Latest / DMV Mess Hall / "Sleeping Giant" Episode 69

Transcript

"Sleeping Giant" Episode 69 · DMV Mess Hall

0:00
Hi folks, this is Rick Doc. Walker in DOC.
0:03
This is John Kind and you're listening to the Mess hall with
0:05
Rally Captain and Tailgate 10. What's going on Rally?
0:11
How you doing man? Ted man, I'm doing great.
0:15
We're here at the Loss Rhino Brewery and man, got a nice
0:20
crowd. And Speaking of nice crowds, the
0:23
crowd at training camp today was awesome, man.
0:26
It wasn't saying, man. It wasn't saying, but we'll get
0:28
to that little bit later in the show.
0:30
For those wondering, it is Thursday the 27th rally, and I
0:34
decided to record today because we're going to see each other in
0:36
person and the good people at Lost Rhino agreed to let us have
0:39
a table come out here. I just got done having a nice
0:42
beer. We just had some food and we
0:45
never get a chance to really see each other.
0:46
But I did see you all over my TV and my social media last
0:51
Thursday at that burgundy and soul party.
0:53
How was that man? It was bananas, man.
0:56
And. You know, everybody keeps
0:58
talking about how the flavor is changing.
1:02
It truly is community, man. I mean, the fact that either
1:07
came out on a Thursday afternoon to to celebrate Dan Snyder
1:14
leaving, man, that's really what it was.
1:17
It was a basically Ann Snyder. Party.
1:18
Yeah. Big big shout out to Commanders
1:22
fans that showed up. I'm still in awe and today I'm
1:26
I'm, I'm just, I'm speechless man.
1:28
Because of the amount of people that came out today.
1:32
I don't know how many people texted me, tweeted me saying
1:35
where are you? What's going on?
1:36
At one point, Doc Walker literally was on the air saying,
1:40
tell Gay Ted, where are you? What's going to get out here
1:42
over the table? Because he wanted to talk and I
1:45
had to text Doc and say, hey Doc, stop blowing me up.
1:47
I'm out of town on vacation. I was.
1:50
I don't. For those who wonder, I don't
1:51
live in DC during the summertime.
1:53
I live at the beach. I go surfing.
1:55
I got to get a break from this place.
1:57
And it just so happened that that's when I took my break to
2:01
get the hell out of town. And it killed me not to be there
2:04
with you, not to be there with a Burgundy gold brothers and
2:07
sisters. Because we have been waiting for
2:10
24 years for this dark cloud to be gone.
2:14
And that party was the culmination of just the decades
2:18
of pain and misery and suffering.
2:22
And you know, my boy Jared from the tailgate, so he's got a
2:26
daughter. I want to say she's four.
2:28
He asked me, can I bring her to the bullpen?
2:32
So can you or should you? Because he knows I hang out
2:36
there. That's my drinking spot before
2:37
Nats game. So I called my buddy, that's the
2:40
GM at the bullpen, said can you bring kids?
2:42
He said, yeah, yeah, no problem. So I sent him a text back said
2:46
yes you can bring her she is technically allowed.
2:49
But then I sent her sent him a video of when the Nats won the
2:53
World Series and everyone just giving everybody a a basically a
2:57
beer shower and how crazy that place got like.
3:01
But if you want her to be like in this just massive humanity
3:06
and smell like alcohol and you're okay sleeping on the
3:08
couch for a month, the question is, should you bring her?
3:11
Well, I got to tell you, it wasn't that bad.
3:14
But I hear what you're saying. It goes back to when people ask
3:17
me, can they bring their child on the trip?
3:19
The first thing I asked them is, well, how old is your child?
3:22
Because you know, it's it is technically an adult trip.
3:26
And would you mind or do you mind seeing your child
3:31
conversing with adults that are drinking adult beverages?
3:34
And so people kind of say, Oh yeah, well.
3:36
The kids out for as far as that's concerned.
3:38
So yeah, I hear you. I'd say if you're taking them to
3:41
New York or you take them to Atlanta or someplace like that.
3:44
If you're taking your kid to Philly, don't do it.
3:47
It's just it's dirty up there that cheese steaks aren't that
3:49
good. Come here to loss, Rhino.
3:51
They got good food out here. They got a good menu.
3:54
Do that instead. Don't worry about riding the
3:55
bus. If you got kids, just leave the
3:58
kids at home for Philly. Ride the bus.
4:00
Just don't bring them with you. That's all.
4:02
Well, minors, but if they're teens.
4:06
For more, they can come. They can come if they're snotty.
4:09
You don't want to bring some like bratty kids to Philly that
4:12
are just going to open their mouth.
4:13
It's just it's not worth it. The good thing about our fan
4:16
base though, is we don't have any snotty kids, bro.
4:18
You know that that that burgundy and go to the Day of the Dead
4:20
and Cold Man, I'm going to call BS on that.
4:23
But so I know you and you don't really go out on a school night
4:30
and you don't really stay out late.
4:32
How long were you at that burgundy and soul party?
4:35
Because that thing was going all night long.
4:36
Well, yeah, I had to pop smoke, man, probably about 7:30
4:41
because, you know, I got to get up at at basically 2:25 in the
4:45
morning to be at work. And let me tell you that
4:48
morning. I needed some don't sleep energy
4:50
drink man. I needed it and and it helped me
4:53
out a lot because it was rough, bro.
4:55
I was going to ask you, how many don't sleep did you have while
4:58
you're driving back up 95 to head back to the office?
5:00
Just one. That's all I needed.
5:02
It took care of me. I got big shout out to don't
5:04
sleep energy drink. We appreciate that and if it
5:06
wasn't for them, we wouldn't be able to do this podcast right
5:08
now. If you guys are listening, make
5:10
sure you check them out at Don't Sleep energy.com.
5:13
They've got Sugarfree. I was popping that today.
5:15
I got up at 4:00 o'clock to get out to Ashburn today.
5:19
So the alarm went off and it's about four, four O 5.
5:22
I hit snooze a couple times and then the wife kicked me out and
5:25
stop hitting snooze. Just get the hell out and just.
5:27
Get up. Yeah, I mean, I just.
5:29
I still needed a little bit of rest, but luckily I had them
5:31
don't sleep sitting in my cooler, ready to go.
5:34
And don't forget to use that promo code.
5:36
DMV mess hall gets everybody 10% off, helps out big time.
5:41
But at the bullpen, I got to ask because I was listening to
5:43
everything from the beach and I was screaming the fan on
5:47
Odyssey, Josh Harris called up. Were you there when Josh Harris
5:52
bought everybody a beer? Oh man.
5:54
Yeah, the crowd went wild. Matter of fact, I even went
5:58
wild. I'm not really even a big beer
5:59
drinker, but best believe I had to get my lost run.
6:03
Exactly. But but I had to give my
6:05
commemorative my Dan beer. Pale Li had to do it, man.
6:09
That's awesome, man. When he called up, and those are
6:12
wondering, Josh Harris finished all of his meetings in
6:15
Minnesota, signed all the paperwork, took some time out
6:18
and he called our friends Brit and Danny on the Fan.
6:21
And I'm thinking this is just someone pretending to Josh
6:24
Harris, This is Danny doing a name.
6:26
That's what I thought it was as well.
6:28
Danny doing a funny voice. He's the young Charles Barkley
6:31
in a commercial. I mean, Danny does voices, so
6:34
he's just been working on the Josh Harris voice.
6:36
It was actually Josh Harris calling up to buy all the fans
6:40
at another brewery that I'm not going to name out of respect for
6:42
where we are. And everybody at the Bullpen, a
6:45
beer. 24 years, 24 years. I've been going to games.
6:50
You've been going to games, going to events.
6:53
Dan's never bought me a beer. He's never bought me anything.
6:56
How about you? No, no, they did fix my grill
7:01
after got run over in the parking lot and that was more.
7:03
Time that they did, yeah. But I appreciate that and I
7:06
thank you for that. But I didn't get a glass of
7:08
water when I was over there. I didn't get a soda when I was
7:12
over there. Well, they'll probably say today
7:14
that they gave you some more insider information, more so
7:17
than buying you a beer. They did.
7:19
And see, see, that's what they that's what they'll say to you.
7:21
You know, we, well, we didn't buy you a beer or a jersey, but
7:24
we gave you some good insider knowledge.
7:26
So maybe in their mind that goes further than a beer Speaking of
7:30
insider knowledge. And I don't want to bring this
7:32
up, but I feel like it's relevant because of what we are
7:34
right now. And I honestly, I don't want to
7:36
talk about it again. But the marriage of white report
7:40
findings came out the day of the sale.
7:43
Literally. Mary Jo went in to talk to all
7:46
the owners right before they voted on approving the sale of
7:51
the team, as if that wasn't going to influence them anymore.
7:54
But the good news in those findings is they were found
7:58
guilty of sexual harassment according to her and Jason
8:03
Friedman, who we spoke about on the last show, who we were
8:06
advocating for on the last show was also found that his claims
8:11
of cooking the books and all the bad things they were doing were
8:16
100% right. And I immediately sent Jason a
8:19
text message saying I am so happy for you.
8:22
I hope you get everything that you are looking for and you can
8:26
close this chapter because he is like us.
8:29
He just worked for the team. Exactly.
8:31
Huge fan. Huge fan and he's suing them.
8:34
And the fact that the report came out and she sustained his
8:38
allegations and who knows what's going to happen with Dan.
8:42
Yes, he made $6 billion. All I know is, like I said last
8:46
show, unless we're talking about those pretzels, I don't want to
8:49
hear his name again. And it's been funny to me that
8:52
the new ownership group hasn't even mentioned him by name since
8:56
they've taken over. Why would they, you know, let
8:59
the sleeping baby sleep? You know, I think if anything
9:03
the reporters want to draw it out of people because thinking
9:07
like today at camp, that's one of the first things that.
9:09
They kept asking us, you know what about this, what about
9:12
that? And and we're just trying to
9:14
look past that and and look forward, you know Dan is let's
9:17
face it, the past. We've got a bright horizon in
9:20
front of us with this new ownership and that's where the
9:24
focus needs to be. It happened.
9:26
It was 2425 years of ish, if you will.
9:30
That's gone now. Let's focus on the new group.
9:34
Well, and this is actually what Josh Harris had to say about his
9:37
promise to the fans. To the Commanders fans, our
9:41
promise to you is straightforward.
9:44
We will work tirelessly to make you proud once again of this
9:47
franchise, like my family was when I grew up here.
9:52
This is not going to be easy. My job is to deliver an
9:55
organization that can win. It's on me and it's on us up
9:59
here. Our work begins today and I'm so
10:03
excited to be on this journey together with the city.
10:07
Thank you all. Did you watch Friday's press
10:13
conference? No, I did not at the So Long Dan
10:17
rally, the training camp pep rally.
10:19
That was not a training camp pep rally.
10:21
No, that was not. I think Smoot had a line and I
10:24
texted him about it. So today's Commander Pendants
10:27
Day, basically, you know? Our only Fred to come up with
10:31
something like that, But once again I was just jealous for all
10:36
of our brothers and sisters that got to be at FedEx Field.
10:39
The line wraps. Let's say it was 2/3 around the
10:44
stadium. Unfortunately I had to work.
10:47
But that's one of the days that I wish if I ever there was ever
10:51
a day to call off that would have been the day because
10:54
everyone like you were asking, well where's rally?
10:56
Where's Ted? And we're like, he's out of town
11:00
and I had to work, unfortunately, so I actually
11:03
looked at it. So an Uber from Ocean City would
11:06
it cost me $400.00? So it's like, I mean don't Sleep
11:11
Energy is sponsoring the show but we might have to up their
11:14
feet a little bit for me to be able to afford A1 way Uber for
11:16
$400.00. But no, I just seeing though
11:20
Josh Harris giving his speech on that stage, seeing Magic Johnson
11:25
give his speech. Did you get a chance to watch
11:26
it? I saw clips.
11:30
So one of the things that stands out to me is the fact that Josh
11:33
said it's up to me to turn this thing around.
11:37
He's taking full onus ownership of this whole thing.
11:41
And that's refreshing, man. It really is to say, hey, I'm
11:46
not going to worry about anybody else.
11:48
I'm going to take this bull by the horns and I'm going to ride
11:51
it. The fact that he is a fan and
11:54
Dan is a fan has been brought up numerous times.
11:56
What's different? So I'd say #1 Dan was 34 years
12:00
old, and he was young and he was brash and he was immature.
12:03
Josh Harris is not any of those things.
12:07
And he owns two of the sports franchises and he knows what
12:10
he's doing. And that's what I was going to
12:12
say. The fact that he has experience
12:15
in ownership versus 8, what is it that he was that a OL You
12:21
know, a OL and owning a team is is two different things, man.
12:24
So he brought, I guess he broughtthe.com era.
12:28
To FedEx field, but it didn't survive.
12:31
No, that bubble burst. Yep, it burst.
12:32
And so like anything else, once it burst, what can you do now?
12:38
Who are you going to look to to to make sure that you're doing
12:41
things right? And he didn't have any.
12:43
Basically from from a stands, from a fans point of view.
12:45
He didn't have any checks and balances.
12:46
It was his way and even if he was wrong, so be it.
12:49
It is what it is. I'm going to continue to ride
12:51
with it because I've got this illustrious.
12:54
Franchise called the Redskins and people are going to come and
12:58
what happened, people slowly throughout the years stop
13:02
coming. So we're not going to talk about
13:04
Dan. We're going to talk about the
13:05
Josh Harris group and everything that they're going to do and put
13:09
this on their back to move for move us into the next century.
13:14
And I want to talk about Magic Johnson, okay.
13:16
I mean, I grew up, obviously. We all grew up watching him win
13:20
championships. The magic Man.
13:22
Showtime. There was a guy in the stands
13:25
today in the bleachers with a Magic Johnson jersey on Lakers
13:28
jersey, and he had a commander's hat on, and just seeing that
13:32
kind of made this all come full circle for me.
13:35
But did you see Magic's interview on the Today Show?
13:38
I did not see that. But like I said, I got cliffs.
13:41
So I got the Cliff notes, if you will, but I didn't.
13:44
I didn't see the full video, but one thing I did see was Magic
13:48
Johnson dances and go go. I did see that he might need
13:52
Melo tea to show him some. That's right.
13:54
And we got Melo tea in the audience and yeah we we got some
13:57
nice fans in the crowd as well. So shout out to you guys showing
14:00
up at at the Lost Rhino Brewing Company.
14:03
But but seeing Magic Johnson dances of Gogo, he's no stranger
14:07
to the to the DC Gogo. I mean, he's got several
14:09
businesses in this area anyway, so he's no stranger to it.
14:12
And it was, it was a good, good turnout seeing him do that.
14:15
But what Magic said during his pressure really resonated.
14:19
I'm going to have to play it here for everyone.
14:21
Please do. When Josh and I talked, the
14:27
first thing I said was do you want to win?
14:32
And he said yes. I said I'm in because I don't
14:37
invest in sports teams to just for ego.
14:43
I invest to win and. We want to change everything
14:50
that has happened to this franchise.
14:53
We see the winners in the front row.
14:56
Not only did they win Super Bowls, they also made the
15:00
community great. And we want to invite the
15:03
community to be a part of what we're building here that's going
15:09
to be a part of my role is to get out into the community and
15:12
and help them understand what we're doing, how we're doing it
15:15
and also. We want to give back.
15:18
We want to make an impact on this great community that we're
15:23
doing business in. I don't invest in sports teams
15:29
for ego. I want to win.
15:32
I mean, I I put a tweet out there, retweeted Magic, talking
15:35
to the employees, talking to the staff.
15:37
I had some off the record conversations with the staff
15:40
after they've met with Magic and just hearing their excitement or
15:44
reading their excitement over text messages.
15:47
Dude, you remember the old the kool-aid commercials where he
15:51
would just come and bust through a wall?
15:54
That's how I feel when I hear Magic making his speech, When I
15:57
see Magic talking to the employees and B was talking
16:02
Brian Mitchell was talking about on his Facebook there was an
16:05
Eagles fan or a Philly fan giving him crap saying Magic
16:08
only owns 4% of the team. 4% of $6 billion is still a crap ton
16:13
of money. Cares how much he owes.
16:16
He is part of our franchise now and people.
16:20
Terry Mclaurin did an interview after the actual press
16:22
conference saying that he can now just call Magic up whenever
16:27
he's got an open door policy. And to have that kind of mentor,
16:30
that champion, just being there to help your players as they
16:37
dive into this career that he has successfully, you know,
16:40
conquered and achieved is priceless 4%, might as well be
16:44
40% as far as I'm concerned. And he has a winning mentality.
16:49
That is not something that we have had here ever and that
16:54
people have been asking me. I did a couple interviews on
16:56
Fox, like what's the difference now versus then?
17:00
There's this group And shout out to my man Jeff too.
17:04
Funny on Twitter is a producer for Beaminton Finley.
17:08
He called them the hogs on his new song, but the Harris
17:14
ownership group, I got chills when he said that line during
17:19
his song and those that don't know that aren't here.
17:21
We'll tweet it out. But he does a song usually once
17:25
a week for Commander's games when he's not, you know, fishing
17:28
or doing something else. But he made a new one for the
17:32
sale of the team. And man, these new hogs that
17:35
have taken over this team, there is a major difference here.
17:39
And not to talk about that pretzel boy before, but we
17:43
actually have true leadership. I'm standing in line today at
17:47
7:00. O'clock outside Ashburn and Mark
17:51
Iams pulls up right in front of it, and he's getting
17:55
chauffeured. He's not actually driving.
17:56
He's sitting in the back of the car.
17:57
He rolled his window down and said hello.
18:00
I had a TV show at FedEx at no, sorry, at Redskins Park for four
18:05
years with Larry Michael. I would be there 2 * a week.
18:11
Not one time they'd ever get waved to you by Press of war.
18:13
Not once that. Just wasn't his makeup man.
18:16
I mean, some people are more outgoing.
18:19
Obviously he lived in the bubble.
18:21
So the fact is, as I said, we're going to, we're going to leave
18:25
him behind. This new group, very personable.
18:28
Now I will say this since I and I said I wasn't going to talk
18:31
about it, but I'll say this, Dan took pictures with me.
18:34
I've got, I've got. Well, I mean you, Mother Teresa,
18:38
you got to take. Pictures.
18:39
Dad would take pictures with me, I don't know.
18:41
So I've got several pictures with him and and we're both
18:44
cheesing, so hey, make sure the picture after everything was
18:48
going on too. You got yelled after.
18:49
That yeah, I did. You yelled at.
18:51
As a matter of fact, I was going to post more, but I decided not
18:53
to. It's yeah, I'm glad you did.
18:56
Yeah, we'd have to clean up our DMV mess, all social media
18:59
imaging there, but. Well, the fact is he took
19:02
pictures with me, so. From one aspect, maybe he felt
19:07
comfortable around me, I don't know.
19:09
But other everybody else maybe he didn't.
19:10
So that's possible. I mean I have come across as
19:13
intimidating to people before. I don't know why, maybe the
19:16
voice, but it is what it is. I'm just saying that there's
19:19
just there's a new vibe and a new energy here.
19:22
And before we get into that with some people here, to me there
19:26
are two questions immediately that the Harris ownership group,
19:29
the Hogs have to answer. One of them is stadium.
19:34
This is actually what Josh Harris had to say when he got
19:36
asked by Nikki Jabalo. Josh, Nikki Jabalo with
19:39
Washington Post. I know you've been asked this
19:41
already, but in terms of longterm stadium plans, what is
19:45
kind of your vision for the team?
19:48
Yeah, like so we're focused on creating great experiences for
19:52
our fans and and and and kind of making them feel.
19:55
And as I said, when you have guests in your house, we're
19:59
going to throw a party. You know, every other Sunday and
20:03
we have guests in your house like you treat them well.
20:05
You don't, You don't have couches that are broken, You
20:07
don't have TV's that aren't working.
20:09
So we got to get after all that, and that's what we're focused on
20:12
right now. As far as the stadium
20:14
experience, long run, we would love to have a stadium where the
20:18
opposing players fear to come and our fans love to come and
20:23
our players love to come and feel welcome.
20:25
That's what I experienced at RFK and whatever happens with
20:30
stadium, that's the kind of stadium experience I want to
20:32
create. A stadium we're opposing players
20:38
fear to come. Fear to come.
20:41
Did you, do you think that we can have that at FedEx Field?
20:47
Forget the new stadium. Just a FedEx field.
20:49
I know we can. And the mere fact, the reason
20:52
why I say I know I can't is because like you, I have people
20:55
who are. Friends of the the working
20:58
ticketing and sales and things of that nature.
20:59
And they tell me that sales are through the roof.
21:03
So when it comes down to it, everyone didn't want to spend
21:09
any money for the old guy. He's gone.
21:12
And I said it on Channel 4 News. What's your excuse now to come
21:16
back to FedEx Field or not to come back to FedEx Field?
21:21
There aren't very many excuses, Ted, and we saw it today.
21:25
People are going to come back and FedEx Field is going to
21:28
rock. It's going to, it's going to,
21:30
it's going to People going to turn out and show up at FedEx
21:33
Field, man. Yeah, our man JP family says
21:37
let's make FedEx bump. Again make it bump again.
21:39
This is a tweet from Eric Flax saying the Harris effect since
21:44
the sale went final Commanders tell W USA19 is seeing an
21:49
increase in daily ticket sales. About 8:00 to 10:00 X are normal
21:52
daily sales rates. Team president Jason Wright is
21:55
saying that week one home opener is trending towards a sellout.
21:59
I mean, and I I jumped on with the junkies to talk about this
22:04
early this week. Week one is always busy.
22:09
It's week four, week 5-6. That is going to be the true
22:13
test of is this fan base going to come back?
22:15
And it was JP Flame. Had a question, do you think
22:19
FedEx Field will have a home field advantage?
22:21
And I don't think we're there yet.
22:24
I think it's way too premature. We will week one, but will we
22:28
have a home field advantage? And I don't know what we could
22:30
play the Eagles. I know it's in October sometime
22:32
but will we have a home field against them?
22:34
Will we have a home field before you say it against the bills,
22:37
The Bills Mafia travels well. Will we buy the tickets up
22:41
before they can get them? Because Philly, it's a 2 1/2
22:44
hour ride down 95. That's nothing.
22:47
But Buffalo coming down here, that will be a test to me if
22:51
this fan base truly is going to put their money where their
22:54
mouth is. Because much like you, I have
22:56
people yelling and screaming at me, how are you giving that guy
22:59
money? And I will go back to them and
23:01
always say the same thing. I never became a fan of this
23:03
team because of Jack can't cook, and I'm not going to let Dan
23:05
Snyder take my phantom away from me.
23:08
So if he took yours away, I'm sorry.
23:10
But I'm still going to be out there supporting my friends that
23:13
played for the team. Exactly.
23:14
There you go. And that's what it boils down
23:16
to. And I I would say the exact same
23:17
thing. You know, fact is, we are for
23:22
the team and the fans, our camaraderie who owns the team.
23:27
Even though it was that guy, no, we we weren't trying to put
23:30
money in his pocket. We were trying to build a
23:33
camaraderie amongst a fan base that was sinking in quicksand,
23:37
man. And so.
23:40
That's what it boils down to, I. Mean the WTOP reporter that
23:43
talked to you today asking you questions about Dan.
23:45
I mean, to me, that's just it's I'm never going to tell someone
23:48
how to do their job. But hey, if anyone out there's
23:51
listening, this fan base doesn't want to hear about that Jackass
23:54
again, he's gone. He's dead and buried.
23:57
Let him hang out on his yacht. The only yacht I want to hear
24:00
about is Magic Johnson hanging out in the Greek.
24:03
Islands where the hell he is with his family on his yacht
24:06
wearing commander's. Gear, wearing Commander's gear.
24:08
I mean, the whole family was wearing Commander's gear.
24:11
And that brings up the next thing.
24:14
Ted, as far as this whole name change with the organization and
24:19
the fan base, you know, you got a lot of fans who just don't
24:21
like the name Commanders. Do you think that the.
24:26
So actually let me go back, let me go back.
24:28
You said will we have a home field advantage?
24:31
Well, it starts with Week 1. If we win at week one, and I got
24:36
to say, if I'm not going to say we, we it because nothing's
24:38
written in stone. If we win week one, that'll make
24:42
people want to say, oh okay, I'm hypothetically I may have missed
24:48
week one, but I saw a different vibe watching it at home.
24:54
I want to be a part of that. So we go to dinner week two and
24:58
then I think we come back Week 3 for Buffalo, if I'm not
25:01
mistaken. Like you said, it's got to start
25:04
week one. Week one, we've got to put our
25:06
best foot forward and that sets the tone.
25:09
If we lose week one, then people may not want to come.
25:13
But I'm not going to, I'm not going to focus on the bad.
25:15
I want to focus on the good. That's where it starts.
25:18
So we were, if you remember, 6 and two with Alex Smith, and
25:22
those stands were still empty. But why though?
25:24
But why not? Because we were winning.
25:26
Partially because of Damn, that's it.
25:27
But but also partially because of the football that was being
25:30
played on the field. Okay, it was boring.
25:32
Mass. Football it was.
25:34
It was not fun to watch. We're in a fantasy football
25:37
society. You and I don't play, but pretty
25:40
much everyone else in the world does and people want to see
25:43
points. We were winning games 17 to 13.
25:46
I mean, it was just boring to watch.
25:48
I think Alex had 172 yards passing on average.
25:51
It just was not fun. But if we can win those type of
25:54
games and our defense is wrecking shop, based upon what
25:58
we saw today, it looks like they will be.
26:01
Then people will show up and people are waiting and chopping
26:05
at the bit to spend money on this team, and it was nice to
26:08
see at the team store what was happening there.
26:10
But you were about to ask me about the name, and you and I
26:15
are both public about our wants for the name to stay the same,
26:21
to not change. Well, you got to listen to the
26:23
Magic interview. I'm going to send it to you
26:25
because I want to see if you cry.
26:28
After you watch the interview, because the last minute of that
26:31
Magic interview, Craig Melvin, who is a documented Commander's
26:35
fan, Washington fan and gold fan, got a gold Jack.
26:40
You know, the big commander's jackets, the W with the wrong
26:43
dates on the back. Craig's got one, I've got 2
26:46
Craig, so haha. But you know, at the end of the
26:50
interview, Magic started all he was crying.
26:52
Craig almost had a hand on the tissue.
26:55
This is actually what Magic said about the stadium during that
26:58
interview. Teams based in Virginia, they
26:59
played their games in Maryland. But there's been a movement
27:02
afoot for a long time to move the football team back into the
27:05
city, making the actual Washington, DC commanders.
27:09
But we don't spend this year understanding what we have in
27:13
place. And then I'm sure that that'll
27:17
come up. The commanders, the name of the
27:19
team will come up eventually, but right now.
27:23
We got enough work to do and that will keep us busy.
27:28
We have enough work to do that will keep us busy.
27:33
I think fans need to understand that your priority and the hogs
27:38
priority do not line up and they paid $6 billion, so their
27:44
priority takes a little bit of precedence over years.
27:47
And I understand fans have not jumped on board, you and I, I
27:51
want to say. Are a minority in more ways than
27:54
one, because we're literally both rocking Commander's gear
27:58
right now out there at camp today.
28:00
What would you say? Maybe 1/4 fans rocking
28:03
Commander's gear, everyone else rocking old school stuff?
28:06
It's almost half, you say? Almost half.
28:10
OK, you walked around more than me, so I'll take your word for
28:13
it. But not a lot of people have
28:15
jumped on board with this name and I do feel that some of it
28:17
was just because of. Who owned the team when we got
28:21
the name? I think if we would have got the
28:23
name and the hogs with the group that owned it at that point in
28:26
time, then people would have been on board.
28:28
I also don't think we've been named the Commanders, but that's
28:30
a story for a different day. But this is actually what Josh
28:32
Harris had to say during his press conference about the name.
28:36
I'm first I'm curious part question.
28:40
Curious what you have felt about the reaction from the fans over
28:43
the last 2448 hours and along with that?
28:48
I'm sure you know there's a lot of questions about the team name
28:51
from that fan base and here's is that on the priority list or
28:54
not? Yes.
28:55
So Washington fans are passionate.
28:57
I knew that because I grew up here.
28:59
The reaction's been overwhelming.
29:02
We're so appreciative of how welcome we are.
29:05
We also know because we've been, we've done this before in Philly
29:09
that we got to deliver. So I'm also the fan should be
29:14
aware and you should be aware. I'm just last sleepless nights.
29:17
This is an amazing day for me but I'm stressed so I I we we
29:20
got a training camp is you know the next week and first game is
29:25
6 weeks away. Look I think that we're going to
29:28
be focusing. We got a lot to do.
29:31
We got to get the team ready to win football games.
29:35
We got to get out in the community and start to pay it
29:38
forward, you know, as Magic said.
29:40
And we got to, you know, change the stadium, right, and change
29:44
the the the fan, I'm sorry, the fan experience.
29:47
We got to change the fan experience.
29:49
And right now that's going to be things like Ingress and egress
29:52
and food and there's not that much we can do.
29:55
And so our three priorities are those and that's what we're
29:58
focused on right now. To me, that was refreshing.
30:05
Hearing that's changing this name is not on the priority list
30:10
for the new ownership group because.
30:13
We are at FedEx Field all the time.
30:15
We see how bad it is there, and it took a while for me to
30:19
acknowledge how bad it is because it's like someone
30:21
telling you your baby's ugly. It's like, yeah, I know my baby
30:24
needs plastic surgery down the road, but I can call them ugly.
30:28
You can't, All right. Well, for the longest time we
30:31
always did say and and I, I, I fall prey to it myself.
30:35
I would say, well, FedEx isn't that bad.
30:37
And then people would always say.
30:40
Yes, it is. And I would say, well, wait a
30:42
minute there, there's other stadiums that are worse than
30:44
ours, like Jacksonville. You know, to me, Jacksonville is
30:48
worse than I thought it. Was horrible.
30:50
I went to the IT was that back in the Redskins Jags game at
30:55
Christmas and I was in Tampa with my inlaws and I drove up to
30:58
Jacksonville for the game. They weren't happy about it and
31:02
it started to snow and I was on TV and you can see me.
31:07
And I'm just shivering my ass off because I'm wearing shorts
31:10
and sandals. It was going to snow.
31:13
I'll send you the picture. But you talk about, you know,
31:17
saying FedEx Field isn't that bad.
31:18
Everyone that tells me about the pipe burst, I send them.
31:22
I have it bookmarked. It's a favorite on my browser of
31:27
when the Sofi stadium had a pipe burst in one of their suites
31:30
saying, hey, it happens to everybody else, but
31:32
realistically, she's bad. So there's a lot of improvements
31:37
they're going to make there and fans that were there during a
31:41
rally, some of them snuck into the lower concourse and saw what
31:45
the stadium looks like. We're going to be there in a
31:47
couple of weeks. And.
31:48
We're going to get a chance to see these improvements.
31:51
You were talking a little bit about DJ Premonition, wanting to
31:54
hear from him about that new sound system.
31:57
If today taught us anything, you can put lipstick on a pig the
32:04
stands. Out in Ashburn were a huge
32:07
improvement. A huge hit by everybody.
32:09
Everything they did out in Ashburn today was lipstick on an
32:13
ugly ass pig out at Ashburn Commanders Park.
32:16
Whatever the hell you want to call it, they can do the same
32:18
thing. Definitely.
32:20
And to be fair, the changes that were made today in Ashburn were
32:24
made by the old ownership group. Yes, they were.
32:27
The hogs, but the staff had the ability to do what they needed
32:32
to do. There are some amazing people
32:35
that work for this organization. Oh heck yeah.
32:37
John Radhi is one of them. John was a major influence on
32:41
getting us those stands. Granted, you and I didn't sit in
32:44
them, but they look nice. They did.
32:46
They look very nice. You went up there and got some
32:48
water. From I did, I did but one thing.
32:50
They did look, but I know for a fact they were full.
32:55
Heck yeah. And once again the fact that the
32:59
amount of fans that came out today at training camp.
33:03
If there's any indication, that's how FedEx is going to be
33:07
first game against the Cardinals.
33:09
So there's a lot of business that needs to be done and the
33:12
name is not one of them. It really isn't.
33:16
I might shock you here. I'm fine with it changing.
33:21
I have probably spent more money than anybody on commander's
33:25
gear. I'm just going to say that
33:27
because I don't. Make homegrown gear like you.
33:31
So I'm paying those Inflated Fanatics prices and when I
33:36
walked out of that, I think Fan day at FedEx when we could take
33:42
the team store over, it was 4 figures that I spent inside the
33:46
store that day. 12344 figures. Yeah, so I'm.
33:50
I'm going to say that I probably spent the most money on
33:54
Commander's gear out there by anybody.
33:57
Also because I lived 10 minutes from the stadium and I drive by
34:00
to see if they got anything new. So it's it's a disease.
34:04
Aspirin syndrome is a problem. But you know what?
34:10
I want every last bits that that son of the bitch has to do with
34:17
our team to be gone. And if this new ownership group
34:22
decides that we need a clean slate?
34:25
Because we don't want this stench on us anymore, and
34:29
because a percentage of the fan base has an issue with this name
34:34
and I get we cannot find a name that we all agree on.
34:37
It'll never happen. No, there's going to be someone
34:40
that's going to have a problem with the name, just like all
34:42
those people, and I'll save this for when the mics are off.
34:45
But just like some of those people that say, well, not all
34:47
Native American groups have a problem with Redskins.
34:49
No, not all of them do, but some of them also do.
34:52
So no, not every fan is going to like whatever the name is going
34:56
to be. But it feels to me that a
35:01
majority of the old fan base refuses to jump on board with
35:08
the new name because Dan had something to do with it.
35:12
Now Brian Mitchell and Rally Captain are on record saying
35:17
that if we win games. Everyone's going to be rocking
35:20
Commander's gear and no one's going to care.
35:22
No doubt about it man. And and the and I also feel the
35:26
same way that Magic Johnson was on his yacht in Greece.
35:29
His whole family had commander's gear on Big shout out to to
35:33
Magic Johnson and then on his yacht.
35:35
I mean, who takes a picture like that.
35:37
But that was an awesome picture. More people will gravitate
35:41
toward it and it. I also believe we could be named
35:47
the Washington Pixie Sticks. You win a Super Bowl, it's not
35:50
going to matter, man. It's not.
35:52
I hear you, but that's a big if man.
35:55
But realistically, in my opinion, we are four to five
36:01
years away from being truly competitive.
36:05
I'm not going to doubt that. But are they going to hold on to
36:08
this name for four to five years?
36:10
I don't think so. So they make it to the first
36:14
round of the playoffs, hypothetically, and get knocked
36:16
out. Under the commander's name, Do
36:21
you still want him to change it? Depends on how you made it.
36:23
We're just talking to our friend Tim Meet, who will get up here
36:25
on the mic in a minute about that 2020 year, the COVID year.
36:29
We backdoored our way in the playoffs.
36:31
If anyone goes back and remembers, we basically won that
36:35
playoff game. Because was it Doug Peterson for
36:37
the Eagles? Sat there quarterback because he
36:40
wanted to hire draft pick. Because he was driving on us.
36:44
He did. He was driving on us.
36:46
I was at that game and I couldn't believe.
36:48
I couldn't believe it. But, but, but let's face it,
36:51
Ted, Come on, man. Once again, the the big trend
36:56
right now is red hogs or red hogs or or red wolves.
37:01
Excuse me, red wolves. They want red wolves.
37:04
And that's probably 85% of the people right now who want that.
37:08
But if the ownership comes in and just says it's the I don't
37:14
know. Whatever.
37:15
Don't give me an option. They're.
37:16
Don't, don't ask me. Don't ask any of us here what we
37:19
want the name to be, because none of us is going to.
37:21
They're not going to agree. So at some point in time, you've
37:23
got to put your big boy panties on and just roll with it, man.
37:26
I paid $6 billion. The name is X.
37:30
And you like it. A lot like it.
37:32
Goodbye. Someone else will fill your seat
37:33
in the stadium. Ted, I hear you, brother.
37:37
I am fine with it. If Magic and Harris and Irons
37:41
and if those guys say that, we just want to just completely
37:45
wash our hands with it. And I was adamant.
37:46
I don't want to change. But that was me being selfish.
37:49
I don't want to spend another four figures on new gear.
37:53
But will you, though? So will I.
37:55
No matter what the name is, I'm going to go with it.
37:57
It's a disease. We're stuck.
38:00
If that's what my brothers and sisters need to also be back on
38:04
board with us, that I am fired with it and we will hopefully
38:08
find another sponsor to help us buy more gear.
38:11
Yeah, because we need it. So if anyone's listening right
38:14
now that wants to sponsor the DMV mess all let us know,
38:17
because we need more gear we're going to need, obviously.
38:20
In a couple years and it wasn't even the new gear.
38:22
It's so they finally got me a Stitch jersey.
38:27
It finally came. I got a Stitch Tailgate.
38:29
Dead jersey. Okay.
38:32
Problem is, it's an actual players jersey, so if I was a
38:37
manual form size I could probably put it on and wear it
38:40
to a game, but right now I look like.
38:45
You little brothers, tshirt. Yeah, yeah, it's actually, it's
38:48
bad. Just going to frame it.
38:51
Frame it. There you go.
38:52
I'll, you know, I'll sign up myself and say I got autographed
38:55
and everything else authenticated.
38:57
You know, maybe the guys at Woodward's Collectibles can help
38:58
me, you know, get a certification for it.
39:00
But yeah, they actually got me. And then it's just trying to
39:02
find more stuff. And, you know, there's a lot of
39:05
things to it, but I'm changing my mind.
39:09
If it does change. When that does become a priority
39:12
for the new ownership group, I'm fine with it.
39:15
Okay. So I don't want you to think
39:17
that I'm not okay with it. Because at the end of the day, I
39:21
always say I can only do what I can do.
39:23
I can't change what someone else does.
39:25
So if that's what they want to go with, I'm a fan of the
39:29
burgundy and gold regardless. So whatever the name is going to
39:33
be, it's going to be, but you're not going to satisfy everyone.
39:36
And when that happens, I don't want to hear the oh, I wanted it
39:40
to be the Redwood. I wanted it because no one is
39:44
going to be 100% on board with it.
39:46
So to me it's how it's done though, because they made us
39:49
believe. That we were involved.
39:51
They did just believe that we had a chance.
39:53
I mean, one of the options was Belters, really, Because of the
39:57
Beltway, you know, that was one of the freaking options for the
40:00
name. I mean, it's just stupid stuff.
40:02
One of the options for the Wizards was Sea Dragons, you
40:04
know, or Sea Dogs. Remember exactly which one was.
40:07
They're all horrible. Just don't let us think we're a
40:09
part of it. Because I sat in those focus
40:12
groups. I was a part of those videos.
40:13
You had former players, alumni sit in groups to talk about the
40:18
name. Not one of them said Commanders
40:21
was an option in any of the groups that they were in.
40:24
And then don't tell me it's because you were worried that
40:26
someone's gonna trade market. Guess what?
40:28
You're already in a trademark fight with the damn Commanders
40:31
when you're supposed to do all this damn homework in the first
40:32
place. That's what they said they did.
40:34
Yeah, they did. They didn't.
40:35
No. No.
40:36
So you'd rather be like how Cleveland was just come out with
40:39
Guardians. Boom.
40:40
There it is. That's why.
40:40
Like, I love it. Yeah, If you if you leave, you
40:42
leave. But they're we're the guardian
40:44
now to me, if you leave, you are looking for a reason to leave in
40:46
the first place. And that's my take on people
40:49
right now who who say that they don't want to come back to the
40:53
stadium, or parking is too high or the metro is too far, then
40:56
you don't want to come to a game anyway.
41:00
And Speaking of excuses, Phil Mendelsohn, the chairman of the
41:05
DC City Council. You're just making up, trying to
40:59
find excuses. Sir, I hate your guts and I hope
41:10
you hear this and I'm going to cut it up and play it for your
41:12
office because you, Sir, are a joke.
41:14
You're yelling and screaming now that you don't want the team to
41:18
come back to DC until the Beth Wilkinson oral report is
41:24
released. So you've got Vincent Gray,
41:27
you've got Kenyan Mcduffie, all these other DC Council members
41:30
that are now seeing that there was a new ownership, that Magic
41:35
Johnson, all these guys here, all these philanthropists that
41:39
are from this area, born in Chevy Chase, born around the
41:42
corner, want to bring the team back to the city.
41:45
And you, Sir, are now saying that you won't let it happen
41:48
unless the Wilkinson report is released.
41:51
You got to be kidding. Me now.
41:53
Well, I think that there was a good movie put out that said
41:58
need to make him an offer he can't refuse.
42:01
Well, to me. That too.
42:04
It goes along with it. Yeah, he would love if someone
42:07
ran against his ass and got him out of office.
42:08
It needs to happen. He's making excuses.
42:11
And the fact that we have a gentleman from Kentucky about to
42:15
put legislation in front of Congress to allow the RFK lease
42:19
to be extended. And Phil Mendelsohn, that
42:23
scrawny little dude, is going to stop this fan base in this city
42:27
from Having a stadium back in our nation's capital is an
42:30
absolute joke. And if someone's got to grease
42:32
his palms or get his ass out, something's got to be done
42:36
because a priority is a new stadium.
42:40
We're putting a lipstick on that pig, but after that, we're
42:43
working on something else, and these fans are excited.
42:47
We want it. We're thirsty for it.
42:49
We're hungry for.