This is his annual beach interview with Hayes!

Luke DeCock's already at a beach somewhere and he gives us this report before coming on. He said it's a cool cabana day and in beach terms that means it ain't a shaboomie day.

The wind must be light. It's a good fishing day wherever he is. We might talk fishing, shaboomies, maybe a little sports in between as we welcome in award-winning columnist for the news and observer Luke DeCock.

Luke, what's going on, man? Good. I have to amend that weather report though. The wind has picked up since this morning.

We are now in either or territory. It's not too windy for a cool cabana, but it is definitely windy enough now for a shaboomie. So anyone who's coming down later in the day only needs to pack one. All right, get your shaboomies going there. It's very rare, as rare as it is to not have enough wind for a shaboomie at all. Once you get in the afternoon, then it becomes even more rare. Like usually the wind does pick up a little bit.

I got a question for you, Luke. Are the Canes, the New England Patriots, as far as like how they run their franchise personnel-wise right now, signing guys to value deals every time it seems they make a trade, it seems like they get the better end of it while they're trading down in the draft and getting guys that then other people are like, man, that would have been a good pick for another team. You know they're not getting the kind of biddards at number one because that's the price you pay for being a semifinalist in the playoffs, which they hope to be year in and year out.

Are they seen as like the savviest team or am I just super biased from being right here in Raleigh? Yeah, I mean there's other teams that have ways of doing things that work well for them, but this is this has been the way that they've done things, you know, really since Tom Dundon bought the team in 2018, they've gone out and they've tried to moneyball this a little bit. They've really looked at distressed assets, meaning if you can find a guy that another team does a lot like Tony D'Angelo the first time around and get him cheap, you know, then you know you're you're they've also, you know, sort of weaponized their cap space.

They went out and got Patrick Marlowe and bought him out, basically traded 10 million dollars for a first round draft. They can feel pretty good about that. So they've always sort of tried to work the margins and the edges. They're never going to, I mean they expanded the cap obviously, but they're not going to outspend on amenities and things like that. They're going to try to find ways to get the most value possible for their money. It's how Dundon made his money in the business world.

That's how he's run the team. And, and, you know, you see aspects of that, like the fact that Chuck Keaton and John Forslund are not around anymore. They took a look at that and said, we'd rather spend that money somewhere else. So you see all aspects of that when it comes to the draft though, this year was a particularly good example of it. They drafted a kid in the first round from a lower level league league for college bound players, not necessarily the top draft prospects who put up huge numbers in that league that were discounted a little bit by the level of competition. So there's a gamble in there, but they're basically saying we think we can get a player who, if he was in another league would have gone much earlier. They took a guy in the second round with the amazing name of Felix Unger Soren. His birthday is not November 13th when Felix Unger was invited to leave his place of living. His birthday is September 14th, which is the day before the draft cutoff, meaning he was the single youngest player in the entire draft class.

A lot of teams are going to overlook a guy like that because he's so much less physically developed than a guy who was born on September 16th of the previous year and has a full sort of year of advantage of growing on him. So that's another way the hurricane said, look, you know, we're, we see a market inefficiency here. We're going to take advantage. Same thing with trading down. I think they traded down from the seventies to like 92 and a hundred. In the end, those draft picks are roughly equivalent. They basically turned one draft picked into two.

The difference between 72 and a hundred is the marginal difference is negligible. So those are all the kinds of things that they do. Um, that, that, that is part of their philosophy, not just at the draft, but, but year round. So I thought this year's draft and then taking a bunch of Russians, you know, a lot of teams were staying away from Russians because of uncertainty about the war, because there are a lot of them are on KHL contracts that go out a few years. Um, I mean, the second best prospect in the draft was a guy named Matt V. Mitch. Uh, who ended up going seventh to the flyers. He was the consensus, second best player in the draft. Nobody wanted to take him because he was rushing it.

And I can tell you, if he had gotten to 10 or 11 or 12, the hurricanes were going to move heaven and earth and try to get down there and get him because he was being so undervalued. So that's the way they operate. It all makes sense. Um, to them, it's not the way other teams do it, but they're, you know, it's a very money ball approach. They think they found market efficiency in both in the draft and how they can print the roster.

And, you know, they're going to continue to push to do things that way. All right. You answered my question beautifully. It was a great answer in general and great information, but the, the final piece there gave me exactly what I wanted to know, to know we are the Patriots, uh, of, of drafting, because there is nothing that says Bill Belichick more than taking advantage of market forces created by a war to, to better, uh, position yourself in, in drafting like that. That is something that Bill Belichick would do and be like, go get Russians because no, everybody's scared to take them.

Let's go get them. That's Belichickian right there. Yeah, it is. And, and, and look, there's, it's, it's, it's the same concept at Belichick and money ball and the hurricanes. It's the same idea writ large. It's the idea of, of identifying things that other teams are undervaluing and deciding to go out and accumulate those things, whether in Belichick's case, it's undersized linebackers because teams won't draft a guy of a certain size, but he will, or, you know, in the age case, you know, identifying this morning when else that getting on base matters more than anything else. And then the hurricane's case basically saying, you know, we're going to use all of our late round picks on Russian players, um, and a five, nine player who's extremely high skills. And basically say, you know, these guys may pan out, but we're getting better players at these things than we would normally let's just go ahead and do it. Um, the kid they drafted is a lot like Jackson Blake, who was at North Dakota last year was the rookie of the year in his conference, really high skill player. He's Jason Blake's kid, uh, scores a lot of goals.

It isn't very big. And those guys, sometimes they make it the NHL. Sometimes they don't. Now they've basically got last year's Jackson Blake and this year's Jackson Blake. And, you know, you're kind of hoping that those guys can out, but it's not a huge loss at that point in the draft that they don't, um, yeah, everybody, the hurricanes drafted this year outside of the first round is basically a lot of everything that it's just the way the NHL draft works. When you're drafting kids who are 18, you just hope a couple of them pan out. And typically a couple of them do in this case, they're going to need, you know, they dropped a bunch of guys who were going to be in Russia for a couple of years and that's fine because they don't even have an AHL team next year. Uh, they got no place to put guys that they were going to sign right away.

Anyway, not that a lot of these guys end up in the AHL in year one, but the point being, they don't mind stashing these guys for a couple of years and seeing how they go. Luke DeCock of the news and observer joining us. Uh, I, the draft came and went no trades, uh, involving like moving of, of personnel. Uh, Jordan Stahl got resigned. There's a report that yes for FOST is returning.

Um, that seems like it's pretty credible. Like that's going to happen. What are the biggest questions left out there right now for the hurricanes in this off season, uh, other than like hypothetical trades, like actual, we know they're going to have to answer these questions.

Yeah. Well, until today I was starting to get a little concerned about FOST because that seemed like that should have been such an easy deal to get done. You, he's such a good fit here for what they do. And, um, you know, he doesn't really score enough to put himself into big numbers. Uh, uh, salary wise, I would have thought that deal would have gotten done before the draft.

So I was starting to be a little concerned, not only that the deal hadn't gotten done, but there were none of these rumors that they were, that they were close, which we, we heard today and that the numbers talked about two and a half million that did that makes a lot of sense for a guy like that. He's so important to what they do, um, in terms of the style of the play, he's just a player who helps them play the way that they need to play to be successful. The goaltending situation, Hayes is the one that's still out there and hasn't been resolved. Um, they've talked about going with three goalies and bringing back both Frederick Anderson and auntie Ronta. They talked about going with two goalies because they do have to check off.

Who's he's only making $2 million next year. That gives you a lot of flexibility. Um, but he also doesn't have to clear waivers to go to the minor so they can move them up and down as much as they want. Uh, so the goal-sending situation is interesting.

They basically told Freddie and auntie, Hey, look, if you think you can get more money somewhere else, go ahead and see what's on the market. Uh, and then come back and see us. And we're going to look at other options as well as basically the same thing that did last summer. Um, I'm sorry, two summers ago when they brought these guys in and let, um, um, Peter Morozik go and traded out to the Belkovich. Um, I do think one of those guys will be back regardless. I think, I don't think that's going to be a completely new operation and at $2 million for a team that usually only carries 20 skaters anyway, instead of 21, which is the most, it wouldn't be that big a deal. So hurricane carried three goalies.

Um, especially if it's Freddie Anderson and those guys get hurt enough that you could, we ended up needing a third bully anyway. And if they checked off, doesn't play for a while, they can send them down to whatever age old team they find along their players too. But that's a really interesting situation because if they were to make a move there for a different guy, then that does outside the position that's been pretty stable for the last few years.

So, um, I'm curious to see what is happening there in that. Uh, on the women's side of the ACC SCC basketball challenge, we've got North Carolina, South Carolina, obviously a compelling matchup, Notre Dame, Tennessee, big names right there on the men's side, no UNC or Duke versus Kentucky, or even Syracuse versus Kentucky. Um, do you think that secretly like teams get one veto? Like obviously you're not going to play Duke versus Kentucky each other in a year where they're meeting, uh, you know, elsewhere already scheduled that, that makes sense. But do you think teams, uh, have some secret veto power on not having to play or at least having to play at some place? Well, you can answer your own question. How many times did Duke play Maryland with the ACC Big Ten challenge? That one is extenuating circumstances.

Do you think everyone gets a veto or do you think you have to earn your veto? It's a really good question. My suspicion is because everybody's funny buddy here in terms of ESPN and the ACC and the teams. ESPN does things in a way that is designed to make everybody reasonably happy. Um, and I think that's why we didn't see Duke Alabama. We didn't see Duke Kentucky. We didn't see UNC Kentucky. Um, in the case of UNC Kentucky and Duke Kentucky, those, those teams often teach up anyway, whether it's in the champion class or the CBS class or whatever.

Uh, so, so those games end up ending, ending to happen. Anyway, I can see why ESPN might want to do something a little more unique, but I just, I look at the match-ups on the women's side and you didn't mention Virginia Tech, LSU, which outside of the triangle is, you know, another game of passive interest. Um, they're just, there's nothing like that really in the mindset. I mean, I just, I can't get really that excited about Wake Forest, Florida. It's just, and, and look, I said this when I tweeted it earlier this week, it's possible that some of this is just having looked at the ACC Big 10 challenge for so long. You know, it's like staring at the sun.

You get blinded a little bit. Like if this was the first year of the ACC Big 10 challenge, I might say, Oh, like, you know, Duke, Wisconsin doesn't seem like that big a deal or UNC Indiana, but those games have been played so many times, Notre Dame, Michigan state, those games have been played so many times that we came to sort of be comfortable with them or expect them. So it's possible. We ended up getting there with sort of, you know, Duke Arkansas in five years when they played three times in the ACC SEC challenge. Um, so I, I will say that there may be a little bit of that and who knows maybe three years from now, Wake Forest, Florida, we're hoping that they get paired together for whatever reason. So, um, I do think there's a little bit of sort of novelty bias, maybe in the word, but I do look at the women's matchup and say, well, here, they clearly went for absolute home runs. I'm just not sure why they didn't do that on the men's side in year one to really jinx and sizzle. You can also justify if you, if you tried to, uh, question like a TV exec, you know, publicly about it, they could say, Oh, well, I mean, Miami was a Final Four team last year and we're playing them against Kentucky.

That's too, you know, high pro, you know, you can get away with, uh, because of Miami success. Um, the other, the other thing is, uh, I don't just mean do ACC teams have veto power? Like, do you think we'll ever see, uh, uh, Kentucky at Cameron indoor stadium? Uh, UNC and Kentucky have played home and home, but as far as I know, Duke and Kentucky, they always meet up and it makes sense. You can sell a lot more tickets at Madison Square Garden or wherever else they play. Uh, you think we'll ever see Kentucky at Cameron?

I'm going to say yes. And for no other reason than we saw Michigan State at Cameron so many times. Um, and that is a game that's also played in the champions classic. We're going to see Kansas at Cameron, Arizona at Cameron. I mean, part of the changes in the Shire regime, uh, regardless of the ACC SEC challenge is playing more big home games. Um, you know, obviously that wasn't Kay's deal. Kay did not want to play non-conference home games, uh, against teams that weren't even at Boston. How that didn't work out so well for them.

Uh, you know, it was, it was just sort of philosophical. People would, you know, be all that grumbling every year. Duke didn't play a single, you know, road game all the way from home and, and, you know, to get those big home games, you've got to play the big road games and those things go hand in hand. But no, I do think we'll see it because I think at some point, you know, ESPN is going to want that the same way they wanted Izzo against, uh, Izzo against Kay and Cameron.

And they wanted Izzo against Roy in the Smith center. Um, maybe not in year one, maybe that's why they're doing this. So counting on the novelty and the women's match-ups to drive this, and then they can, you know, start hammering things with the big games a couple of years later. But yeah, I think we'll see it just because we saw it, um, in the ACC big 10 challenge, you know, that he has other than Maryland Duke ESPN didn't really hesitate from, from booking a lot of those big match-ups and, and, you know, sending those teams, whether it was into Madison, to the Cole center, into Cameron, into the Smith center, um, those games all got played. I think over the course of this arrangement, we'll see that as well.

Yeah. Luke Dacock joining us from the News & Observer. Playing golf at the beach is an interesting proposition. You can definitely justify not doing it because oftentimes you're packing a car and golf clubs can be an extra thing. Uh, it's hot if you don't get out there early, but also, you know, there's some cool courses at the beach sometimes. And sometimes it could be if you're going to be at the beach a week, it can break up, you know, activity, get you off, you know, so you're not just sitting on the beach all day, every day.

Where do you stand on beach golf and side corollary question, uh, is can it ever be too hot for golf? Hey honey, can we talk? Of course.

What's up? Well, I just thought you should know. I've been curious about the new Dr. Pepper strawberries and cream.

Oh, have you thought this way a long time? No, I just think I'd really like the taste of Dr. Pepper swirled with layers of flavor. If you feel that way, I think you should try it, babe. It's amazing. I mean, you're amazing too.

New Dr. Pepper strawberries and cream, the new flavor you deserve. Yeah. I mean, I think it can definitely be too hot for golf. I don't think it's ever too hard for me to play like a scheduled round of golf. You know, like I'm meeting up with some friends somewhere to play.

I'm not going to cancel. You know, we got a tee time. I'm going to stick it out and drink a lot of water and, uh, you know, hopefully probably not going to carry my own bag, but, uh, we'll stick it out. Um, I don't know that I'm gonna, there's days where I'm going to get the clubs out of the trunk and try to sneak in nine holes before sunset five degrees or whatever.

So yeah, I think there's a, there's a, uh, a barrier to entry there, for lack of a better word. But I mean, I remember early two thousands on the hottest day in the summer in July or August, I went down with a friend of mine. Uh, we played a course down in the sandhills. We were the only people on it.

It was just the two of us in the cart. We played the first 16 holes in about an hour and 45 minutes. We was flying around every time you went in the sand trap, it felt like you were going to melt. And we got to the 17th fairway and the end of the ball over water to the green.

It was just not a long approach shot, but it was all Terry. And we basically sat there for 10 minutes and just hit balls in the water. So none of us, neither of us had the energy to hit the ball hard enough to carry the water and get them on the green.

So there are some hazards that come with it. I still remember that 20 years later, it's just a feeling of just being completely defeated, um, by playing too fast in the heat. Now I'm not going to complain about fast golf, but that might've been, uh, too fast for those instances. But, uh, yeah, no, I would say that if you and I have plans to go play on a Tuesday afternoon and it ends up being a hundred degrees and humid, um, I'm going to show off and sweat through it. Uh, if you call me that afternoon, we don't have plans to play and be like, Hey, you want to go out and, you know, play at two or try to go out at four and play nine, I'm probably going to find better things.

I think I, I think I mostly agree with you on that. Uh, but I can't, it can be too rainy or too cold for me. I will cancel our round of golf. If I might not, I didn't realize, I didn't think it was going to be this cold. I'm out, uh, heat. I'll stick it out, but, but cold. I might cancel on you. Um, I'm a very good friend.

I'm a very good friend. Rubicon golf is 50 degrees. It's 51 degrees.

We're seeing officers 49. They'll call or text and be like, I'm not going much like a, I'm a bad sports radio host because I do things in nuance. Um, I got nuance like 45 degrees, but sunny and no breeze can, that could be a comfortable round of golf. You know what I mean? It feels different than, you know, 50 with, with no sun and a little bit of breeze that could feel terrible. So I, I got to take it case by case, but there's some people that are like, uh, you know, some of you transplants like you like to play in like 30 degree weather in your shorts. And, uh, and that's not, that's not my bag. I'll stop now.

Like my dad would go out and play when I'm 42 up in Wisconsin. I think he's insane. I don't get it.

It won't stop him. That's not me. Not anymore. All right.

He is, do you, uh, last question. Do you and Andrew Carter sit around and like compare like stack awards? You've both won a sports writer of the year. I know you probably win a bunch of like AP awards. Do you sit there and like count who's got more awards?

No, no, we don't. Um, I'm happy for Andrew that he won this year. It's always good to be recognized. Um, there's, there's always a lot, you know, it's a little like little league where everyone gets a trophy if you stick around long enough, but it's always nice that sports writer of the year one is always nice to being recognized by your peers. Um, so I'm happy that, uh, that Andrew's won it a couple of times and that was good to see him recognized this weekend.

Uh, to be fair, I did not think that your answer was going to be yes. We sit around and compare awards. Uh, I just was merely tipping my hat to the fact that you both have been on the show and you both had won the award. Hey, I've enjoyed the interview.

Uh, it's an annual tradition. I feel like maybe more so in years past, we've gotten the sounds of the beach in the background of the interview as well. So that's really put us all in a mindset to get down to the beach for the 4th of July. So I've enjoyed the interview and enjoyed the sound of the beach as well.

I truly mean that I'm not, that's not a sarcastic, uh, why was the background noise there? I've truly enjoyed the sounds of the beach. It's a, it's a beautiful day, beautiful start to the holiday weekend.

And I'm glad we were able to work it out to do this again because it is the highlight of the radio. All right. Enjoy your Shaboomi. Enjoy your 4th of July.

I'll talk to you soon my man. Yeah. Luke, the columnist for the news and observer joining us on the Adam Gold show. The following is a message from the future sent by Jamie from Progressive. Back in 2023, you could get help from Progressive online through our mobile app or over the phone. But here in the future, you'll be able to chat with us from space. Maybe you're asking, why are you spending time on insurance in space? Shouldn't you be sculpting something out of moon rocks or jumping around with no gravity? Insurance seems more like a back on earth kind of thing, right? Actually in the future space is no big deal.

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