Red Heads

There is nothing that entertains the audience and the masses more than me being bothered. And yes, he's got attitude.

Really, none of the game made sense to me. And that's exactly why you love him. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together. You are on a Monday drive at his WSJS NewsTalk Sports for the Triad, where there's quite a bit happening right now. NC State, currently in an elimination game at the College World Series, facing the Florida Gators. We'll have updates from Omaha throughout the show.

Later tonight, it'll be Game 5 of the NBA Finals, which we'll hit on in just a minute. But we must start with what happened within our state's borders over the last week. Just as much as Bryson DeChambeau won this weekend, Pinehurst did too. Number two was a huge winner this week because it just hosted an all-time U.S. Open.

It's a final round that's not going to be forgotten anytime soon. It's the greatest open in at least 15 years. Really, it goes back to Tiger Woods on his bum knee for a single playoff on 18, beating Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines in 2008. Then before that, Pinehurst in 99. So this is going to be a touch point U.S. Open, yet another for Pinehurst. And that is enough to consider Pinehurst big winners.

This had everything you could ask for that final round. The agony of one of the most popular players in the sport, certainly over the last decade, maybe over the last few decades. And Rory McIlroy experiencing perhaps the low point of his career. Leading by two shots on 15 and three putting a couple of times, bogeying on three of his final four holes.

You had that happening concurrently with a crowning achievement for another star in Bryson DeChambeau. Some are calling Bryson's shot out of the bunker from 55 feet away. One of the greatest shots in the history of the U.S. Open, which just had its 124th tournament.

That's as far as some people are going. Certainly one of the greatest shots in the modern history of this tournament. After 2014, which was the last time Pinehurst hosted the U.S. Open. The golf course deserved this. Pinehurst deserved a major like this. Because while this tournament might have been the best one we've had in over 15 years.

2014 might have been the worst major in recent memory. That was Martin Keimer running away with things. It's a no name golfer. Beating the rest of the field by a ton.

No stars at the top of that leaderboard. And Keimer, he did all his damage in the first two rounds. He was 10 under par with two 65s the first two rounds. And then shot one over over the final two holes.

And it didn't matter. He still won by eight shots. That's about as bad as a major championship can be in terms of a storylines angle. No, you don't have a star winning.

No, you don't have drama. And no, the guy didn't even run away Tiger style from 2000 or 99 or Rory at congressional. You don't even have that crowning storyline because he wasn't even great the last two days of the tournament. This year gave us stars.

This year gave us drama. It's all you could ask for when trying to map out a dream scenario for your golf course hosting the U.S. Open. And speaking of the course, it played perfectly. It played exactly how you wanted it to. Great golf shots were rewarded.

It wasn't so tough where you're just putting players through hell and it seems hopeless at points. But it wasn't birdie fest either. It wasn't Zander Shafley at the PGA shooting 21 under par. A champion at six or seven under par is chef's kiss.

Perfect. It's not too crazy where you have the 2005 Pinehurst champion Campbell shooting one under to win the tournament. But it's not birdie fest either.

It's exactly what you want to create. Riveting television, a riveting tournament and still watching these world's best tested and showing off what they're capable of doing, facing a course that is worthy of their ability. And the other thing is we know that the U.S. Open is going to be back soon. 2029 can't get here soon enough.

But we know because of the USGA planning roots at Pinehurst, 2029 it'll host, 2035 it'll host, 2041 and 2047 as well. A huge winner this weekend. Pinehurst number two in addition to Bryson DeChambeau winning his second U.S. Open and second major altogether. ACC legend Bryson DeChambeau. That is. He's an SMU Mustang.

A lot like Payne Stewart, which you might have heard a couple hundred times on the broadcast. OnX at WSJS radio if you want in. That's where we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch. However, and wherever you are listening or watching, we appreciate that.

Will Dalton. Yes, I do produce this show. It's the same bit for three, four straight shows now, three straight shows. Well, hey, there's a lot going on out here.

I do produce this show. And in doing that, I also provide the baseball updates. Because right now we do have some live action in NC State going up against Florida. And listen, NC State, they got on the board first one to nothing. But then in the third or second inning, there was a flurry of hits from Florida along with a home run. Four to one Florida pack leading NC State in the third inning. The pack spoiled an opportunity with the bases loaded.

We're only able to cross one run. Florida had the bases loaded and scored a runner on a sack fly to even it up with two outs. And then the next batter was the one to belt it to the deepest part of the park. However, NC State just whacked one to left. And I believe that's the former East Carolina pirate. That just belted one out of the park, Alex Makarevic, who just hit the home run to left. Four to three.

That's a two run shot for NC State. And we'll keep you posted on that. Darren Vaught was in Omaha over the weekend. He'll join us to answer unusual questions a little bit later on. You know what we have this week, Will?

The WDS. The first category, we're going to do it different categories are the WDS every day. First category will be in 10 minutes where Will Dalton goes back on the 100 movies that he's watched over the last couple of years. Thanks to this show and will give us his best his award winners in Oscar like categories.

The first category being 10 minutes from now. But shifting things to basketball. Once again, the Boston Celtics clinch an NBA title tonight. The last time the Celtics won. Same year that Tiger Woods won Torrey Pines.

It was two thousand and eight. They finished off the Lakers on their home floor and did so with a resounding thirty nine point win. It was a Boston massacre, Boston, and we just might see a similar result tonight.

The Celtics are going to leave no doubt against the Mavs in tonight's game five. It's almost better that they got crushed the way they did, the way they got drubbed in game four in Dallas. It's so much easier to flush being blown out than having a close call. Close calls, overtime games, particularly those can carry over and be a problem for you. Those types of losses can beat you twice.

But when you get beaten badly. All right. Let's turn the page from that. We're not even going to watch the tape that we're going to burn the film from this one. We're not going to look back at that. Dallas, they were at home on Friday night. They were playing for pride in game four.

We're not going to get swept after getting blown out. Boston, they are going to be playing for pride tonight in addition to a title. And they are the ones on their home floor that will show the Celtics. They've clearly demonstrated they are the better team in this series.

They are the superior team. They've lost three games the entire postseason. It's their fourth round of postseason games. They've lost three games. They've had the best record all year long.

Only lost 18 regular season games, 64 and 18. They have five of the seven best players in the series, maybe six of the top eight. It's a matchup problem. The Celtics, the number one three point shooting team in the NBA by percentage. Number one in attempts as well, facing a team that leans on rim protection defensively. It's been a bad matchup, five out offense against Dallas rim protectors. Tyree Irving facing Drew Holliday and Derek White. It's just not a feasible matchup for Dallas.

And we know this. So, yes, Boston is going to win tonight. And it is a night that's been seven years in the making. 2018, ever since LeBron was taken to seven games by Jason Tatum and Jalen Brown in Tatum's rookie year, 2018, remember when Tatum had that dunk over LeBron in game seven, even though Boston didn't end up winning the game? That's when the window opened for the Celtics run. Since then, they've been to four Eastern Conference Finals. This is their second finals trip. And they're looking for that title, which would be their 19th all time, 18th or 19th. Right now, they're tied for the Lakers for the most ever.

Their next title will put them in front. It's the longest drought in the Celtics history without winning a title. That can't be true.

No, I don't think that's true. Somebody put that up on social media, me getting fooled by the Internet, because before 2008, they won in 86. That's 22 years, but still a decent sized drought without winning a championship. So the Celtics will get that championship tonight. They will win it handedly, beating down the Dallas Mavericks in game five. Just as we predicted at the start of the series, by the way. Austin. After nearly two years of making W.D.

watch movies. We're finally looking back. All week long, we're doing this. It's the first ever W.D. awards. These are the W.D.

and we'll hand out the first W.D. next on the drive. Josh Graham loves to talk sports. He also loves the way his new jeans highlight his man curves. Oh, hot. Oh, yeah.

That's hot. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. We'll circle back to the U.S. open in just a bit, but this is something really it's been over two years in the making, but a couple of weeks of work going into the W.D.

's that start today. What are the W.D.'s? Glad you asked. Can't call this a pseudo Oscars because the Oscars are a lot more prestigious than the opinions of Will Dalton. W.D., unlike folks in the academy, like movies and watch all the movies year after year after year. The segment, the genesis of it is that W.D.

had seen none of the good movies, still has not seen a lot of the great ones, which is why we continue to do the segment and we just hit 100 movies. So we thought now would be a good time for W.D. to look back and we'll go into his brain. Seeing what he thought the best acting was.

In the 100 movies that he watched. And we'll do it category by category, one day each week. Today is our first W.D. And just like the Oscars, we'll open up with a big award that we're handing out. Today is the W.D. for best actress. Thank you to the other nominees.

All these performances were impeccable. W.D. has watched 100 movies.

How is that possible? You know, I'm so used to losing. It's quite a strange feeling to win.

To celebrate the occasion and the best things he's seen on screen. These are the W.D.'s. And yes, we got Ian Eagle to voice it because Ian Eagle. It's so great.

It really is. Loves W.D. Yes, he does. And we love him. And loves to see W.D.

thrive. OK, let's go through the category for best actress in a leading role. Who is the first nominee, W.D.? Jodie Foster for Silence of the Lamb. We've hit on a number of Jodie movies during the 100. I know we've done Inside Man with Denzel. Yeah, Taxi Driver, not too long ago.

Taxi Driver, for sure. That qualifies. Is the only reason Jodie was nominated for this category because of a specific line of dialogue that she has that you've been quoting to me for over a year now? What, she's a big girl?

The Buffalo Bill? Was she a big ol' frat person? She's a big girl. She was a big girl, sir. I mean, it's not only that. I mean, her first scene with Hannibal Lecter.

Just really good. In fact, I learned that... Mink's throwing something on her... Lava beans. Whatever noises he was making. But I learned that when he made fun of her accent, that was actually improv. Is she from West Virginia, I think that's right?

I don't know. I think she's from West Virginia, so she has a little bit of an accent. And I learned that that was improv, and so her reaction in the movie, which was like, she didn't like that, was actually real.

Jodie Foster did not like that, and they played it off beautifully. Jodie Foster is from LA. Oh. Where did West Virginia come from? I have no idea. Because she has an accent.

She's from Virginia in the movie. Oh. Well, there you go.

That's why these are the WDs. This is the WD-ified list of actresses, right here. Jodie Foster nominated. Yes.

Okay. What's the next nominee for Best Actress? Julia Roberts. Pretty Woman. A movie that was suggested by App State football coach Sean Clark. One of his favorites. Who, this is a movie, when he was in college at App State, he took his now wife onto a date. Wow. His first date was to watch Pretty Woman, starring Julia Roberts.

Yep. And Richard Gere. Very curly hair, she has. One of the greatest performances of all time. Great chemistry between those two. So good.

She was so good that she went from being like a kind of a no-name, except if you were a big fan of Mystic Pizza, let's say. Look up when Steel Magnolias came out. Can you look that up for me? Was that pre-Pretty Woman or post-Pretty Woman? 1989?

Yeah. So, Steel Magnolias, Mystic Pizza. So, not a complete unknown, but she went from being of relative fame, not somebody who's leading movies, to literally being the biggest star in the world. That's how good she was in this movie that overnight, and we don't really see that happen much anymore. The closest we've had to this happening was when Wolf of Wall Street came out in the last 10, 15 years, and Margot Robbie became like an it person overnight. So, Julia Roberts, this makes sense for that category.

What's next? Meg Ryan. When Harry Met Sally. We've done a lot of Meg Ryan movies. We hit on the Holy Trinity of rom-coms that she stars in, Sleepless in Seattle, You've Got Mail, When Harry Met Sally. This, in my opinion, is the gold standard for rom-coms.

It set the template. She became the archetype for females in the rom-coms, and that movie did that as well. So, I like this. I'm a fan of all of your choices. What a great performance. The scene in the diner just put me over the top. That's actually why she's on this list. I'll have what she's having, one of the most iconic lines in film spoken by. Rob Reiner's mom was given that iconic line, the mother of the director. And the last nominee for best actress in a leading performance or a leading role. Jodie Benson, better known as Ariel from The Little Mermaid.

Because why not? It's Ariel. Come on, she's a legend. You just might have a thing for redheads. I actually don't have a thing for redheads. Julia Roberts, Ariel, The Little Mermaid.

I don't have a thing for redheads. Was that the only cartoon that we'd done? Did we do any other cartoons out of the 100? I don't think so. Have you seen Aladdin? Nope. Princess Jasmine might be on the second edition of the WDs.

Okay. Voice acting, sure. Do you have a favorite Disney movie? Like Pixar, animated, or cartoons? Disney, yeah. Like Disney. Disney, Pixar, sure.

It's probably a tie between Toy Story and Cars. It's probably the two there. Interesting. Yeah.

Okay. So again, our nominees, Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs, Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman, Meg Ryan from When Harry Met Sally, and Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Those are the four, what a voice. Nominees for best actress, Ian Eagle has the card. And the WD for best actress is Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman.

Congratulations. Congratulations to Julia Roberts. A big time when I felt it was going to come down to her or Jodie Foster, but then again, Meg Ryan could have won. If Ariel from The Little Mermaid had won, I would have been upset. I might have just nixed the rest of this, the rest of the week, if we're going to start with Ariel from The Little Mermaid winning out of the box. But there you have it.

The best actress in a leading role from the two plus years of movies that we've made Will Dalton watch, Julia Roberts from Pretty Woman. This is going to be fun. Oh, I'm really enjoying this.

So we'll do a different category every day. It was a good weekend in Major League Baseball. Was it? The Baltimore Orioles, potential World Series preview facing the Philadelphia Phillies. Took two out of three. Friday's game was insane.

Who needs championships when you can look at birds? The Orioles had to rally and they hit a home run to tie it in the eighth inning, go to extras and the Phillies score in the top half of the inning. In the bottom half, Cedric Mullins, Greensboro guy, called out at the plate initially, but then on review, this was on a wild pitch.

They saw he got his hand in there. So a game went from being called over initially on an out call at the plate. Then it went to the 11th and the skies opened up and it's a huge rain delay. And the Phillies then hit a two run double to take the lead. The Orioles didn't respond after that, but they did respond the next day and the day after that, taking two out of three against Philly.

That's a great series. The Yankees lost two out of three to the Red Sox at Fenway. That means the Yankees have just a game and a half lead on the team with the second best record in baseball, the Orioles. Three game series starts tomorrow at Yankee Stadium.

This is war. The Orioles beat the Yankees three out of four in a series earlier this year. So that'll be some fun for the show. And you should know Thursday's games at 405.

Interesting. The Braves, they got back on track at home against Tampa, winning two out of three as well. They will start a. They will continue their home stand tonight against the Detroit Tigers. So a good weekend for Major League Baseball, except if you root for the Yankees, which again, if you do.

You're a loser anyway, or Dodgers, Mookie Betts. You see that got hurt. Yeah, not great.

Hate to see it for those teams that spend ungodly amount of money. We must talk. Talk back to the drive with Josh Graham. You might have missed this because things generally get lost on Friday. It's called in the business the Friday news dump. By the time you get to Monday, things that happened on Friday aren't the most newsworthy generally.

So that's a good time to drop noteworthy information if you want it to be forgotten about in a short period of time. After Game four of the finals, Mavs blew out the Celtics. Charles Barkley went on NBA TV.

And decided this was the perfect time to drop a bombshell. There's been a lot of noise around our network the last few months, and I just want to say I've talked to all the other networks, but I ain't going nowhere other than TNT, but I have made the decision myself. No matter what happens, next year is going to be my last year on television.

Wow. So stop all the bidders. When Turner no longer has the NBA, the new media deal expected to be announced shortly after the finals, it will exclude Turner, but will still have ESPN and ABC carry in the finals. Amazon is getting into the game, NBC back into the game for the finals. No Turner after next year, and apparently no Charles Barkley apparently analyzing the league.

This seems like the right call, in my opinion. Retiring after next season, the right decision for Charles Barkley. I hope he doesn't, because I love Chuck. This probably is what's best for him, because he knows nobody can keep the band together from inside the NBA. Ernie Johnson is a Turner loyalist, dating back to his dad, and living in Atlanta, and he's about to turn 68 this year.

If Chuck's going out like this, this might be Ernie Johnson's swan song as well. And how many networks can afford to bring in Charles and also Shaquille O'Neal and also Kenny the Jet Smith? Likely, after 25 years, Charles, who's approaching his mid-60s, would need to find a new crew to work with again, when he's worked with the same crew in the same place for a quarter of a century. The self-awareness that Charles has has always been one of his best traits. It's what makes him such a great announcer to know what topics are inbounds for him to talk about and how to address those topics. It's that self-awareness that I applaud here, too, because he likely knows other networks will not give him the same freedom that Turner does.

Part of that is a testament to his teammates, like Ernie Johnson, the way that they shield him from production meetings and certain things that would only bog down conversation and make things feel more stilted. But also, it's the network, too. Turner allowed a lot of space at halftime that otherwise could have been sold for commercials and for pregame and postgame as well to make that show what it is. Other networks don't do that.

You don't believe me? Tonight, here's a homework assignment for you. Watch the NBA Finals and specifically the halftime show. Count how many minutes that halftime show is. With Malika Andrews, Stephen A, Will Bond, Bob Myers. They have so many people at that table. Kendrick Perkins. They added somebody else for the finals.

I don't even know who it is because they don't talk all that much. It might be a two and a half minute halftime and everybody gets to make one point. All right, let's go to you. Let's go to you. Let's go to you. Let's go to you.

Let's go to you. Does that sound like the way you and your friends talk about basketball? No. Generally, it's a conversation and Turner allowed for those guys to have what sounded like real basketball conversations. NBC wouldn't allow for that either. Maybe Amazon could do it, but Amazon's not going to have as much of a presence as Turner does. You think they're going to invest the way Turner did when they don't have as many games to do? Probably not.

So Charles kind of sees the writing on the wall. It'd have to be with new teammates, less room to talk, different environment than I've been used to the last 25 years. And I have a chance to go out on top. Not going to regress.

Not going to have a lesser product put out there. I'm going to go out the way the way Jerry Seinfeld went out. Number one with Seinfeld. I'm going to go out the way John Madden went out on my own terms. Not because I'm regressing or being pushed out or people call.

I want people to want me back when I decide to leave. And he's probably the greatest athlete turned announcer of all time. Top 50, top 40 player in NBA history.

And now an all time announcer. Here's more from Charles on his decision. I wanted you guys to hear from me because I'm not doing any more interviews. Don't y'all be calling me?

Nobody calling me. I'm not talking about this again, but I want to tell my NBA and NBA TV and TNT family that I'm not going to another network. But I'm going to pass the time to either Jamal Crawford or Vince Carter or you, Steve. But next year, I'm going to just retire after 25 years. And I just want to say thank you.

And I want to try to hear from me first. Charles Barkley retiring after next basketball season. We'll see if it's sincere. A lot of people are having doubts. Oh, he said before he'll be done after this contract ends and then he signs another contract. This feels different.

And this is a little bit firmer than anything he said in the past. W.D. Fall sports registration is underway at the local YMCA. You know the Y. They teach athletes more than just the fundamentals of sports. Their staff and volunteers, coaches, volunteer coaches demonstrate what good sportsmanship and teamwork looks like.

Your kids will grow personally as they strengthen skills, establish work ethic and create lasting friendships. And of course, have fun this fall. The Y will be offering soccer, flag football, tee ball, slash baseball, volleyball and basketball to register. For any or all of the YMCA is across northwest North Carolina.

Visit YMCA in WNC dot org. Getting back to the U.S. Open before welcoming Darren Vada. Pinehurst is going to be remembered as the low point of Rory McIlroy's career.

That is what this weekend is going to mean. One of the best players. The last decade in golf, even though he hasn't won a major over the last decade, maybe the most beloved that we've seen play regularly.

We add regularly there because Tiger not playing all that much anymore. This is the low point for him. Because this was worse than the other obvious low point, the 2011 Masters, where he melted down in the final round and at one point was shooting a shot into somebody's backyard.

The difference between the 2011 Masters and this. He was 21 years old, then. 21 years old, his best days ahead of him, including later that year, crushing congressional to win his first and only U.S. Open. Had a chance for a second yesterday.

But. With a two shot lead on 15, he bogeyed three of his last four. Four hundred and ninety six for four hundred and ninety six this season on putts three foot or shorter, three feet or shorter. And he missed the putt three feet or shorter on 16. And he missed the short putt on 18 as well.

This was, again, about the 10 year drought and losing in that type of fashion. Rory probably knows this is as bad as it's been for him in his career because. A media darling, generally a good sport, always there to answer questions when things go poorly or when things go well. The video surfaced of him in a rental car whipping the car back, the wheels spinning as he races out of the parking lot at Pinehurst. And apparently he declined interviews with NBC and Sky Sports and with anybody else that wanted to talk to him. Which isn't a great look. If it was the reverse, if Bryson DeChambeau is missing putts left and right, given how polarizing he used to be. Think of all the think pieces that we're reading today about Bryson being bad for golf and reverting back to his old ways and yada, yada, yada. When largely it seems like Rory's been giving a pass, given a pass.

So from that sense and the golf sense, it's a low point. But with all that said, Rory isn't to be written off. Some have said, well, he's never going to win a major if he didn't win that one. Okay, you're going to pick against that guy in an open championship in Scotland?

That doesn't seem wise. Let me see where next year's PGA Championship is. Oh, it's at the place that Rory's won three times, including last month in the Wells Fargo, Quail Hollow Golf Club in Charlotte. And nobody's more due to win at Augusta. So as bad as that was, let's not be heavy handed about this and write him off by any means. It's still coming, that next major for Rory.

And who knows, maybe this being the low point is going to open that door sooner to a great story emerging. A comeback, in a sense, to him winning either in Scotland or sometime next year, a la Tampa Bay, going from being swept in the first round with the best record in the NHL to winning the Stanley Cup. Virginia losing to a 16 seed in Charlotte to win the championship a year later.

And, oh, Purdue nearly doing the same this season. But Pinehurst, it's going to be remembered. This championship is not going to be forgotten anytime soon. And what it's going to be remembered for more than the USA chants and Bryson D. Shambo having his crowning moment in the shot on 18, 55 feet away from the bunker and more for what Rory did not do.

And the putts that he missed. We have Willie Nelson, Robert Plant. And Allison Krauss tickets to give away.

And we have unusual questions to answer. And we have an NC State, Florida College World Series game that just wrapped up to talk about with a guy that was in Omaha for the College World Series this weekend. It's our buddy Darren Thott. And we accomplish all those things with Darren next. It's the drive with Josh Graham WSJS. When we answer unusual questions, we'll give you the chance to win a pair of tickets to see Robert Plant and Allison Krauss alongside Willie Nelson in Charlotte this coming Saturday.

Since we're going to be asking and answering unusual questions, it's just fitting that Darren bots here to help us do that. Fresh off a plane where he was in Omaha for the weekend for the College World Series. We've got a final and an elimination game today. And it's another ACC team going home. NC State two and done in the College World Series. NC State stuff back.

Just kidding. NC State. Now the ACC is 0-4 in head to head games against the SEC in this SEC versus ACC College World Series. How disappointed have you been in the ACC the last few days? Well, it's disappointing for a number of reasons. North Carolina and Virginia came in two of the best offenses in the country and they've just not been able to produce runs. They've both in Virginia, of course, is now eliminated.

They've both been terrible with runners on base, runners in scoring position. So that's the disappointing thing there. I think largely to follow real quickly on that, though, are the fences still as deep as they were?

Ten years ago, when that was the criticism, Trey Turner hitting it to the fence against UCLA and other people talking about the fence. Yeah, I mean, it is slightly bigger than most college parks. So straightaway center is 408. To put it in perspective, Boschamer Stadium at North Carolina is exactly 400 to straightaway center. Where it's deepest is in the gaps in left center and right center.

It's 375 is what it's marked. I mean, compare that to roughly 360, 365 in other yards. But that's not it, right? It's not that they're hitting balls to the wall that are getting caught. It's just being able to make adjustments, you know, not putting balls in play. I think both Virginia and North Carolina have been way tentative with two strikes.

So hopefully, I mean, again, Vance Honeycutt's doing Vance Honeycutt things. I don't think he's the major concern, but the rest of the lineup has not shown up for them. And again, just to pull back the scope, more generally speaking, we got another one-run game today. What's disappointing about it is the ACC teams in these matchups are right there. Florida State should have beaten Tennessee on Friday night. And they probably did beat Tennessee. Right.

Check swing notwithstanding, they probably did. So, yeah, no, I mean, that's the disappointing thing is that these could be games with one or two things happening in favor of the ACC team that we're talking about. This is a grand storyline in totally different fashion.

Darren Vaught with us here. What's one thing about being in Omaha that television doesn't nearly capture? That's a good question, because I do think they do a really good job of capturing sort of the essence of it. I ended up comparing it a lot because people who were not first-timers like me when I was in Omaha, or people who were native to Omaha, like, you know, share ride or ride share drivers, they sort of asked what I thought about it. I ended up comparing it a lot to Greensboro with the ACC tournament in town. What you don't see on TV is that it is the talk of the entire city. And there's this buzz in the entire city.

What you see on TV is the stadium and the immediate surroundings of the stadium. I actually stayed like five or six miles away from it. And you can't get away from the College World Series is in town. It's cool. It's a really, really cool city, a cool event.

The community aspect of it is one of my favorite takeaways. Subscribe to the ACC Baseball etc podcast, Darren, now that your boots are back on the ground. More USA Baseball work you've got ahead of you that I'm sure we'll be talking about during the summer. Let's get to unusual questions. Last week, guys, everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference.

That's not right. I thought it was an unusual question and it's OK. It's time for unusual questions with Josh Gray. I'm being told we have two pairs of tickets to two different events. We have the pair of tickets to go see Willie Allison Krauss and Robert Plant in Charlotte this Saturday.

Or you can go watch the PBR rodeo event, Mill Spring, North Carolina, down the road for Friday night. Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one, six hundred. Give us a call. Ask us an unusual question or any question at all.

Could be sports related, but generally more fun when it's not. Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one, six hundred. The first to call in gets tickets to your show of choosing. W.D. has some audio to queue up for my unusual question. So real quick, we will.

Here is Brian Anderson sitting next to an unlikely color analyst yesterday during the Brewers Reds game. This deuce deuce revolver was my problem solver. Let's go. Twenty two. You see me when you was a youngster, man. Show up now.

You're an adult, man. How often do people slide down that slide over there? He can't get there. He better not outrun you. He better not outrun you. You better not let the pitcher outrun you, dawg. Come on now. That's what I'm talking about. Two for two. Thank you. Anybody but the pitcher. You can't outrun me, dawg.

Not you. That's right. Christian Yelich. Two two revolver or whatever Snoop said there.

No one gave an answer. Brian Anderson certainly didn't to how often people slide down that slide. But that's a base hit to write an infield hit because Christian Yelich beat out Andrew Abbott, friend of my wife, by the way, to the bag at first base. Andrew Abbott, an ACC legend from Virginia, by the way.

How about it? So here's my question. Snoop Dogg in the booth there.

At the risk of asking a question I may have asked you at some other point before. Which musician, if you had the choice, would you most like to have calling a game either with you or listen to on a broadcast? I'm going to go with with me. Like, who would I most have?

Who would I have the most excitement for being in the booth with me? Yeah. Kanye? No, I would like to whatever this outlet is for.

This is for I would like to keep my job. So no, not Kanye. Great. Great point. You would have that concern, probably.

Yeah, they were in there. We don't know what he's going to say. You'd be like Mike Myers in that iconic telethon after Katrina. Just standing there. Oh, I don't know how to react to that. Uh huh.

So like there's a there's a lot to pull from here because Eminem. I mean, he was a non factor. I would imagine he was in the booth with Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreet that one time. Yeah.

He saw ghosts. Yeah. So I would imagine he would he would be better this time. Another time around. Given another crack at it.

I experience reps. I think I'd like Creed. Who? Creed. Who?

Creed. The band? Yeah. You know what? Give me Scott Stapp. Yeah.

You know what? Put me on a Thanksgiving Day NFL football game. And give me Scott Stapp in the booth just so we can go back to that iconic Thanksgiving halftime performance that they gave. You know the one I'm talking about?

Yeah. Make it happen. CBS and get get a three man booth with Jim Nance and Romo where Romo could be like, Oh, he's flying. Oh, he's flying off the stage, Jim. He's flying off the stage. Jim, who are these guys? Oh, what? What? What? What? What? What? What? What?

They learn to do that. They could take you higher, Jim. Great, great possibilities there.

Who would you like in the booth with you, Will? Well, I just said it. Oh, that's right. You want Creed. That's OK. That's pretty good. That's his answer. Yeah. I think J. Cole has a lot of hoop knowledge.

Lil Wayne has proven that he has some chops, too. Jack White is a big baseball fan. That would be cool. Not bad.

It's it's pretty good. And I'm trying to think who's the guy from Run the Jewels? Killer Mike.

He'd be really good as well. Let's go to Angela Highpoint, who has a question. Angela, what's your unusual question for us? Well, there you go. I'm asking who is your favorite sports cast announcer that would give you the most thrill?

Oh, so sports caster. OK, I like that, Angela. So are we pairing this? The other way we could phrase this is who are we pairing with?

I think it's a totally different question. I know. I know. Who excites you the most when they're on a game? They're on a game.

They're on a sporting event. You're you're still excited to listen to this person. I mean, Kevin Harlan's probably first and foremost, he just like a lot of people only associate him with having the voice for it. But he just has like this boyish joy that he he calls games with and he gets excited. Right. That's on golf. He's not afraid to lose his mind. Yeah.

Yeah. With respect to Dan Hicks, it's not the same excitement. It's like, oh, Dan Hicks on on the Pinehurst U.S. Open. Because it wasn't Torico on 18. It was Dan Hicks who is calling it.

That's not the same. Do you know who I get weirdly excited for when he's on a game? Like if I see he's on a game, I'm like, this is going to be a fun three hours. Joe test the tour. Joe test is on a game football wise.

I'm here. It's it's the it's the fight night voice. Yeah.

Tess Tess, no matter what he does, he could commentate a trip to the DMV. And I would think it's like it's life or death. Right. That's why college football needs that.

That's why I think he's the best play by play man on college football. Yeah. All right. What's your unusual question, W.D.? So if you didn't know, it is it is National Mascot Day.

Oh, boy. Yes, it is. A lot of sports questions today.

It is. It's National Mascot Day. And I would like to know not necessarily who you think is the best mascot, but you know, like the side shows that they have, like it's like the the freeze guy at the Braves games. The running presidents, superstars, red panda. What do you see in Scooby? I've seen them all.

I could go all day. That perfect then best halftime show or sideshow type deal of your choosing panda. I get excited when panda's there.

And if it's not panda, then the next best is probably the person with the dog. Christian and Scooby. Yeah.

Yeah. My personal friend Christian and his dog, Scooby. That's great. The Milwaukee Brewers, they've got racing sausages if there's if we're talking great mascots.

College. The Oregon Duck is undefeated. Never lost.

There you go. Manger, the Triceratops for the Colorado Rockies. Really fanatic. I contend my favorite mascot. Did you guys see, by the way, that SMU is holding a celebration, like a citywide celebration on July 1st in Dallas to celebrate their entrance into the ACC?

I didn't. But is Bryson DeChambeau going to be there? I don't think Bryson's going to be there. But get this. It'll be, I think, the first time on record that all ACC mascots as part of the new ACC will be together.

So like you're getting the tree from Stanford and Otto like hanging out. Wow. It's exciting.

That was my big takeaway. Let's go to the phones. Let's go to Artie, who's in Thomasville. Artie, what is your unusual question, Artie? My unusual question is specifically for you, Josh.

Oh, please. You already have a sponsor who has a sports betting app and you have a daily segment where you give us your best bets. True. Why not marry the two of those together and keep score instead of just giving us your daily bets? Start with a dummy account, say a thousand bucks, and tell us the next day how much you got now if we'd have made your bets. And keep track of that. Or make a competition.

Go head to head against Will or your guest or a listener on a daily basis. I like the idea. Or a weekly basis if that's too much. I like that, Artie.

Actually, it's funny you should mention this. This is something we were considering for football season since we, as you probably know, keep track of what our record is during football season. And we've had five winning seasons out of the six seasons that we've done this, and the sixth was even. Our record was even, so we never had a losing season. So I think we're going to do something like that this football season where we're keeping track on how much we bet and where we end up at the end of the year. Artie wants you to put your money where your mouth is. I know, because we're crushing it with our NBA bets, college basketball we did really well, and we generally do well with football. Let's go to Aaron in Greensboro real quickly.

Aaron, what's your unusual question, Aaron? Yeah, I want to know what your favorite sports moment was as far as, like, that really steams out to you. Like the Music City Miracle, Immaculate reception, you know, what really steams out to you guys? Usually this is like a question that applies to when you were younger and falling in love with sports. Darren, what was the seminal moment for you as a sports fan? Can I say, like, the entire postseason for the Boston Red Sox in 2004? Yeah, I think I qualify.

Why would you say the entire thing? Like the first round? No, I know, they swept the Cardinals in the World Series. It was an uneventful World Series. So you know what, it's just the ALCS.

Yeah, like, let's just call that what it is. For me, it was the 2006 Stanley Cup win for the Hurricane. That was mine. I love that team. Definitely 05 Tar Heels winning the title. More than 09. Actually, you know what, 09 is better.

05 was like my introduction to that stuff, 09 was much better. Darren, real quickly, your unusual question. What's the biggest you've ever blown it with Rory McIlroy in mind? Oh, what's our equivalent?

What's your Rory missed three foot putt? Wow. This now. This is going to maybe take a segment or two to ruminate. No, this is like an incisive question. It's very incisive. Do you have an answer?

No, you know what, I was thinking about it for several minutes before I came on and I don't know that I have one. For me, it's trying to think what to share, what not to share. That's the best part. That's a good, that means it's a good unusual question.

It really is because if you're having that type of a moment in a public space, then you're probably, if you can hide it, you would if it was that level of embarrassing. Oh, I don't know. It's not a good thing to think about. We'll just, you know what, we'll leave it. We'll leave it.

Listeners can think about it. Call in with it. I won't be here. Josh has got to finish the show.

We do. We do have to finish the show. Darren Vaught, I hope you enjoyed Omaha, my friend, and I'll talk to you next week.

Sounds good. I did. You know I did.

I was on Cloud 9, dream come true type stuff, but pleasure as always, guys. I should have texted you to go talk to the guy in the ECU hat behind home plate who's been there for like 10, 15 years. Always. ECU never gets to Omaha, but the guy with the ECU cap right behind home plate is there every year. I should have. I wonder if he's a men's basketball listener on the radio. That's a missed opportunity. Maybe that's my missed putt. That's my Rory.