00:00He's Danny, I'm Grant, this is The Fan, we're with you until 6.30 this evening, two hours
00:05from now.
00:06Remember, every day this week, we've got your chance on the show to win tickets to the Freedom
00:11250 Grand Prix right here on The Fan.
00:14We're giving those away at 4 o'clock ahead of the Beltway Blitz.
00:17Let's talk Commanders, though.
00:18Our training camp coverage on The Fan is presented by Paul Henry's Window Installation, paulhenryswindows.com,
00:24your clear home improvement choice.
00:25So last week, the big story was Jaden Daniels sending a cease and desist letter via his
00:31attorney to LSU, and then the fallout therein, which was that a lot of fans in Baton Rouge
00:36were upset.
00:37He's at odds now with the program that he helped to win a Heisman for.
00:42And he's getting memed six ways from Sunday.
00:44So that's where I wanted to go with this.
00:46I am stunned by the reaction being as massive as it was.
00:52The Internet's one of those things where when something becomes mainstream, everyone just
00:57piles on.
00:58So I don't think there's actual legitimate animus toward Jaden Daniels outside of LSU
01:02fandom, probably.
01:04I do think it's a terrible look.
01:05We talked about the optics and how embarrassing and small and petty it all was.
01:09And when you do something like that, you're going to get called out for it.
01:13I kind of thought that would be the end of it.
01:14But, Danny, you're hard-pressed right now to find a Major League Baseball team that
01:19didn't try to post about it this weekend in some, I'll use air quotes, witty way about
01:25the number five, whether it's the score or runs batted in for a player in a game.
01:30Minor League Baseball teams all over the country were doing this.
01:33There were basically non-NFL-level football teams in different places.
01:40Columbia University did it.
01:42Oh, definitely.
01:43Colleges.
01:43It was crazy.
01:44I mean, everyone was getting their shots in on Jaden Daniels in a way that I did not
01:47anticipate.
01:48Yeah, people are talking about he's getting high fours at practice, out of respect.
01:52I mean, it has run rampant and wild.
01:55Because here's the thing.
01:56It's the perfect storm for internet fodder.
02:00Because it's not making fun of an actual crime with an actual victim, right?
02:03Because when something happens and someone does something stupid, you get the, uh, actually,
02:07there are people that were hurt by this, and then everyone, the fun is ruined.
02:10Nobody's hurt.
02:11No one's hurt.
02:11And this is just a whiny, petulant temper tantrum that's being called out as such.
02:16And the idea is that no one can have access to the number five at any time.
02:20And it's delightful, quite frankly.
02:22These are, these are harmless, simple little ones, but it's like the lowest hanging fruit
02:27possible.
02:27The initial response I had to a lot of them, while I'm obviously going to take a little
02:33issue and be defensive because it's my quarterback on my team in my city or whatever, was, this
02:39is funny.
02:40This is like really witty and good.
02:44Now, everyone making the same joke after three or four days where the score is five to
02:49three or you hit a two run home run.
02:50And we won't tell you the score because of our love for Jaden Daniels.
02:54I mean, it was the same thing over and over and over again.
02:57So by the end of Sunday, it kind of had gotten old to me and stale, but I actually think
03:01just
03:01generally, if you could separate yourself a little bit, take off your burgundy and gold
03:06glasses, set them aside.
03:08Like, again, this is a harmless thing.
03:10This is pretty unserious.
03:12That was pretty funny.
03:14Yeah.
03:14The memes were good.
03:15Yeah.
03:15StubHub's like, we can no longer offer tickets of groups of five, either four or six.
03:19I mean, the businesses are getting in on it.
03:21Lots of them.
03:22Because it's, again, it's low hanging fruit.
03:24But that is indicative to me of just how foolish and silly this all was.
03:28Precisely.
03:29A completely unforced error.
03:31A cell phone.
03:33Self-own.
03:34Not a cell phone that you use to call somebody.
03:36A self-own.
03:37I thought you were talking about, like, going to the Verizon store and buying a phone.
03:40Yeah, it's a cell phone.
03:41No, it clearly was.
03:43My question is, do you think a lesson was learned here?
03:47No.
03:48You don't?
03:48I don't.
03:50I've heard people say, like, today, Kevin Sheehan said, of the Kevin Sheehan show, basically,
03:56I think it's his opinion.
03:58I hope I'm not putting words in his mouth inaccurately.
03:59But what I gathered was, he thinks Jaden Daniels learned a lot of this stuff, like, when we did,
04:05essentially.
04:06Or that he just was, like, uninvolved, largely.
04:09And to that, I would say, do I think it is his idea?
04:11Do I think he's the aggressor?
04:12Do I think he's the main party?
04:16The main person here that is trying to get No. 5 retired?
04:22Probably not.
04:23I don't think that's him.
04:24I don't think he cares that much about it.
04:27But I also don't think he's just a complete bystander in all of this.
04:29He's a grown-up.
04:30He's in his mid-20s.
04:32And if he didn't care that much about it, he never would have been on the phone with
04:35Lane Kiffin about it, which we know happened, based on the people we've talked to.
04:38If he didn't care that much about it, then I think you'd probably say, let's not send
04:42a cease and desist.
04:43Or let's not get lawyers involved.
04:44Or let's just handle this behind the scenes like everyone else has, ever, that's been in
04:50this situation.
04:52My point is not, did he learn a lesson, other than maybe in terms of the trust you're putting
04:57in your team, your camp, your agent, the people in your ear, but did they learn a lesson?
05:02Because when people say, oh, move on, this isn't important, Jaden Daniels had so little
05:07to do with this.
05:08First of all, we don't really know.
05:09But second of all, I'll assume like you do, because it's so out of character and it's so
05:13unlike everything else that he's done, that he probably was not the ringleader here.
05:17Okay, true.
05:19But this is relevant from a sheer judgment standpoint if the people around you think this way.
05:25Is this the only time?
05:27Did they learn their lesson?
05:28Or are we going to have to worry about other things, whether it's contract negotiations
05:32or other storylines or some other time when they're upset with something that happens
05:36in the building?
05:37Like, that is important to me.
05:38And it should be.
05:39And again, it's the tone or the underlying point here is you're not doing enough to honor
05:45us from Daniels' camp.
05:48Years removed, when there are so many bigger fish to fry now in the NFL.
05:51Please, please, please lead us to championships.
05:53Please be healthy for 17 games.
05:55Please do so much here, here.
05:57Right now, Washington, D.C., so much to do.
05:59And the camp is basically going, you guys didn't applaud for us enough and aren't doing
06:03enough to make sure that we're revered and this and that and the other thing when the
06:07program will go on without you and they need to win a bunch of games.
06:10Otherwise, coaches get fired and people lose jobs and everything else.
06:13So, to me, it's not, I'm sorry for this, I'm sorry I got caught, which to me is not a
06:21lesson
06:22learned.
06:22And it is instructive.
06:23Now, again, who knows what happens going forward?
06:25Let's say it's contract time, to your point.
06:28And because the first offer isn't exactly as it should be, that's now we're deeply disrespected.
06:35We're profoundly upset or we're sad over this.
06:37And now emotions are entering into negotiation that still could be in good faith, right?
06:42So, I'm not saying that's going to happen or it isn't, but I'm just trying to offer a
06:46kind of a strongman example.
06:47The point here always was, at the core of this, was a grievance, whether you think it's
06:53big, small, or something in between.
06:54That's fine.
06:55We were told by someone that we now know, by the way, based on reporting, didn't have
06:59the authority to withhold that number forever.
07:01However, because that didn't happen, here are now a bunch of levers that I can pull
07:05that have nothing to do with that and a giant tantrum.
07:08So, people rightly are making fun of that.
07:10People rightly are going, that's a petulant tantrum that children do.
07:13That's what eight-year-olds do.
07:15Again, the analogy I used last week, I'll use it again.
07:17My eight-year-old was upset at his older brother, so he said, it's something that has
07:21nothing to do with it.
07:22You can no longer use my Nintendo Switch.
07:25Jayden Daniels is withholding his Nintendo Switch to LSU.
07:28This is not what we should be involved in.
07:30Whether he was the person, the mastermind behind it, we know he's involved somewhat,
07:33to your point about, he spoke on the phone, which is one action too many, in my view, in
07:38this whole thing, to Lane Kiffin.
07:40But they're asking for the Heisman back, et cetera.
07:43This is not a, oh man, I've learned my lesson.
07:47I won't be doing that again.
07:48This is a, we can't believe everyone's reaction to how right we are.
07:52We're correct.
07:53We started this.
07:54This is his business enterprise.
07:55This is his brand.
07:56Whether he's the person pulling the, pulling the strings for the decision or not, they're
08:00representing him.
08:01Of course.
08:02It's part of his, under his house.
08:04That's what I'm asking is, does this lead to him thinking differently or making some
08:10type of change or operating differently?
08:13Putting myself in his shoes, which by the way, those are cool shoes because now I'm so fast
08:20and athletic and have a great arm and arm talent and I can win football games.
08:24Process the hell out of defenses.
08:26I got clowned so badly over these few days.
08:31I went from one of the most universally beloved, no one has one negative word to say about me,
08:37athletes.
08:38We always talk about him wearing the cool kid's jacket.
08:41Like, no one has ever said a negative word about Jaden Daniels nationally.
08:44He was just a dude that everybody likes.
08:46To being the butt of a joke for days on end.
08:50And even if it's fleeting and for a very short moment in the short term, I did brand damage
08:56with this stupid decision that I got nothing out of.
08:59I did destruction to my image based on listening to other people, if most of us are right about
09:04how this happened.
09:06My trust would be frayed.
09:10I would go, well, you were so wrong about this.
09:13If doing the thing that you said we should do led to this, is this someone I need to be
09:18trusting?
09:18Is this how I should be operating in the future?
09:20Do I need to make a change to my team, to marketing, to my attorney?
09:24Whoever says I need to send this letter.
09:27And that's, I guess, my big question is, do we think an adjustment should be made or will
09:33be made?
09:34And where are we in the way of a lesson learned here?
09:37Also, were you surprised at all by how much he got clowned on for a guy that is universally
09:43beloved?
09:44And maybe that's just the state of the internet.
09:47Everyone piles on.
09:48It's harmless.
09:49You don't think much of it.
09:50You fire off your tweet and you're on to the next.
09:52If you're the Orioles or the Reds or the Pirates or every other of the hundreds of teams that
09:57got in on this.
09:59800-636-1067.
10:02We'll take your calls next.
10:03Remember, Eric Flack in about 20 minutes with some news on how much PSLs could cost at
10:07RFK 2.0.
10:08He has some details on that.
10:10Get ready to save up.
10:11G&D on the fan.
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