UPDATED: Kornheiser, Povich, Gary Williams, Bubes, and Dan Kolko

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Stephen G. "Ghost" Mears

Those are some powerhouse names in the title. Most of them don’t need an introduction in D.C.  How are they all related? That is an easy answer: Chads. Chads? No, it has nothing to do with hanging chads rather Chads the bar and restaurant that has been hanging around Friendship Heights for more than three-decades.

ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser, along with Maury Povich, former Terps coach Gary Williams and businessman Alan Bubes all joined forces in January of 2017 to purchase Chads (nee Chadwick’s), the Washington, D.C. bar and restaurant located at 5247 Wisconsin Ave. N.W. Washington, D.C. in the posh Friendship Heights neighborhood. Don’t get too comfortable with the name ‘Chads’, it could be changed shortly according to Tony Kornheiser who has been accepting ideas for new names on his podcast. The suggestions have ranged from creative, to funny to the somewhat offensive. Can you envision a Mount Rushmore logo with their four punims on it?

Photo from Chads page on Facebook

How does Dan Kolko figure into all of this you might ask? After the new ownership group was formed for Chads, they designed a sound booth to be built inside the restaurant where they could do everything from radio to creating podcasts. When the booth is complete, Tony Kornheiser will record his podcasts there, and so will Dan Kolko who plans to do one to two podcasts there every homestand. Kolko was recruited by Bubes who knew he wanted Kolko to record in the same booth that Tony Kornheiser will be using, and there could be others to join them, and who knows, maybe TalkNats will check out the podcast booth.

It seems podcasts are popping up all over and literally in the air as TalkNats had already launched our first podcast with TV production veterans Kevin Nibley and Bryan King. There is a lot of work to produce a great podcast and Kornheiser has one of the most popular sports podcasts in the country and can certainly mentor Dan Kolko who should not have a shortage of Nats and baseball content. Kolko’s podcast will be titled “Between Innings” and should launch after Opening Day.

Alan Bubes aka “The Socialite” is a face you might have recognized at D.C. social events and Nats Park. Besides being a very successful businessman, Bubes is a philanthropist and very supportive of youth baseball. Bubes is excited about the makeover at Chads where the Washington Nationals will be well-represented on the walls of their restaurant.

“I am a huge Nats fan and am a native Washingtonian and know how great it is these last 10 plus years to have baseball back in D.C. and even better to have such a great successful team on and off the field,” Alan Bubes told us. “We do hope to have lots of Nats fans for the games. We will have lots of great Nats pictures and memorabilia and a ‘real’ Nats feel.”

Besides, Duffy’s, where else did Nats fans have to gather at before? Over the years, we have heard the complaints from our readers that sometimes they have gone to their local sports bar at 7 pm on a Friday night in June, and not one TV has been switched to the Nats game. You shouldn’t have to beg to get the channel changed when your local team is on. Alan Bubes has promised us that if there is a Nats game, it will be on at Chads. In addition, the beer at Chads will be like the starting pitchers for the Nats as they will be excellent and in a rotation. Chads will have a rotating selection of 15 beers and lots of new and local craft beers featured according to Bubes. Besides the drinks, they will have new menu items and a daily special that they believe will appeal to a broad audience and of course the Best Burger in town.

The Povich name has almost been synonymous with Washington, D.C. since the 1920’s when Maury Povich’s father, Shirley Povich, began writing for the Washington Post. Shirley Povich wrote about the last Washington win in a World Series in 1924, and Maury Povich grew up a Washington Senators fan. The pressbox at Nats Park is named after Shirley Povich.

Maury Povich announced on WTTG5 that he was involved with buying into Chads which is a few blocks away from WTTG’s building on Wisconsin Avenue.

“Well, you know, it’s just another stupid investment and my kids’ inheritance will go down some because investing in restaurants is never a good thing,” Maury Povich joked with a smile. “But my pals Tony Kornheiser and Alan Bubes and Gary Williams and I have bought what I consider to be the best watering hole in the neighborhood…So I figured now, if I’m going to pay for drinks, I might as well be paying into a partnership that at least I own part of.”

Recently, Nationals’ first baseman Ryan Zimmerman announced he had invested in a restaurant and was warned against it from a return on investment basis. Zimmerman invested anyway because some restaurants turn out to be great investments and everyone is looking for the next smash hit. Zimmerman’s restaurant is near Nats Park and called The Salt Line.

Nationals’ manager Dusty Baker is in the wine business with his Baker Family Wines. Will Chads and The Salt Line be serving up Baker’s wines? We will have to see! Chads wants to enhance their wine list according to Bubes.

While Dan Kolko has no plans for investing in a restaurant at this time, he is excited about his relationship with Chads and told us that he would love to have Nats fans come out to the restaurant to watch him tape his podcast as it gets recorded live, and his hope is that he can have some fan involvement somehow with a good Nats contingent there on a regular basis.

“Doing a podcast wasn’t anything I had really considered prior to this opportunity,” Dan Kolko said. “But when Alan [Bubes] approached me and asked if it would be something I’d be interested in doing, it was an easy “yes”. It’s an opportunity for me to show more of my personality, to dive into topics at a more in-depth level than I can in my on-field reporting role on any given night, and to cover some light, fun topics both on my own and with players…Tony [Kornheiser] has offered to let me share that space, and I’m thrilled about the opportunity.”

Dan Kolko also reiterated that they want the restaurant/bar to be a great sports destination and have a big Nats flavor.

“It will be a Nationals podcast, yes,” Dan Kolko made clear. “But the podcasting format is such that I could really cover any topic that interests me, sports or otherwise. I want the podcast to be casual, conversational and fun. So if there’s a funny pop-culture topic or a big story from another MLB team or another sport that I want to discuss (along with my producer, John Harvey, who produces our Nats Xtra pre- and postgame show on MASN), then I can and will do that.”

Expect Kolko to delve into the Terps also. You can also bet Chads will be a favorite for Terps fans as the 2002 National Champion coach for the Maryland Terps, Gary Williams, will also be hanging around at Chads often. If you follow Dan Kolko on Twitter, you know about his Maryland roots and his love for the Terps so don’t be surprised if Kolko and Williams are both watching Terps games at Chads.

“I am a big Terps fan,” Kolko said. “But I actually went to the University of Delaware. I’m a local boy from Silver Spring, [Maryland] so I grew up a big Terps basketball fan.”

For baseball, Kolko grew up as a big Cal Ripken, Jr. fan like so many DC area kids did in the 1990’s and Dan was at Cal’s 2,130th consecutive game that tied Lou Gehrig‘s  streak, as well as Kolko was at Cal’s final career game. These days, Kolko’s favorite player seems to be Jayson Werth, and Kolko will appear on a bobblehead with Jayson Werth in a promotion with the Potomac Nationals, and the first 1,250 fans to arrive on Saturday, August 26th will get that bobblehead!

Will Jayson Werth be on a future “Between Innings” podcast?  Kolko says that’s been a popular question since the announcement of the podcast, and that it is Kolko’s hope that it actually happens. Kolko is entering his 6th year with MASN and the Nationals as he started covering the Nats for MASN in 2012, initially handling the beat writing duties for the website, and this will be his fourth season as the on-field reporter.

As for Tony Kornheiser, he will give his thoughts on any subject.

“My goal would be to immediately affiliate with Maryland [Terps] and the Nats, make it a Nats place,” Kornheiser said.

Music to our ears Tony! See you later!

UPDATED with more from Tony Kornheiser:

While Tony won’t be guest bartending, he has asked Chuck Todd from Meet The Press and others. Chuck Todd is a big Nats fan and that will be a must for Nats fans to attend. Connie Chung won’t be guest bartending, but she will be a guest waitress. Maureen Dowd of the NY Times and Wendy Rieger of WRC4 have also been asked by Tony to guest bartend.

New on the menu will be Wilbon’s Chili as the chef at Chads has created a secret recipe just for Tony Kornheiser’s PTI partner Michael Wilbon.

If Tony Kornheiser could have lunch with any Nats player he said it would be Jayson Werth. As far as a baseball executive, Tony would like to lunch with Mike Rizzo at Chads.

“My favorite Nats person to have lunch with is Mike Rizzo,” Kornheiser said.“If I could sit with Rizzo once a week for the whole season and he could really tell me what is going on I would be thrilled.”

Tony Kornheiser has enjoyed his ownership in Chads so far, and he is looking forward to the completion of the podcast studio in the atrium which is scheduled for completion in April.

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