“Take that Rome!”

Hey, it's Tony on today's show Chuck Todd will call into make his weekly picks against Reginald the monkey will also talk to a book or McFarlane about pro and college football but first let's keep the sales weasels happy. Previously on the Tony corner as a show. That was you go and rubbed a room. I hear it halfway down, you know, the hallway and you go, what are your thoughts of self checkout? Yeah. So I am the best is there's so patient. Right. Yeah, they're going through with me. I'm that person who became my parents. You know, now I'm so old that it's my own grandparent. Buying nutmeg and quality. Well, no, I mean, I'm the one like, you know, the commercial guy stands up there. Jan, Jan, Jan, is it John? John, my beyond. I'm that person. This is General George Washington and you're listening to the Tony corner. So it is Nigel and I this morning Michael has jury duty. It does, which happens in the district of Columbia on a regular basis. I'm too old to serve an jury, but Michael is not and Nigel is not. So we make accommodations for this because this is something that I believe in. You know, you have, there has to be participatory democracy. You have to go out there and be on jury. So I know it's inconvenient, but you have to avail yourself, you know, to be on juries so that the judicial system that we believe in continues to operate in a good way. I don't get to Mike Tomlin in a sec. I just want to just on a personal level. I have been drinking this. It's called Western whiskey. I sips at night, small sips at night. And I've been drinking one called Big Nose Kate for a couple of years, like it very much. Yes. It's, it is on the bottle. It says Western whiskey. There are very, you know, bourbon is a special thing and I guess, rye is a special thing and scotches a special thing that there are categories that you have to fit into. There are achievements you have to make to be named a certain thing. It's in the process of how it is made and what the grains are and stuff like that. Right. You just can't call yourself something if you're not qualified to call yourself something. And this is called Western whiskey. It's made in Santa Fe. I just like it. And we are grateful to have it. Yes. I believe the fellow that we've dealt with his name is Kevin, Kevin Burke. Kevin Burke. Yes. It's very nice. It's extremely nice. Very nice. And a wonderful name for the whiskey, which is Doc Holidays girlfriend. It's his girlfriend, Big Nose Kate was Doc Holidays girlfriend. It's true. It's a venture ever on the label. Very, very nice. All right. Let me get to the stuff at hand, which is Mike Tomlin leaving the Pittsburgh Steelers. Did he jump or was he pushed? I don't know. I suspect he jumped because the Pittsburgh Steelers don't, you know, they don't. I was stunned when the Baltimore Ravens fired John Harbour. Stunt. So it happened within 24 hours and he was fired. And he'd been there for 17 years and he'd want a Super Bowl. And I was stunned at that. I really, I really was. I was not stunned when I found out yesterday we had the show in order. And then about two o'clock news came out that my Tomlin had left the Steelers. I was surprised, but now I wasn't stunned. I would have been stunned had the Rooney family fired him within 12 hours of losing again. And yeah, I would have been stunned at that. That's not how they operate. It just doesn't work that way. Pittsburgh doesn't work that way. This is one of those rare things. You know how, you know, how they, they use this phrase, the coach and ownership or the coach and management mutually agreed to part ways. Right. And that's not true. 95% of the time somebody gets fired. Yes. 95% of the time. I always felt in Pittsburgh that that would be the case that whatever decision was made would be mutually agreed upon. Because it's just the way the Steelers operate. The Steelers had three coaches since I don't know 1967. They've had Chuck Null, Bill Cauer and Mike Tomlin. Each of them has won a Super Bowl. I don't think there's another team like that. I don't think there's another team where the success of coaches have won Super Balls with nobody in between who didn't win a Super Bowl. I don't think there's another team like that. And I think the Browns have had three coaches head coaches in the last month. Yeah. Just for stability. There is one head coach right now in this division. There's a Cincinnati guy who I thought would be fine. The other three are still good. Yeah. Okay. So, um, I should talk about Mike Tomlin a little bit. I was doing Monday night football when Mike Tomlin was named to succeed Bill Cauer. I think he was 34 years old. And look, a lot of organizations want to have younger people. They find somebody they like. They want somebody young. They're going to get a lot of energy from them and not going to pay them a lot of money, relatively speaking. I think in the case of the Pittsburgh Steelers, they really looked at Mike Tomlin. So we really liked this guy. Let's give him the job. And again, Chuck Noel Bill Cauer, Mike Tomlin. I remember thinking when I met him, how smart he was and how good he was at talking to the media is really good at it. I remember that in the second year, I remember talking to him in his second year. And I asked him some question. I won't say it was innocuous, but it wasn't a pointed question on any level. And he said, well, now that I've taken a lap around the track, I think I'm better qualified to answer that. And I just thought, wow, what a great phrase. A lap around the track. See it done one year. I've always thought that he could be great on television. Wilburne pounds his chest and says that Tomlin should be great on television. We make $25 million years. Not going to make $25 million a year. Doesn't work that way. Just because Tom Brady does and Tony Romo does and Troy Ackman, it doesn't work that way. He's never been on TV. You don't know what you're getting. Would you put him in a studio or would you put him in the booth? I would put him in wherever he wanted to be because I think he's that good. Yeah. But let's get to the, you know, my personal feelings about Mike Tomlin are all extraordinarily positive, even though I haven't talked to him in years. I really, really liked him. But let's get to like what happened, you know, with the booing of Mike Tomlin and how this works. People get booed. You don't think they should, but they do. Yannis Ante Ptompo last night was booed in Milwaukee. He gave him a championship. When that long ago was booed in Milwaukee. Fans are fickle. Tomlin understands this better than most. Tomlin, you know, everybody else makes a big deal over what happened with the booing of Mike Tomlin. But Mike Tomlin didn't make a big deal out of it. Mike Tomlin understood it was the prerogative of fans to do things like that. Okay. What are the reasons he was booed? The Pittsburgh Steelers, though he has never had a losing season. And he makes the playoffs routinely and he made the playoffs this year with not a good team. Not a good. They don't have a quarterback. Okay. Since Ben Rathlisberger, they've tried Kenny Pickett and they've tried Mason Rudolph and they've tried Justin Fields. And they have tried Russell Wilson and they're in the process of trying Aaron Rodgers and Aaron Rodgers. I believe might have come back, but I don't think he will now, not without Tomlin. I'm not sure that they'll be welcome back. I think Tomlin would have welcomed him back, but it hasn't worked. The Pittsburgh Steelers got 175 yards total against Houston. Houston's got a really good defense. Ain't that good. Pittsburgh has no offense. They just have no offense. Rodgers is throwing the balls quickly as he can. Let me get this thing out of here. Yeah. Because I'm going to get killed if I don't get this thing out of here. So in the last seven playoff games that the Steelers have made, they are 0 and 7. In the last five of those seven playoff games, they did not ever have a lead in the second half. So they were not going to win. In all seven of them, they were outscored something like 263 to 151. That's an enormous margin. And in all seven of them, the information I got yesterday, which I would have used, but didn't have time. In all seven of them, they have trailed by 21 points at one point in the game. 21 points. I mean, that's, that isn't two scores. That's three. That's three and three touchdowns actually. So there was unrest in Pittsburgh because of that. And Tomlin recognized this. Tomlin, he may have lost some games he should have won, but he shouldn't won the game against Houston. I mean, you know, they made the playoffs because the guy missed a 44 year field goal. You know, they made the playoffs because of that. I was interested. Steve Bisharty, the owner of the Ravens, was asked if if John Harbour would still be the coach of the Ravens, had that field goal gone and he said, yeah, for a week. Yeah, because he was determined that they needed to make a change. Yeah. I did not get the sense that the Pittsburgh Steelers ownership was determined that they needed to make a change. I think if they say they were surprised, then maybe a little bit shocked. Yeah, I can see that. I can see that. So what, what do they do next? I don't know. One of the interesting things was they would hire Kurt Signetti, you know, who was a coach at Indiana, Indiana University of Pennsylvania. It's from I think which is 20 miles from Pittsburgh. Yeah. He may be from that area. He'd be the hottest guy out there now. But I'm, I don't know who they're going to hire. I'm more concerned with what Tom will is going to do. Apparently, Tom and I said he does not want to coach this coming year. So that enables people to offer him television jobs. We'll bond and others think, oh, you have to do that. Well, you don't have to do this. You know what? You know, you could actually take a year off and do nothing. Yeah, go for it. You can think about what you wanted to do. I do, you know, that's what I do now. I'm on television. If you're good at it, I'm not saying I'm good at it. But I've noticed people who are good at it. It comes easily. It comes easily. I think it would come easily to my Tom. That doesn't mean he'd want to do it. And there's another part to this that needs to be considered when you talk about coaches going on television in a critical way. Coaches become coaches because that's what they want to do. They have wanted to be coaches, usually their whole lives. They are smart enough to know that if they go on television and are critical of players and critical of teams and they want to get back into coaching, they've just eliminated a large portion of people that they can coach for or they can coach. So they don't necessarily tend to be critical. You could say, Bill Cower is critical here in the air. But he doesn't want to coach again. He's publicly said he doesn't want to coach again. Yeah. But Tomlin hasn't said that. If I'm correct on this, Tomlin has said I'm going to lay out a year and we'll see what happens. I suspect that's a way of saying, you know, make me an offer. I'll listen to you. I'll sit down with you. John Harbor wants to coach right away. You know, he's a coach. That's what he wants to do. Jim Harbor would go from job to job. Oh, yeah. Coach right away. Andy Reed went from Philadelphia to Kansas City. Coach right away. You know, I don't, I don't again know what Mike Tomlin is going to do. But I'm sure that of the 32 teams in the NFL, at least 20 would throw out their coach to get Mike Tomlin to seize proven. He's no losing seasons in 19 years. None. No, Bill Bellicic check out losing seasons. Yeah. He had losing seasons and Cleveland had a losing season losing seasons in New England. He's the best coach of all time. Yeah. Tomlin had no losing seasons. So I did hear rumor. He either wants to start a restaurant with some friends. Yeah, that would work. Well, maybe do a podcast. Yeah, he could do that. Everybody does a podcast and 80 million podcasts. But you know, that's the unrest would Tomlin was the playoff record. And the fact that people are used to in Pittsburgh, used to having really good teams. And they don't have and haven't had a quarterback for years. Yeah, they haven't. I remember hearing, well, okay, I remember hearing a few weeks ago that Ben Rothosburger who played for Tomlin said, maybe it's time for him to go and thinking, Hey, you shouldn't be saying that of all people on earth. Yeah, you shouldn't be saying that. But I will go back to something that happened on this show. I don't know how many weeks ago it was. But I remember asking Jason Locke and for Jason Locke and for a nose, the NFL. Oh, yeah. He knows what he's talking about. He calls people. He does reporting. I said, you know, just and this was before the regular season ended. I said, you know, with Tomlin and Harbour, do you think that one will be back? Both will be back or none will be back. What do you think the greatest odds are? And Jason Locke and for a quickly said none, quickly said none. Yeah, I was, whoa, really? I said, no, what are you talking about? Can't be true. Was true. Was true. Jason had that. We will take a break. We will have Chuck Todd when we return. Had a really good week, six and two. And so we're ready to go with Chuck Todd. Yes. Yes. I'm Tony Cornheye. You're listening to the Tony Cornheye's or show. This is a song called B-I-M-D. There are periods between the B, the I, the M and the D. I don't know what B-I-M-D stands for. Bring me an immediate doctor. Seems possible B-I-M-D. Bring me an immediate doctor. This is a group called the mixed apes. Normally Nigel gives me copy as to who these people are. They, you know, the emails that they send and we read it. I have nothing in front of me about the mixed apes. I forgot. I printed it up and mixed tapes. Yes. You know, but anybody that's going to call themselves the apes of any kind is on my team. Okay. So I forgot to bring in their email. They're, I'll bring it for Friday show. To ref for some explanation. We'll go back on it. We'll go back on it. They play in Chuck Todd and this week's picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald Amonke are brought to you by Fandall Sportsbook, make every moment more. And Chuck started out all in two and we feared for Chuck, but he won six in a row. Chuck finished six and two. He is now 71 and 67 and I should say that Jeff Ma has hit a cold patch and Chuck Todd and there's not that many games left. There's seven games left really. After this week, there's just like, or maybe less than that. There's not that many games left. But if Ma stays cold and Chuck and Carville get hot, you know, there's a chance that we have chaos at the top of the board, which would of course make me happy. Were you nervous? You missed the first two. I am. I'm really nervous here because you know, I don't know when Carville will deploy the 12 star specials. Yeah. Yeah. Right. You know, that comes at any moment. Right. And it's like, you know, you know, he's, he's going to get you. No, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm relief college spelled out. Yes. Yes. Absolutely. So I'm probably added to the, uh, added to the thing. I'll be honest to, you know, I know everybody else has gone back to work with Miami still in the playoffs and this whole in the college football season still going, I, I still can't focus. I'll admit, I am, I am, uh, I can't get enough of what's happening down in Miami. This is, this is not the game that I expected. It is not, um, the national championship. Are you happy about that? Are you glad to be shocked like that as a sports writer? Yeah. Oh, if I were still, yeah, if I was still writing, I'd be thrilled because I would go, I would continue to go back to the same well about Miami being the last team in and how it, it was a combination of circumstances that made them very lucky and I would not have put them in. Now share something fun with you guys. So, you know, I was, I was pretty confident. Miami was going to somehow get in. So I put a hundred dollars on Miami to win the title, 150 to one. Wow. So I'm sitting on that right now. Well, you want to sell it to someone because you put a bailout. I have, I'm trying to decide how to, I'm going to look, I'm not an idiot. I'm not letting it ride. I'm going to get my money out of it, but I'm trying to decide how to do it. You know, they offer you the cash out or do I just bet on Indiana, which is just sort of, I don't know if I can bring my, bring myself to do that, but, uh, or maybe I do let it ride. I understand the conflict here. And so, you know, I'm, and then there's a, but it's a nice chunk of change. Yeah. I mean, you can do that. Oh, yeah. I should change. Oh, sure. You know, basically pays for my gambling this year. This is the way I would look at it. Yeah. That's, I think it's great. I think it's great for you. But I will say this that Indiana has looked spectacular. Oh, I've never seen this. I am very worried that Miami is, is like the eighth actor in the credit in the supporting cast of Hallmark movie and the stars are Kurt Signati and Fernandum and Noah's right? And we're just, we're just sort of, you know, we're just chum. Right. And that I am, I'm a little nervous about that. That we're just supporting cast and some larger Hallmark movie story here. So let's go to that game right away. Indiana minus eight and a half against Miami on Miami's home field. Are you going to go with Miami? Because you like eight and a half? Look, I, I, I'll say the same thing I did before the Ohio State game. I'm not sure Miami's going to win this game, but I know they're not going to lose by us by more than one score. And what evidence is there that Miami knows how to get me? It's been three years since Miami lost the game by more than eight points. Really? Yeah. Wow. Okay. There are four losses over the last two years. They've all been one score or less. They've all been, you know, last minute, this last minute, that and over time, and SMU and all this stuff. They don't, the way they play, right? They, they keep the ball for 10 minutes, right? Maybe they only get a few gold. Maybe they miss the field goal, but they eat up clock and it's just, they make it very hard for anybody to get margin on them. So I just, you know, I, I think it's a disrespectful line. This eight and a half. And I, you know, so as a, I think it's a great motivator too. But I, I mean, take the, I'll take my, I swear, this is not just green and orange glasses, you know, green and orange glasses, say they're going to win. This is, I think just way too big of a spread. Okay. I think it's all recency bias. And it, here's another way to look at it. I don't know how much you watched the Miami Ole Miss game. But Miami should have won that game by a couple scores. They kind of sloppy. They were sloppy. They sort of kept Ole Miss in the game. If Miami wins that game by two scores, and Indiana wins by, it doesn't win by, is this, is this game eight and a half? Right. I think the blowouts are sort of blinding folks. So that Barra, a Jeff Ma is him here. I think you're, you're seeing the, that if you just looked at it through his, that the process size, you'd be like, okay, all the hipes within Indiana. So this is when you say, I'm okay. They said a lot. That's a ton. And so I love that. Good luck with that. Let's do the four pro games. Buffalo is getting one and a half at Denver. Buffalo had a great win. Don't know if they can do that again. They got one guy. They got one guy. Denver's waiting for them. Who you got? It's the NFL script writers. They got to have Josh Allen in this, right? What happens if they lose Allen? He's a, he's a big deal. Yeah. I'm, I'm, I'm not a believer in Denver. As, I know they have a good defense and it's always not easy to go to that elevation and all that. But you know, he played it Wyoming. Yes, he did. You know, so he knows, he knows what it's like in that, in that, um, elevation in that weird weather. So I'm, I'm, I'm on Buffalo. I think there, if not, as we said last week, if not now, win for Josh Allen, no, my homes. That's why I picked them last week when Will bond did not. I did. All right. 49 is biggest surprise in the first week. 49 is beating Philly in Philly, getting seven. A half at Seattle. It's a lot. It's a division game. Seattle killed them the last time they played, which was only two or three weeks ago. Who you got? You got, you comfortable with Sam Darnel in the playoffs? Not yet. Yeah, I mean, either. That's a, uh, I'm, I'm going to take Shanahan in the points. I, and, and there's a, and I know Seattle blew him out. Yeah, 13 to three could have been 33. Yes. Yes. No, no, no, no, it was, it was weirdly not close, but, you know, Shanahan's got a bag of tricks. The same darn old, you know, asterisk. So prove it to me, Sam. That's fair. That's me giving it an honors. All right, Houston, look good against a nothing team. Come on. Let's be fair. Pittsburgh has nothing. They are getting three at New England. Uh, the quarterback at New England is not going to be the, the sitting target the way Aaron Rogers was. Who you like in that? And Houston showed no offense. None. I'm just going to say nothing. CJ Stroud, what's, what? Yeah, I just, yeah, something's wrong. Yeah. Yeah, something's off there. That's the only, my only hesitant. I, that defense is perotious. Yep. Yep. Um, and, um, is this a night game or not? I don't know. I think it is not. I think the biggest game is the night game. The Houston Patriots. Yeah. It's a three, yeah. ABC. Yeah. So this is the sort of the, the, the dust, the dust. That's probably a minor help. A little nervous here about a dome team in that cold weather. Mm hmm. Uh, and all of that. I, uh, I'm going to, I'm, I'm, it's still a young quarterback. Give me the defense. Give me, take you to the points in the defense. You're going to take three road teams so far. And the next one is the Rams at the Bears. Was that a bad call last week with the road team? No, not a bad call at all. The Rams are at the Bears. The Rams are favored by three and a half. The Bears of the two seed, the Rams are not, um, now this is a home game in Chicago against a Southern California team. Yeah. Then the Bears get their Super Bowl. So you're going to take a fourth road team? Oh, you get three and a half. When you put it like that, I'm asking. Yeah. No, it's, it's, it is, my brain says you got to take the Bears in those points, right? Cause you get the hook. Yes. Three and a half. Um, but there's another part of me that thinks the Bears, um, they celebrate it a bit too much last week. You know what I mean? And you're like, guys, you got that was just a wild card game. Relax. Um, I don't feel good about it. But I'm going to, I'm going to take the Rams. You're going to take a win. I don't trust the Bears. I mean, they should not have won that game. There's nothing to, there's nothing to trust, but they're miraculous. They've won seven games being behind in the last two minutes of the game. Seven games. They're fun. And wait, this is the anti-will bond vote. This is some question. So you just, yeah, we've got, he's going to be insufferable. Yeah. Oh, yes. If they win, oh my God. All right. You know, did you see, you know, there's some, I had to deal with all these bears memes, you know, when you're a Packers fan. So apparently Packers are leading Alex Breggman signs with the Cubs in the third quarter. Everything turns around like all these bears, Cubs fans are crediting the Alex Breggman signing. Really? Was turning, turning around their motivation and not his holiness. Yeah. He has added all this. So, you know, I think his holiness cares a lot more about the white sucks. Dang it. Yeah, I do. Why sucks fans? I mean, that the Pope as American sports fan, you know, there's a lot of weird stuff happening in 2025. That's the best story of 2025. I love this guy. I love his obsession with baseball and I, it makes every time he interacts on sports, it makes me smile. We've got the Pope. Yeah. We've got the Pope caring about football. Hey, who's that, Rome? Let's put that Catholic church. All right. What's off to you later? We hope you win. Thank you, Chuck. I know. Chuck Todd, boys and girls. And if we just gave you Chuck Todd, that would be great. But we give you a monkey. Sing along everybody. Do zoo zoo. Reginald's got the boys. Five two. Sometimes he grows boo. Boo. And he's had too much Johnny walk. So Reginald had been five and two over two weeks. Yeah. He had, we thought turned the corner, but he went back around. He went back right. He was one and two last week. He's now 23 and 34. He's everybody else is 500 or better, but their people. He's still got the best record for a simian. Well, now I think he's under the mistaken belief that if he tanks, he can get a number one draft. No, he's not. And I'm not getting men. No, he's not. So no, he's not. So I went down to the national zoo as I like to do to go meet with him. He was in a meeting with his team as they get ready for an early spring attempt to recreate Contiki. Okay. As you know, Reginald was very close with Thor Hiredor. Thor Hiredor. Really looked at him as a father figure. So this is something he's been wanted to do for a long time. In the final stages of planning with his team, as I said, I know you're always interested in who's on the team. Edwin Moses. Edwin Moses. He can, if they need a heardler, right? Stevie Nicks, which surprised me because I didn't think that she'd be up for this kind of voyage and the Orch brothers, Dane and Goth. Okay. They're really the prime moves of this project. So yes. So who does he like? He's got four games. Well, he's actually going to take the college. He's going to take college. He's going to do five. He's going to do whatever he can to try and get back into this race. Okay. So we did give him the national championship game. Indiana giving eight and a half, essentially, at Miami. And Reginald showed me an old video clip of him auditioning for the role that eventually went to Dennis Hopper in Hoosier's shooter, I think, was his name. Tells me he's got ties to Indiana. He will take the Hoosier's in life. I think I would take Indiana as well. I understand Chuck Todd's point of view. I understand it. And if there's a win, boy, that's a lot of money. Yeah. There's a lot of heart in that pick for him. So, you know, as opposed to that, but how can you not take Indiana? It's all string everybody. All right. The next match we gave him was the bills getting one and a half at Denver. And Reginald again showed me nice video clip of him performing on stage at Red Rocks with John Tash. So that tells me Red Rocks courses in Colorado. Tells me he's got ties to the mile high state. He'll take Denver. He'll take Denver and lay the one and a half. And Denver. Okay. Now the next one we gave him was the 49ers getting seven and a half at Seattle. And this was a lovely photo that Reginald showed me, pulled it out of his wallet, traveling on the Orient Express with Steve Lodge and Xavier McDaniel and the big dumper, Cal Rolli. He's going to go Seattle. Gonna go Seattle with that one. Yeah. My heart is with San Francisco on that one. Now, you know, but I'd Seattle just just destroyed them in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. They did. And that 49ers now have no George Kittle. They don't. So I don't know. And I'm blanking. Who is it that's saying I left my heart in San Francisco? Tony Bennett. There we go. Tony Bennett. Yes. So next match we gave him was Texans at New England getting three and showed me a picture of him playing, Reginald playing with football at the Kennedy compound in high Annas with Dustin, Pardroy, Billy and Jim Rice. So he's going to go to New England. Gonna go to England. So he's he's going completely opposite from Chuck Todd. Yes. Now, so far we'll see what he does in this last one. Yeah. And again, he showed me. You're going to be jealous of this is where the Rams are favored on the road in Chicago. In the winter. Southern California team. Yes. Reginald showed me a photo of him playing golf at Michael Jordan's course. It was called Grove 23 in his foursome Jordan, of course, Wilbonne, of course, Richard Dent and Patrick Kane. Everybody on the text chain. So he's going to go with the day. Or she's going to go completely opposite humcooking. So he's not doing the anti-Wilbonne. No, he's he's on board with Wilbonne. All right. That's your sugar. This week's picks with Chuck Todd and Reginald Monkey. I've been brought to you by Fandall Sportsbook. Make every moment more. We will come back with Bogram McFarlane. I am Tony Cornheiser. Project Hill Mary is the cinematic event of the year. The world is counting on you, Dr. Grace. Starring Ryan Gosling. I'm not an astronaut. Two worlds, one impossible mishag. So I met in Alien Project Hill Mary. You are bravest human I have ever met is joke. I only meet one human and is you in cinemas everywhere March 19. This is the Tony Cornheiser Show. Tony Cornheiser Show. Once again, these are the mixed apes or the mixed tapes. We don't know exactly what it is. Cos Nigel did not provide all the information that we needed. It is mixed apes. This is a song called Simple and it plays in Bogram McFarlane who is great for us because he can talk about the pros and he can talk about the college. Let me get to the college first. Your thoughts on Indiana and Miami. Indiana has been a jug or not. What do you look at looking at for that game? Yeah, I think a lot of people can't wrap their heads around Tony. Just how good Indiana is being because you say the name Indiana. But they've been the best football team all season. And I think if you just watch the tape and watch them on the field, they got a quarterback who's going to be drafted number one in the draft, going to Las Vegas. They got a head coach that exudes confidence and brashness and toughness. And everything you were wanting to head coach. There are one of the older teams. Here's something I don't think a lot of people know Tony. So if you think about like BYU back in the day and even to a certain extent now, BYU was always an older team because a lot of that player was one of the more mission. Yes, correct. Yes. So they were playing with guys that were 23, 24 years old. Right. Well, Indiana is basically doing the same thing. And they're doing it because of the players they targeted. They targeted older players. I want to say 48 to 50 of their players are between 22 and 24 years old. So what does that mean? Basically, it means that they got a 22 year old going against some 19 year old. And talent aside, the body is physically more mature at 223 than there's a 19. So you combine all those things together, Tony. I think you see why they've been really good this season. Miami, if Miami plays up to their potential, Miami can compete with them. But the key is going to be can Miami not shoot themselves in the foot? Can it cost them back play to a level which we think his talent can do? If that's the case, I think we're going to be in for a good game. But if Miami plays the way they've consistently played, which is a lot of mistakes, up and down, then I think Indiana is going to wake up Tuesday morning, the national champion, something nobody else in America would have thought it was a side. Ever. Ever. Well, 100 years of losing. No, it's great story. It is a great story. Let me turn to the pros. You played in the league when Mike Tomlin started coaching with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Were you surprised? Were you stunned? What are your thoughts on him walking away? I'll take you even back for it. Mike Tomlin was the secondary coaching temple when I was there. Oh, I saw it. I saw a young Mike Tomlin. Mike Tomlin and I used to have conversations on the practice field, walking off the practice field. He was always inquisitive about other positions outside of the one that he was coaching. And you know, you fast forward to now, I've not been surprised when I owed everything that Mike Tomlin has achieved. What you see is what you get. He's very detailed oriented. He is a player's coach to a certain point because he will tell you exactly what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. I think he's a Hall of Fame head coach. And you know, some people will look at the last several years and say the lack of playoff wins. What I would say about Mike Tomlin is, 19 years and one place is a long time. I think especially when you start talking about a job. I think he did a good job at his job. There's a lot of people who have done it there in any professional sport. Whether he coaches again or not, I don't know. I think he's going to take a year off. All of his children are grown. I think he's going to either do TV or travel and spend time with his family. He's deserved the right to do that. Oh, you know, I concur. I really like Mike Tomlin. I spent the opening of the show talking about Mike Tomlin. I am curious about this. And Aaron Rogers was doing the post game press conference. He talked about what a great year he had and how much fun it had been. And I think a lot of that was probably Mike Tomlin, who never undercut him, never under cut him. And I think I had the sense that Rogers might even come back, but I don't think that will happen now. I don't think another coach will want Rogers. I think it's done. What do you think? 100%. I think Rogers came because at the end of the day, I think Mike Tomlin told him, I need you. I need each other. And I think Aaron Rogers understood what type of coach he was going to play for, which is the reason why I think he came to Pittsburgh. Now that Mike T's gone, Aaron Rogers is what 42. I don't think Aaron Rogers plays again in the National Football League. And I think he's a first ballot, Chewie and Hall of Famer. And here's the irony. He might go in with Mike Tomlin if Tomlin doesn't coach. If he doesn't think about that. Yeah. If he doesn't, I mean, I look, I said this before. You know far better than I. I think when people become coaches, it's because they like being coaches. I would be surprised if he never coached again. I am surprised. Cower never coached again. I think Tomlin will go back and coach again. What do you know better than I? What are your thoughts? Well, let me push back on that because, you know, Cower never came back. Genji never came back. Are we sure that Mike Tomlin wants to come back? I get the job. I mean, I don't know if he's going to come back. Like, well, we've seen instances where coaches have come back like Peyton, but I've seen a few that didn't come back. Well, I don't know if they were offered jobs. I mean, Tomlin will have his pick of pretty much of whatever he wants. Yeah, I don't know. I mean, I really don't know. I just think I believe at my age that Mike Tomlin at 53 is a young man with 12, 15 more years to give to whatever he wants to do. If it's coaching, I think he could do it. Because I think he's really good. I really enjoyed talking to him. But do you want to spend those 12 to 15 years? And here's a conversation that I think is a little deeper. If you think about this, Tony, like we spend a lot of our life in a certain profession or whatever it is that we want to do. And we accumulate a lot of things. At what point do you start to enjoy the things that you've accumulated? And I would ask you that as a rhetorical question also, as a question that I would like to answer to it, because you've been super successful doing what you've done. At what point did you come out of the attic and say, I just want to go enjoy life and play the best golf courses in the world and not have to show up and listen to Wheel Bond every day at 530. I have to tell you that I still really like it. I need structure in my life. I need a job. I would go insane without it. I couldn't play seven days a week. So for me, I'm doing what I want to do. You know, not everybody at this age does anything. As long as somebody will have me, not somebody will have me, as long as the show still exists and they want me, I like to do it. That's me personally. But I'm old. Let me get to some of these games. The surprise to me in the spreads, Rams are favored by three and a half in Chicago. There are Southern California team. This is Chicago in January. And Chicago finds ways to win all the time. Are you surprised by that spread three and a half? No, I'm not surprised by the spread, but I'm not smart enough to understand how to make them. Here's what I know when it comes to the football teams. I think people have said and kind of talked all year long that if the Rams play their best, their ceiling is higher than anybody else's. I think when you look at defensively, the front seven, the quarterback offensively, Sean McVey, he's been there done that like the combination of McVey and Stafford is already one of Superbowls. I think Vegas is giving them credit for that. I think even though we've seen the Superman-like place from Caleb Williams, I think there's still to be a little bit of a gunshot method as far as Vegas with Caleb Williams because we haven't seen him do it consistently. We've seen the fourth quarters in the splash plays and overtime, but have we seen the consistency from Caleb Williams? Like he was, I don't know, like he completed like 58% of his passes the other day. And I think the Bears defense, if they don't get turned over, they stink. And so I think when you combine those things together, I think you're betting on the consistency and the ceiling of the Rams over the showmanship and power of Caleb Williams in the Bears. Okay, that sounds fair to me. I mean, the Rams, the 49ers and the Seahawks are three of the last four teams in the NFC. They're all from the same division. The record, their record against the rest of the league, not against each other against the rest of the league is 40 and seven. That's remarkable how good they are. It leads me to this question. The 49ers got drummed by Seattle in Seattle a couple of weeks ago. You give them any sort of chance? I give them a college shenanin IQ chance. And what I mean by that is this. If you look at the roster's on paper, they're depleted. I think five out of their top seven money making players are no longer playing. Might to hurt whether they're hurt or injured. But the reason they won the game against Trill of the Elf is because of college shenanin. I mean, think about the trick play he designed for a touchdown. Brilliant. Think about Robert, Robert Sala and their defense and how they play. Like it's a perv coaching staff in San Francisco. And if Seattle, and by Seattle, I mean, Sam Donnell, who we had 20 turnovers this season, if Sam Donnell turns the football over Tony and college shenanin is in his back and he has one of those days, yes, they can win. Would I bet on them winning? No, because I think Seattle, their defense is top five. I think their team is led by one of the great young leaders in the national football league and Mike McDonald. The only thing that scares me if you'll see how to see Hawksman is Sam Donnell. Because usually, usually in the biggest moment, he comes up the smallest. Yeah. Yeah, this is his opportunity. This is opportunity to write his own history. It is his opportunity. Let me move to the other games. I know you got to get out of here. Texans at Patriots, bills at Broncos. The sentimental favorite would be the bills would be Josh Allen. He was, he was everything last week. You give them a chance in Denver? Yeah, because I think that if you ball this game down to this, is that it's Josh Allen against one of the best defense in football. And then it's Votingx against Sean McDermott, who showed you what he can do, how he had Trevila and a bottle the other day. Yeah. And so I think I think when it's all said and done, Tony, I think you got to side with Josh Allen, right? Like he's the he's the reigning MVP until we give it to Stafford. Yeah. And so I just think that if you look at this game, we had the same game last year. Remember, it was except it was in Buffalo. And you know, the game that was in Buffalo, we saw Votingx and I get it. And he was a rookie. He didn't play well. And so as Votingx learned, 365 days or so from last year, it's rare. You're a number one seed and you're an underdog. Denver opened as an underdog. And I think if you were a betting person, you probably put a lot of money on Josh Allen. And I think I would take some of that corn hires with money that you've been storing and storing in the attic. And I think I would put it, I would put my money on Josh Allen. And I know it would be an upset because they got like three wide receivers that are healthy. They're not good. They've got him. That's all they got is him. Yeah. They got him and James Cook Tony. That's what might be enough. All right. All right. You got to heart out. You got to go 10 seconds Texans Patriots. Who you like? Texans got the best defense in football. I believe in defense. I played on one as long as CJ's frowled and remember to hold on to the football. I think the Texans upset the Patriots in Foxboro. I will see on PTI in a couple of days or one day, whatever it is. Thanks, booger. Anytime. Can't wait, sir. Look at McFarlane boys and girls. We will take a break. We will come back with email in Jingle I am Tony Cornheiser. You're listening to the Tony Cornheiser show. Read that mail now, baby. This is my favorite. It's still good. It's still good. This is my favorite. I've been carrying it with my favorite. You want to do the Bethesda bagel there? Yes, Bethesda bagels. We love them. You as well. Just go to Bethesdabagels.com. For the location in the DC area near Stude, then pop on in and you'll be thrilled. Before we get to the mail bag, let me just say mama look down, spit on the ground every time an egg gets mentioned, pop a sit-off. If I get that boy I'm going to stick him in the house of detention. Well, I'm on my way. I don't know where I'm going. I'm on my way. I'm taking my time, but I don't know where. Goodbye Rosie, Queen of Corona. See me and Julio down by the school yard, the brilliant Paul Simon. The brilliant Paul Simon. Thanks to our guest today, Chuck Todd and Bogum McFarlane. Thanks as well to today's sponsors. You can listen to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Odyssey. Get show through Apple. Please leave us a review from Chris Redding in Locust Grove, Virginia, formerly of Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania, thinking about close encounters with astronauts. When my partner was earning her PhD, she was in a program with and befriended Zena Cardman, who assumed command of the International Space Station last August. The crew is scheduled to return to Earth this Thursday, January 15th. That is tomorrow. Does that count? I can also throw in the fact that I own the Elton John album, Honki Shatto, which has Rocket Man on it. Yeah, that's so weird. That counts. It's Rich Clifford. These games, your mailbag perpetuates, have left me very little room to contribute. But if the new game is meeting an astronaut, I've got it covered. My father was an astronaut. Michael Richard Clifford graduated first in the class at West Point, served in the Army as a helicopter test pilot, and eventually flew on three shuttle missions in 92, 94, 96, for a total of 27 days in space. He passed in 2021 with complications. From Parkinson's, as the father to whom I'm related by birth, I've clearly met him as well, as nearly every other astronaut living in Houston in the 90s and early 2000s. Most recently, one of your mailers mentioned J. Aptan, astronaut who flew on the STS-59. That's incredible. That is incredible. I should say, are man from NASA? No, I said, can I get an astronaut? Well, you know it's every part of me. You've got that fair advantage. Dan Thorner from Bovewarr and Bulldog Baseball in Washington, DC. The Transons play. Oh. Yeah. So happy that the new game, the time I met an astronaut, is one I can finally play. And mine comes with a side helping of connective tissue. I am and have been an elementary school teacher at Bovewarr for 20 years. Several years ago, one of my students was the daughter of Denise Graves, who was most well known for singing a mailbag jingle while also being recognized by some as the greatest American opera singer of the 21st century. When the Smithsonian got to NASA, to give them the space shuttle discovery for placement in the new Udvar Haysie Center of the Air and Space Museum out by Delas, they asked Ms. Graves if she would sing the national anthem at the arrival ceremony. She said she'd be happy to, as long as they reserve 25 front row seats for her daughter's second grade class. A deal was made in April of 2012. I got on a bus with 20 students and a couple of shaperones to the far reaches of Northern Virginia. There was then, as there always is, heavy traffic and we were late, but since Ms. Graves refused to sing until we were seated, the start of the ceremony was delayed. Eventually, we arrived and with police clearing a path through the crowd, we made our way to our seats. After getting the kids to their seats, I sat down oblivious to my surroundings. And then gentlemen next to me reached his hand out and said, I'm John Glenn. Glenn, you can make it. Wow. I was lost for words. I would be too. Which Michael knows is not normal for me and managed to mumble that it was an honor to meet the true American hero. We honestly joked that they didn't hold the show up for him. So we must be the important ones. The ceremony was awesome as they had the outgoing space shuttle enterprise. Knows to knows with the newly arrived discovery and he sent a photo of that. And we were allowed to walk right up to them and see the scars from space travel and the panels that had to be entirely replaced. It was a day that the students and I were thrilled to be a part of. Even if they were not nearly as excited as I was about the old guy sitting next to Mr. Thorner. Thanks as always for the hours of joy and distraction you all provide. And if it's not already taken, can I be the official elementary school teacher and youth baseball coach of the show? Sure. Absolutely. Yes. Thank you. And he shows the pictures and it's remarkable pictures. David Bradley in Sterling, Virginia, please add my name to what I'm sure is a very long list of listeners putting out the soldier field was not built in 1912 as Wilbond said on Monday. It opened in 1924. It's also going to take Wilbond longer than an hour to drive from Chicago to Los Angeles for the Rams game but that's another story for another day. That's that's yeah. Well, Bernie. Yes. Greg in New York City, dear Dr. Captain, sounds like you didn't prepay your Wi-Fi for the season. Didn't you get that email? It's funny. Noah in Austin, during Friday's mailbag segment, you read an email from Eddie Madden and Mary Mack Massachusetts. It's always a treat to hear you read the name of a town close to in this case directly next to my hometown of Amesbury. My excitement grew when it became clear that Eddie's email was about Candlepin bowling, given its proximity to the town line. I had a hunch. He would mention Baldin Ellie's bowl away and was thrilled that he did. My dad, a listener of this thinking show grew up in Amesbury. Over the years, he shared his fond memories of riding bikes down Route 110 to Baldin Ellie's with friends, bowling a few strings and heading across the street to Dick and June's for an ice cream. I went on to make my own cherished memories at Leo's Super Bowl, as it was known in my childhood. Leo's was a popular spot for birthday parties and awkward middle school date. There's nothing quite so romantic as wearing other people's shoes and sweating your butt off as you roll gutter bowl after gutter bowl. Well, bright and colorful lasers of light strobe from the ceiling and mamba number five, blaster, road quality speakers. So, wonder, no, no, those things panned out. I even worked there for a while, spending most of my eighth grade Sunday morning setting up for birthday parties, sweeping lanes and retrieving stockpins when necessary. But most of all, I think of spending weeknight evenings at the lanes watching my grand bowl in a league, often on a team with my aunt and uncle. Her form was calm, if not downright slow, and the ball seemed to crawl to the pins while folks to her left and right hurl rockets down the lanes. The sound of her ball colliding with the pins may not have been the same crack as others, but you certainly heard the pins fall and fall they did. She held her own for a five foot nothing grandmother, a someone who grew up in New England and was proud of those things that were uniquely ours. It's been a delight to hear the talk about candle pin bowling the last couple of weeks. Lee Stevens and Macina New York, that's upstate. I'm getting a colonoscopy on Thursday. I figured you want to know. Good luck. Yeah, I'm glad you're doing it. Yes, good for you. Good luck. Well done. Reese, Reese not. I'm just starting to plant my potatoes and my two late any tips. Might be a bit early. I think early rather than late, late for last year, little early for this year. For me, I'm June L.A., Adela, when I heard you rant about the raisin's scone and you are shocked at the cost, I assume you were talking about a $9 scone. $3.95, it would almost be worth my time and money to head to the DMV. I've stopped the three local places over the last two days and the least expensive scone I could find was $6.50. I would send you one for comparison purposes, but I know you would just hate it. Yeah, I don't. You don't find one. I don't want scones. No. Well, why a tool in Omaha, Nebraska, everyone proof that the multiverse exists where there are an infinite number of variations in our universe? Well, I'm in Nebraska where we affectionately call the basketball team, Nebraska ball. Yeah, Nebraska ball. A team that is the only power conference school to have never won an NCAA tournament game. Northwestern was our colleague in misery in this category until they got promoted a few years back. So that's the context of Nebraska ball, which is now undefeated. Most now know that Indiana football was the losingest college football team in history. So it's fair to say that we are the only universe where Nebraska ball is ranked in the top 10 in Indiana footballs in the national championship game. I bet there's another universe where you and Kerry Russell locked eyes on set of the Americans and ran off together, leaving Matthew recent tears. But every universe in the multiverse has an old ball and orange cramudge and because your crankiness is not bound by the laws of interdimensional physics. From Cameron Thompson, on Monday show, you seem to struggle with the concept of kilometers. I thought I would write in and try and explain it to you. You see, like most countries in the world, we use the metric system. In this case, we use the meter to measure distance. A millimeter is 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 or a kilometer is 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 See, pretty straightforward. Now, can you please explain the relationship between yard, feet, and miles? I'll hang up and listen. No, I can't. No, I think Nate Bargaz, you can't say that. I can't say that. From Eugene, I'm a fairly new listener to your podcast. Not Eugene, Oregon, Eugene, the person. But I've been watching PTI for well over 20 plus years. If I had known about your podcast, I would have been an avid listener there also. I thought it funny that today, when I saw an Apple update from my phone that it now provided an option to cancel the update. The update, God's, must be listening to you. Nice. From James Clements in Culpepper, Virginia, as I'm sure many other listeners can relate, my intelligence is held in low regard by the person to whom I'm related by marriage. As a consequence, things I spend a lot of time doing, like listening to this podcast, rarely generate more than an eye roll. She would rather spend our free time discovering new music. Well, my world's collided this morning when she was so excited to tell me that she'd just heard this great band with the best name, Post-Sex Notchance. My immediate reaction was to eye roll and let her know that thanks to the podcast, I've known about the band for years by doing so I confirmed her opinion of me. If only I'd replied, good thing I bought tortilla chips at the Safeway yesterday. I might be melting cheese right now instead of writing this email. Thank you and the team for making all of us a little bit smarter, even as we do all we can to keep proving otherwise. From John Tagliorene, I wanted you to know that construction continues on State Street, Highway 69, between 1st Street and 11th and Ankeny, Iowa. I'd avoid if possible as traffic is slow and you can't make left hand turns. It's good update. Mick McCabe and Alan Park Michigan, the Golden Globes finally awarded a Golden Glove for best podcast and Mr. Tony doesn't win. Worse yet he isn't even nominated Amy Polter one but does our podcast give information for life? Does she have a monkey on the podcast? You should have sent the voters a box of that. Maybe Mr. Sherman can fix this. Yeah, you know, we were nominated. Yeah, for her. She's funny. She's very funny. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're funny. Congrats. From Jeff Bartlett and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, dear Captain Ron, the recent talk about dialing for dollars and bowling for dollars brought to mind the story and not so happy ending for a Pittsburgh bowling for dollar sales in 1980. Nick Perry, who in addition to hosting bowling for dollars on a local Pittsburgh television station, was also the announcer for the Pennsylvania Lottery's Daily Numbers Show. The game consisted of three machines with numbered ping pong balls. A numbered ball was taken from each machine which would then be the daily number. Mr. Perry, who was one of two people who had access to the machines and a few Coke and Spiriters decided to fix a drawing by weighing down all balls except four and six with small drops of paint. That night's drawing resulted in the number 666 being drawn. However, the unusual betting patterns caught the attention of lottery officials who started an investigation. The Coke and Spiriters quickly gave up Mr. Perry who was eventually convicted of several crimes and sentenced to seven years in prison. This crime became the basis of the 2000 movie Lucky Numbers starring John Travolta and Lisa Kudra. On a separate note, my birthday is on Sunday, the 18th, just curious where you'll be. And one would be best for me to call. Patrick Finsensia, Laurel Merlin, dear doctor of humane letters, illegal screen. That's it. That's the illegal screen. Yeah, keep going. And Tim Owens and Lakeland Florida, this is my third email. I'm a two time loser. Would it help to mention that I'm a 65 year old boy? I also like the show so far. So far. You're in. Throughout any bike time, everyone is always. Do where, why? What is Argo mean? I don't know. You don't know? It means Argo is well. Ha, ha. I remember days when the radio plates, I think, called music. None of these tattooed freaks with the battery, Pete Slurring, I wear it sounding like a few kids. Whatever happened to the shows that everybody knows, and we all follow from the beginning. And why does every hair dryer say that I'm a catch fire? If I try to use it while I'm swimming, I'm tired of everything new. Would it take if I wanted to make things like 1982? Maybe get my bell gross shoes, because I'm tired. And I want to go lay down. I got a new track, a smoker, and a handheld blow. You can call me King of the Lone. And don't get me going, man, this guy starts snowing. I can have it up before I can throw. I look around the neighborhood, and I never understood. Why nobody's out here with me. Sure it's five in the morning, and the engine's all rolling. But don't we all wake up at three? What ever happened to pry? Would it take if I wanted to make things like 1979? I'm angry all of the time, but I'm tired. And I want to go lay down. I'm running strongly with the letters, because my new shoes didn't make my balance any better, what a lie. And when my grandson called me, I can cool like my colleague saying, what's up, I just tell him the sky. I'm not going to change it all. Because everybody else is wrong. I break it down. How do you work to smooth too? Where's the weather man's proof? Can we bring back steam or queen? I'm frightened by the internet. Smoke a cup of cigarettes before I take it to our feet. Give me Ronald Reagan, coat a chrome, ran to Jackson, super dome, kids watching boze of a clown. The world is moving fast, I don't want to get passed by. Maybe it comes back around. I'm tired of having to change. What'll it take if I wanted to make things like the good old days? I'm bothered that's the phrase that pays. But I'm tired, so I'm going to go lay down. Some lies, open chains, you could bring me, oscillate. So I'll take one's skin, life so simple now. We then I'd be braided out. Just for a bonfire. Yeah, yeah. Look at that. Look at that. There you go. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Thank you for bringing it to me. I'm awake. I'm awake. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. So simple now Breathing and breathe out Breathing and breathe out Breathing and breathe out