it. And you're, you know, you have to, because that's your job, right?

[Barry Zervluga]

It's. It's hard, Tony. I mean, I felt like in Beijing I was at risk of plagiarizing myself because the story became the same day after day. And how do you describe that disappointment over and over? And that was the case yesterday. Now, I mean, she has the giant slalom ahead of her. She has not been, you know, she wouldn't be considered the strongest medal contender for there because she had a big wipeout in GS last year. And she's kind of slowly built up. But you can't overstate. Take yesterday aside, how big of a favorite she should be, just on merit alone in the slalom. And that's the last event of the alpine competition here. It's on February 18th. She's got to do two runs. She's got to lay them down so much better than she did yesterday. She's got to figure it out and deal with. And this is what I close my column with this morning. Like, some of these athletes are really able to see the Olympics as an opportunity and really rise to that occasion and be like, you know what? I can. I can perform my best in this situation. And Breezy Johnson is one of them. She won the downhill gold on Sunday. She skied the fastest downhill in the combined. She is here and comfortable and confident. Michaela Shifra, in the best to ever do it, needs to figure out how to get that mindset. Forget about the physical part of the skiing, but how to get that mindset between now and this fall? I'm a week from now, so I.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Got to get to the quad. God, who I missed yesterday. Kelleher says to me, at 12, we're talking at 11 o'. Clock. He says, at 12:15, the quad God's going to go. You should watch. I sat there for four hours. I never saw the kid. I never saw him because he wasn't on. And then he was on while we were doing. While we were taping the show. I missed him. I was going to watch him at night, but they weren't going to put him on until between 10 and 11. And I. It was not worth it. And I had said, because Wilbourne doesn't watch skating, he doesn't watch any skating. And I said, he's David Thompson. He's David Thompson. He jumps up in the air higher than anybody. My friend David said, no, he's Michael Jordan.

[Mailbag Reader]

Jordan.

[Tony Kornheiser]

He's actually the best of all time. Have you seen him? Is he the best of all time?

[Barry Zervluga]

I've only seen him. I saw him the other night during the team composite competition where he wont. And I will say I had, you know, obviously read about him. I had not watched him. I'm not a figure skating person. I'm eight hours away from Milan in Cortina, so I will never see him skate.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Okay.

[Barry Zervluga]

But in watching him, it was like watching Simone Biles where I'm like, I don't really know what I'm looking at, except it's unbelievable. Like you take him against another skater and you have no idea what. Whether it's a quad or a triple or whatever.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, nobody knows.

[Barry Zervluga]

But you watch it and you go, that's better than the other guy. And that's what I take away from him. Like the hype is worth it. And I don't know, historical figure skating, I don't know anything about it, but. But holy cow, just viscerally he jumps off the screen at you.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And by the way, he owns it, he has shirts that say quad God. I mean, there's a lot of people wanna see him go down the drain. Me personally, I wanna see him set records that nobody will ever touch. I want him to be Usain Bolt.

[Brian Windhorst]

Do it.

[Barry Zervluga]

I mean, just embrace it. And you know, I guess the controversy with him is like, you know, should you really be trying to do that many quads in a single routine? People can't do a single one in a single routine. You should be doing multiples. And this is like, what are the Olympics about if not pushing limits? Like this guy is pushing limits and setting a new standard that. I just think that's what we're here for, man. Why should someone who doesn't need limits on them have them placed on them from the outside? He should do whatever the heck he wants.

[Tony Kornheiser]

All right, we get to the last question. I saved the last question here cuz I wanted you to talk as you've been talking. I would have asked you about Snoop Dogg and his appeal, but I don't understand it. Although it's incredibly appealing and everybody loves him. But we've talked about the Washington Post and what happened at the Washington Post on this podcast. We've talked about it. What do you come home to?

[Barry Zervluga]

I come home to like incredible gratitude for having my dream job for 20 something years, and particularly the last 10 when I was a columnist. The job that you had a tradition that I really was honored to carry on. I'm confident that something Good will come next for me. I'm much more concerned about my colleagues who are so talented and dedicated. And, you know, it's a little bit of a game of musical chairs and sports journalism right now. Like, we're all really trying to support each other, but there's a reality that, like, you know, we're. Those of us who have been laid off are in some level going to be going for the same job. So, Tony, I'm here because I feel like in some ways my career at the Post really took off in 2004 at the Athens Olympics. I've covered every Olympic since then. I was never owed the next one. But if the choice was, you know, go or stay home, I'll tell you, it was really cemented for me on that women's downhill day when Breezy Johnson, who I've written about in the past and is a less known character one and Lindsey Vaughn, who is an international superstar, crashed. And if I had been setting my alarm for five in the morning to watch it from my couch in dc, I would have been heartbroken. So I'm thrilled to be here. This is how I would like to go out. And what's next can wait till what's next? Because I'm committed to doing this here.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's wonderful. If there's anything we can do to help, we will, of course, help. Thank you, Barry. Enjoy the rest of the Olympics. We'll talk to you before it's over. Thank you.

[Barry Zervluga]

Thanks, Tony. Appreciate it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Barry's Verluga. It's great. He's a great columnist. Before we get out of here, I don't want to forget this again. This segment has been brought to you by FanDuel Sportsbook. Make every moment more. We will take a break. We will come back, email and jingle. I'm Tony Kornheiser.

[Sponsor/Ad Reader]

You're listening to the Tony Kornheiser Show.

[Mailbag Reader]

Oh, here comes Tony's mail bag.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Got your emails, faxes and your notes.

[Mailbag Reader]

Here comes Tony's mailbag. Gonna read some for all of you folks.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Gonna read some for all of you folks. Biff, God love it. Absolutely love it. You want to do the Bethesda Bagel ad?

[Nigel]

Yes, Bethesda Bagels. We love them. You will as well. Just go to Bethesda Bagels.com for the location in the DC area nearest you. Then pop on in and you'll be thrilled.

[Tony Kornheiser]

And before we get to the mailbag, let me just say, come and talk of all the things we did today here and laugh about our funny little ways while we have a few minutes to breathe Then I know that it's time you must leave but darling, be home soon I couldn't bear to wait an extra minute if you dawdle My darling, be home soon. It's not just these few hours But I've been waiting since I toddled for the great relief of having you to talk to that's the best song. The Love and Spoonful ever did just great. I'd say. Darlin, be home soon. That's their triumph. That's their triumph. Thanks to our guests today, Brian Windhorst and Barry Zaluga. Both great. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. Remember, you can listen to us on Apple podcasts Spotify and Odyssey. Get the show through Apple. Please leave us A review from Moshe Lander, professor of Economics at Concordia University in Montreal in Canada. Chuck and Roxy 337 interview and insulted on Chuck and Roxy 338 as Canada's preeminent sports economist, that is Canada's only sports economist, I thought I would weigh in on a debate you had with Wilbourn about skating. I hate to admit it, but he is right that skating is not a sport. To be a sport, a necessary but not necessarily sufficient condition is that you have to have objective scoring. Therefore, skating, gymnastics, ski jump and diving are definitely athletics, just not a sport, while darts, bowling, golf and hot dog eating are. It's a good explanation, that is. But what is boxing? Because boxing can have a result where you don't have to go to the judges.

[Nigel]

That's right, yeah.

[Tony Kornheiser]

From Doug, was it? Olympic equestrian I've got to be a stickler. The Budweiser pony is not a pony. Perhaps you should ask Michael or refer back to some VHS where he's riding an older pony. Unfortunately, it's not possible for a pony to grow into a horse. Ponies are 14.2 hands or smaller. One hand equals 4 inches. Full grown Clydesdales are typically greater than 17 hands. Most appropriately, you could identify the baby horse as a weanling colt or filly which would then grow up to any full size horse. Love the show, but by the way, if Astronaut association is still ongoing, we are great friends with John Schaffner. We were lucky enough to watch the launch from Cape canaveral on a Falcon 9 for his journey to the space station for 10 days. This is from Doug, who is an Olympic equestrian.

[Nigel]

How about that?

[Tony Kornheiser]

Which is pretty impressive in Rosemount, I think. Rogue Mount, maybe North Carolina. From Michael Ferrante in Wethersfield, Connecticut, who sends along a picture says I just returned from a cruise to Costa Maya, Mexico aboard the Norwegian Jewel. We cruised with the sixth man group who were hosting Nate Bargazzi and Friends at Nate Land on Sea Excursion. Wasn't Greg on that? Nick brought his handpicked crew of top comedians for exclusive shows and live podcast tapings. There were game shows, question and answering events and pop up comedy shows. At the talent show event was winding down, I exclaimed to my girlfriend that I had to get to the stage to say hi to Greg Garcia. Yes, that Greg Garcia. I explained to Jerry that Greg was a friend of Tony Kornheiser. She shook her head and begrudgingly mumbled, yes, I know. As he was walking off the stage, I said I shouted out hey Greg. Lecheeserie stopped in his tracks, smiled, walked over to shake my hand. Couldn't have been nicer. We chatted for a bit. I told him how Jerry and I met Tony and Krusey attached photo on a visit to the now defunct Chatter, how I met the socialite Nigel, Michael and others. I mentioned I had my own David Aldridge moment. As I met David himself, Greg smiled and said I should write Tony an email. He'll read it on air, he mused. I said, yeah, I doubt it, although he's read two of my other emails on air. We chatted a bit longer. I thanked him for taking the time to talk and turned to walk away. Just then I shouted hey Greg. And he glanced back. I gave him the TK salute. He laughed, gave me a thumbs up and proceeded offstage. Just wanted to share with you guys and give yet another example of connective tissue. The show runs deep.

[Michael]

Isn't that great a laugh from Garcia? That's big.

[Nigel]

That's fantastic.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hi Mr. Toney, this is John Chadwick. I'm a retired dermatologist from Battle Creek, Michigan. Chuck and Roxy Number I only wish Last weekend I attended Mass at my parish. While walking in my seat, I heard my name called out. I turned and spotted a former patient and friend, Randy Nye. He motioned me over and I was approached. As I approached, he held out his hand and said congratulations as a loyal Indiana fan. This has occurred multiple times as a result of Indiana's national championship. Randy said that too, but I'm talking about getting your email read on the Tony Kornheiser show. It was my first David Aldrich moment. I laughed and told him I was thrilled to have it read and mentioned that another little told me he would choose having his note read on the pod over receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature. Randy hardly Agreed. This is an example of how your podcast has become the most important three hours of our week. The woman I'm related to by marriage the thinks maybe I'm carrying this a little too far and should consider getting a job. Thank you for hours of entertainment. I hope you will consider me for being the official retired dermatologist of the Tony Kornheiser Show. And tell Tom Hamm to eat it. Yeah, because Bud Giblin is the official dermatologist of the show, not yet retired. From Bill Masters in la, I asked AI to write a script about a character named Breezy Johnson who was mentored by a woman named Peekaboo street and it wrote me an adult film. That's funny. From Ben Thies, maybe in Salt Lake City. The amount of measurable snow in Salt Lake City this entire winter thus far is 0.0 inches. Come on man, what are we even doing out here? The mention of the Beatles Ed Sullivan debut on the February 9 episode of Mr. Tony watching reminded me of another metro area fan most likely watching there are no Jim Steinman but have reached some level of fame. You might have heard of her. Meryl Streep. Streep was at Shea in 65 and was part of a group of young people being interviewed by the old man, late 20s, early 30s, from the local CBS channel whose premise was that these Beatles are a fad and they've had their 15 minutes. There are full length clips on the story on the Interwebs, but here is a short clip from the story. The looks of disbelief from a young Streep are Oscar worthy. And then he sends me what I can see on YouTube. Did you?

[Nigel]

Yeah, I watched it.

[Tony Kornheiser]

It's Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep. Meryl Streep.

[Nigel]

Unbelievably young. And you're like, oh yeah, that's her.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah. From Matt Genovese in Jackson, New Jersey, I'm pretty sure there was a game in the past about the most famous person from your high school. After this weekend, I want to resurrect that game because we have a new leader in the clubhouse at my alma mater. Prior to Sunday, Christian Brothers Academy in Lincroft, New Jersey had a couple of minor itinerant players in the NBA and an Olympic bronze medalist swimmer, but hands down, our most famous alum was none other than Tony Reali. Yes, but with his meteoric rise on the PGA Tour this past year, culminating with his win at the Waste Management Sunday, I'm pretty sure Chris Goderup is surpassing even Stat Boy level fame just Figured I'd share with the group, seeing if there's a PTI tie in. We're thinking about calling him. We're thinking about seeing if Chris Goderup would be on the show. But, you know, you got to know, is a guy good at that? Yeah, he's great at golf. As Michael says, ball speed doesn't lie. He's great at golf. But maybe. Maybe we'll try this.

[Mailbag Reader]

That.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Yeah, we don't usually do that. No, we don't try that. And one more from Jeff Vreeland in Carmel, Indiana. With the super bowl over, the commercials unanimously declared the best over by people who say that every year. And the halftime show somehow is still being discussed, we can now say it out loud. It's baseball season. Pitchers and catches report this week. The NBA season continues its slow, eternal march towards something resembling importance. And the Nationals are once again rebuilding, which is reassuring because consistency matters. Look, if you're out on your bike tonight, everyone, as always, do wear white. What's that?

[Mailbag Reader]

Chicken. Every night is the chicken.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Holy God Almighty.

[Mailbag Reader]

Is it possible just once you get something to eat for dinner around here?

[Michael]

That's not the hope, it's the public.

[Mailbag Reader]

Chicken. Chicken.

[Tony Kornheiser]

Hey, dad.

[Mailbag Reader]

I'm just saying, dad. All those years at the desk taking all those standard tests could have been my best With a little more time. Maybe pick a different path Better job. Study math. Make moments last with a little more time. Little more time to figure it out Little more time to twist and shout Little more time to rock and roll Little more time to find my soul. Everything always late Babysit can't work today I'll get em paid I need a little more time I need a little more time Wanna be your guideline baby help us get it right Try to fortified I need a little more time. Little mouth time for second chance Little more time to sing and dance Little more time to hope and care Little more time to trust Be there I need a little more time I need a little more time. Sa. Little time singing then Little more time to hope and care Little more time to just be there I need a little more time I need a little more time. Always try to be my best still prove quite a test could be your lifelong quest I need a little more time. Looking back when it's all gone Masters of a favorite song the final long for Little more time. Little more time Till the next door closes Little more time Smell the broken Little more time for a higher calling little more time Keep on falling Little more time Figure it out Little more time to twist and shout Little more time to rock and roll Little more time to kind my soul I need a little more time I need a little more time I need a little more time I need a little more time Little more time. He grew up fast on the streets Back in a different day Drunk as dad made it clear Knew he wouldn't stay by the time he turned 14 he had himself a master plan. On the day he finished school Packed all his stuff and off he ran. Pointed south with already although it wasn't clear all the things he must My CR Something I do to entertain. She was bounced from house to house Never had a home Grew up fast and little sad she'd always be alone Then one night she had enough back good things and drove off in the dark. Had to leave this life behind but when are you supposed to start. With hope and fear excitement. No way she could know her part in the show. Sam. They had them at a beachside bar Staring at the sky Talked all night bout the lights through the morning light Although they never met they felt that they had set up high. Then they cried then they laughed Decided hey why not try back Both worked hard to t Finally. 10 years long still going strong since they met they're not alone now they know that all they f. Better day. Better day Better day.