This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. For internet sensations, guys. Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3-7 on WSJS. We're on a Tuesday drive. It's WSJS, News Talk Sports for the Triad, where it's going to be quite a day for our producer, Will Dalton.
Not only is he fresh off watching Top Gun Maverick for the first time, he'll share his thoughts on that Tom Cruise classic. Later today, He's also going to be booking it to Raleigh as soon as the show ends because tonight. Is game one of the Eastern Conference finals between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers? And let's actually start there. Even though Florida is the defending Stanley Cup champions, Tonight is not about them.
Tonight is about the Carolina Hurricanes, and that's because tonight is absolutely their game to win. Florida? They had to play a game seven in Toronto just a couple of nights ago. It's such a relief when you. Hit that horn because then the rest of the segment is fine.
It's fine. Don't have to be on pins and needles wondering when you're going to hit a button to interrupt. Thank you for that. Florida had to play in Game 7 a couple nights ago. Carolina hasn't had to play since last Thursday.
That's when they wrapped up the Washington Series in five with a road win in D.C. Also The canes are at home. They have home ice in this series. Carolina has. Has not lost.
A game at the Lenovo Center, or as we call it, the Lenny, In these playoffs, they are 5-0 so far, trying to make it 6-0 shortly past 8 o'clock tonight on TNT. If Carolina loses this game. The pressure ramps up to uncomfortable levels. Ahead of game two on Thursday. They've already lost.
12 straight conference finals games. Get ready. You're going to hear that stat over and over and over again until Carolina wins a conference finals game. Let's not let that linger to Thursday. Shout out to the Cranberries.
Those who know no. They've lost 12 straight. Lost swept by the Florida Panthers two years ago, swept by the Boston Bruins in 2019, starting this run of seven consecutive. Playoff appearances. And then before that, when Rod Brindemore was a player in 2009, even though that's not really relevant to this group playing right now, swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
During that run, you're going to hear a lot about it. Oh, they haven't won a. An Eastern Conference finals game since game seven. of the 2006 conference final, where Carolina won the cup, of course. Swept by this Florida team two years ago.
Let's put it this way. If they lose tonight... It's unlikely Carolina's going to win the series. Does that mean that it's a must-win? For game one?
No, it's still just one game in the series. But there's no scenario where opening up the show tomorrow after a Carolina loss in an optimistic place about where Carolina stands in the series. If they don't win tonight. Then, game two absolutely positively becomes a must-win.
So let's not. Have it come down to that. Tonight is not about Florida. Florida, they are the road team. They're happy to be in the Eastern Conference Finals after winning on the road in a game seven against Toronto just a couple nights ago and quickly having to turn around to play tonight.
They're not the ones that haven't won an Eastern Conference Finals game in the teams forever. They're not the ones that got swept like Carolina did two years ago, facing each other head to head. Florida won the Stanley Cup last year. Tonight is about the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes.
Need to win this game. Yeah. They'd really, really, really, really, really like to win this game. How about we put it that way? And they're not going to miss their shot, they're not going to throw away their shot.
In game one. They should be highly motivated to jump all over Florida. They're going to have the home crowd behind them and others sell out, of course. And this team has been a lot more dominant. Then Other Keynes teams during this run.
Don't forget that when Carolina faced Florida two years ago, it was after doing nothing at the deadline, and then Andrei Svetchnikov. went down with an ACL tear. Swech is on a run, on a roll in these playoffs with eight playoff goals to league Carolina.
So, is it going to be close? Yeah, it's going to be close. Florida's good, they're the defending champs for a reason. Sergei Bobrovsky, he's a problem, man. Sergei, he's going to keep Florida in this game.
But Carolina, the urgencies with them. They are well rested. They are at home. They're going to win tonight. Tight game.
Florida will have a shot in the third. Carolina 3. Florida won. On X at Josh Graham Show and at WSJS Radio. That's why we're streaming video in addition to YouTube.
Twitch. YouTube and Twitch.
However, and wherever you're listening or watching, greatly appreciate that. Will Dalton, he is the executive producer of the show, as mentioned. Would you like to share with the people? How many Tom Cruise movies we've had you watch? over the last three years doing our at the movie segment.
So I tallied up about 10. Movie. Tan movies. Yeah, that's not even counting Valkyrie that I'd already seen. Ten Tom Cruise movies that we've had you watch, including Top Gun Maverick, which you will review.
Today You have mission impossible. The last Bishin Impossible movie we think. that is dropping later this week.
So with that in mind we're asking the question, well, what is the best Tom Cruise movie? I've personally put together a top five list that we'll get to a little bit later on and we'll also talk about Tom Cruise's Uh recent classic. Top gun Maverick. B D is the sixth man at Tar Hill Basketball. He'll be our guest.
Later, we'll get into the NBA playoffs, the Western Conference Finals. Opens up conference finals play. In the league. Tonight we'll talk about that certainly as well. Moving on to something else completely.
In Chapel Hill, While it seems North Carolina has put its foot down against Bill Belichick's girlfriend the last couple of weeks, limiting her power, limiting her access to the football program. Today we learned. Jordan Hudson. isn't going anywhere anytime soon. This is Jordan Hudson's.
Scene in The Wolf of Wall Street where she's got the microphone saying. I'm not leaving. I'm not going anywhere. They're gonna have to get the National guide. Jordan Hudson's Moment.
Quite literally. The relationship with Bill could be here to stay because the New York Times. This is not some blog. This is not Reddit. This isn't some obscure ex account saying this.
The New York Times. is reporting that Jordan Hudson has told At least one person close to her Her and Bill Belichick are engaged to be married.
Now That has not been corroborated. They couldn't find more than one person who said that Jordan Hudson has told them That. But this is a New York Times report. And This is A big deal. We haven't gotten a North Carolina press release.
Reacting to this news, refuting it. Surprisingly, not this time. Honestly, if it is true, the timeline wouldn't be all that surprising. Older folks, they work quicker than others. If you're not on your first marriage, all right, we're in our 70s.
What are we waiting for here? Bill Belichick. Certainly. And they've known each other for years. How many times is Jordan Hudson going to tell us that they've known each other since February of 2021?
They've been dating for multiple years. It it's obviously serious. He's talking about her on television.
So the timeline wouldn't be all that surprising. And if the alleged engagement is in fact a new development, something that's happened the last few weeks, that would also make a ton of sense. Jordan is. Anybody. We don't know if people will be honest about it.
But if you get into a relationship with somebody, Odds are you get something out of it, right? Jordan Hudson's getting something out of this. Relationship. She's received.
Some powerful benefits from the relationship. Bill Belichick's getting something from this relationship, it seems, as well. And in the last few weeks, Jordan's power has been checked, the way Pablo Torre described it in his reporting. is this is a power struggle. This is about power dynamics.
And her power has been threatened after the CBS interview where North Carolina has said nope. Not anymore. Here comes a guy who's been doing PR for Chicago's pro teams the last quarter century. He's now running the football PR. Operation.
You're not. And you can deal with bills, personal stuff, all you want. It's not crossing over into football. You're not going to be on the field micing people up anymore. That's not what this is.
You're not an employee at North Carolina.
So that's been threatened. And what do you do if you feel that your power might be in question?
Well You try to figure out a way to Hold on for dear life and cling to that power.
So she could have, hypothetically, put the full court press on Bill to get engaged. In ways that only women can, Will. Yeah. It's like, hey. Yeah.
You know, hypothetically, here are some of the rings. That looked good on me and Hypothetically, my parents would really like if this happened. Oh, and if you're living together? If you want to get engaged real quickly, saying, oh, well, you know, I I don't have to live here anymore. I can maybe just find myself an apartment or move into one of these other three houses of real estate that.
Are close to six to eight million dollars in value that I've accrued since dating you the last few years. And that'll get things going quick. Not saying that what that's what did happen here, just saying, eh, that could be. at play here. The Times reporting also dismissed one of Belichick's recent claims.
We talked about this yesterday that Bill Belichick went on Ryan Clark's podcast and said, the reason why it seemed that Jordan was running the operation was because North Carolina didn't give me a PR person, didn't give me a sports information director.
So she was the person that when people wanted to get in touch with me, she just filtered through it. That was it.
Somebody wanted an autograph and she's like, hey, Bill, how about you give this guy an autograph? And that's all it was.
Well, the New York Times is also reporting. That Bill Bell, the uh The hard knocks. Offseason that the NFL that NFL Films was going to film and it was going to be carried on HBO was in fact, as we expected, killed by Jordan Hudson. This is from that story. This winter, producers at NFL Films decided a new season of its sports docu series, Hard Knocks, would focus on Mr.
Belichick's efforts to build the North Carolina football program ahead of the 2025 season. HBO agreed to air it. But days before they were set to announce the series, Mrs. Hudson demanded that she be granted content approval and partial ownership of the show. According to a person familiar with the deal who spoke on the condition of anonymity, because they were not authorized by producers to speak to a reporter, NFL Films then pulled the plug.
She's the reason it got killed. Oh, but she was just there not doing anything related to the football program, autographs and stuff. Nonsense. And it's clear She isn't going away, North Carolina, anytime soon, especially if these reports now. of them being engaged are true.
Oh. The six-man of Tar Hill Basketball's B Dot. He'll take me to grammar school in just a bit, and while he is here to talk about hoop. Our attention is focused on pro basketball, not college, right now. And let's actually start with a topic that's getting a wild amount of attention this week.
With the WNBA season opening up, Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, Do you care? And if I don't, is something wrong with me? No, I don't care, but when I see things, I give an opinion. I think Angel Reese needs to stop the flop and cut the cap, acting like she's friends with Caitlin Clark. I do like the dramatics that they're trying to put between these two, but it's only going to work if one of them becomes the villain.
And if this situation, I think Angel Reese is the villain in this situation. And I think she needs to just go ahead and embrace that. That was not a super outlandish or outrageous foul on Caitlin Clark. I just think it was a hard foul for somebody who was wide open, about to get an easy layup to the basket. It just happened to be Angel Reese.
But to act like we're friends, we're cool. No, this is just basketball. Cut the cap, man. Cut the cap. They don't like each other.
It's evident. I think the dislike comes more from Angel Reese. Than from Caitlin Clark, but I think a lot of that is because of the media and the entire circus that is put behind Caitlin Clark. That is deserved. She's the freaking women's version of Steph Curry.
She drops that whole one step past half court.
So I think she deserves all the accolades and all the attention she gets. But I do like the Larry Bird versus Magic Johnson type energy of Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. And I'm here for it. I am too. I like rivalries.
It I think it's revealing something about The sports moment we're in in 2025 that we're just not. We want everybody to be friendly with each other. We don't like... Back in the day, these types of like truly dislikable rivalries. We're actual, I mean, we celebrated those.
It's part of the reason we like sports. But in modern day, like with golf, for example, like people, it became a big deal that Brooks Kepka and Bryson DeChambeau didn't like each other. It became a deal that Rory McElroy didn't talk with Bryson during his round. Like, this was a story. People asked him about it at the PGA last week in Charlotte.
And now with this, I mean It's it's making rivalries. Less fun. that we can't be okay with. The idea that Angel Reese dislikes Caitlin Clark. It has to be, oh, she has to be appreciative.
She wouldn't have that McDonald's deal if it wasn't for Caitlin Clark. And again, that makes it less fun to talk about. I agree, man. Bring back the beef. Like, I like when Wendy's slogan was: where's the beef?
Like, bring back the beef, man. You switch to NBA for a second, and I'll do your show for you, Josh. But when you talk about the Knicks versus the Pacers, you remember Reggie Miller versus Jon Starks? Do you remember the beef, dude? Spike Lee, I mean, hard fouls.
Mark Jackson played for both those teams, man. Bro, like bring back the beef, man. Stop all this. Rick Smith's against Pat Ewing. Let's go.
Come on, man. Reggie Miller hitting 13 points in five seconds or whatever the crazy stat is. Not at all. Nine and eight, do the choke motion. Yeah, like if Twitter existed, there'd be think pieces like.
Come on, was Reggie. In the wrong for doing that, that's what it would be. Getting to the NBA, I'll use the segue. Um The conference finals begin. In both hockey and the NBA tonight, WD likes the Knicks and T-Wolves to advance to the finals.
I like the opposite of Oklahoma City and Indiana. Where do you stand? God I hate agreeing with Josh Graham. Don't absolutely hate it. There's nothing that chafes my willie more than agreeing with Josh Graham.
But I'm telling you, man. OKC is It's tough. And as much as I want Anthony Edwards to be the just the, I mean, he's the killer. You know, he is taking out everybody. You dig, like, I enjoy watching him do that.
I don't think he has enough to take out SGA and them boys. I got OKC winning the West. They've been the best team, not just the West, but an entire NBA all season. And then Cleveland Cavaliers fumbled the ball, they super fumbled the bag. Um, I think the Knicks.
Have reached their zenith this season. They have reached the apex by getting to the conference championship. But I just like Halliburton and them boys, man. Halliburton is playing with a chip. And I know Bernie, the Brunson Berner, don't play in them clutch moments.
I know that the Knicks have been playing great. But I just don't think that they're ready to get over that cliff to the championship. I got the Pacers, and then I got OKC just doing the Pacers dirty in the finals. Yeah, I just, I mean, Anthony Edwards is a dog, but I can't get that Fantasia song out of my head when I see him every other commercial. That he's a, you know what I'm talking about.
You know, there's the one where he's in the car. What's happening to me? Oh, yeah, yeah. He's singing. Yeah, yeah.
Why do you true? SGA and Chet got them little silly singing commercials and stuff, too. It's true. Everyone has those silly commercials, man. That's true.
And Anthony Edwards is not a dog, man. He's a wolf. Oh, that's right. He's a T-Wolf.
Okay, let's get to grammar school for wait. One last thing, though. Yeah, what do you got? You like the storyline. Of the T-Wolves and the Knicks with Julius Randall happening to play as full team in a series.
Carl Anthony Towns. That would be great, bro.
Now, that storyline would be amazing. But the obnoxious. Knicks fans, I cannot imagine them being in there. The Knicks fans and us Cowboy fans are the two most obnoxious fan bases in sports. Can you imagine the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game or the Super Bowl?
Oh my God. See you walk in my direction. I go the other way. All in my head. What's happening to me?
Okay, this hit. Hit Grammar School. Josh Graham has his own way of speaking. And just when you think it can't get any worse, Josh is going to attempt to learn B-Dot's vernacular. I'm going to put one in the air.
It's time. For B Dot's Grammar School. Nobody better than B Dot, pregame, during game, post game. WD is going to be making his way to Raleigh. And Minus 20 minutes or so, booking it to get to game one of the conference finals.
In time, 8 o'clock puck dropped maybe shortly after that. Here's my callcastic question: Who are the Hurricanes facing in the conference finals? I'll give you a hint. It's the team that won last year's Stanley Cup. A hockey team.
Astru. Can you just tell me what city or state they're in? I can tell you the mascot? They're in the state of Florida. See, I was about to say to Marlins.
Just give me my buzzer. They also have the same nickname as Our States. NFL team. They're the temp there's a you say they're in Florida the Florida Cancers They are the Florida Panthers. They are the Florida Panthers.
Oh, you said this the same. I thought you said it rhymed. No, no, no. It's the Florida Panthers. Florida Panthers.
That's the real hockey team? That is the hockey team. Josh, I've never heard of that hockey team before in my life. They won the Stanley Cup last year. Josh, I've never heard of the Florida Panthers in my life.
Well, now you have. There's a team that was the best team in hockey last year that the Hurricanes are playing tonight called the Florida Panthers. That's a thing. Do we have a chance in this series? I think we're going to win.
You think we're going to go to the Stanley Cup Championship? I do. Is it a Stanley Cup finals or the Stanley Cup Final Four? Stanley Cup final. Yo, if we can go to the Stanley Cup Farms, we ain't been there since what, 2006, ain't it?
That's right. Yo, we're gonna be so turned. Oh my god, it's gonna be so turned. 20 years later, WD's gonna be there tonight. Like I said, we he's gonna be leaving in about 20 minutes.
Not even this is game one, game one. TNT later tonight. Fire it up. Dot might actually turn it on. Probably not.
I'm I'm now I'm gonna try to see some I want to get into the Sound the siren.
Okay. What are your questions for me? You and Will Dalton collaborating behind the scenes. What do you have dug up? Yeah, I was about to say, man, you're on your own today, bro.
Like, WD actually scripted today's episode of Grammar School. I'm just gonna fire off then. I'm gonna go instant reaction and go by myself. No help. What if it.
If I tell you it's brick. It's brick. What am I telling you? This is different than a brick. Like, we know it.
A brick is basketball, but this is me just telling you: woof, it's brick. What am I telling you? I'm gonna go instant reaction. Kind of like one of the tests, like the ink blot test, that type of thing. Where, what do you see?
What I hear here is. That something's tough. If it's brick, it's tough. And like, you know. I'm trying to think of an example of an NBA player that might be really.
Tough. Giannis. Brick. Tough. You know, it's brick.
It's tough because I want you to start off strong, and I know that you can't use a lifeline. I'm gonna give you a hint because that is incorrect. Yeah, I gave you a hint for the Caucasus question. You did, you did, you did, you did. If I walk outside and I say, Oh, it's brick.
It's brick. I walk outside. Um Assuming that, like, shooting a brick means something bad happens. Maybe it's brick means. It's not kosher.
It's not fun. This isn't good. It's bad.
So, like. Maybe Giannis isn't the example of being brick. Maybe the example would be. I don't know. The Charlwood Hornets are brick.
Hmm. Is that your final answer? Sure. You're about to be upset. You ain't correct.
Now, when we talk about bricks, like shots, if you take a shot and you take and you make a bunch of bricks, are you hot or are you cold? You're cold. Oh, it's cold outside.
So, if I go outside and I say it's brick, what am I saying? It's cold outside. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's Brick. There's a Ben Fold song called Brick.
It's really good. The Pride of Winston-Salem and Reynolds High School. It's pretty good. You can check it out. You probably won't.
Okay, what's next? You definitely won't. If someone is in the mix, They're in the mix. What is this person? Um I'll say that they're they're relevant, that they're involved if they're in the mix.
You know, my team fired their manager over the weekend in baseball.
So there are a bunch of candidates you would say are in the mix. Like maybe a Carlos Beltron or a David Rott. They're in the mix. you know, if we're hanging out later and I'm asking who's coming. You could say that WD is in the mix if he's going to be there.
Or, you know, fill in the blank. Willow the dog might be in the mix. Baby Daniel could be in the mix. That's what we're going with. Yeah, that they're involved, that they're present, they're in the mix.
I'm going to go to my judge here who helped me co-script today's episode, WD. We're going to give him a pass or fail. I think we gotta give him a fail for that one. Because, like, it's not. Right, like it's a Well what's the answer?
Heavily involved in street drama. Not just a year. Because he used the word involved, I said, ah, I might give him that. But then he went straight fantastic talking about my baseball team. They're in the mix.
You're saying, Willow, the dog can't be involved in street drama? And she's white, Josh. Um I think you underestimate Willow the dog. Uh Yeah. In the mix means you're involved in street stuff, man.
You're in the streets. You out here. You're in the mix. You're in there.
Okay. What's the last one? I ain't getting skunked. What's the first bucket? What?
Yeah. Is it the what bucket? First. Thirst bucket. Mm.
The third Yo, can I get a screenshot of just Josh's face? Oh, yeah. What? It's a good one. I was in a three-letter word bucket.
Thirst bucket. Thirst bucket. A thirst trap is.
Okay. Where you're sending out posts. Usually, women are posting like pictures that. might celebrate Certain features like extentuate certain features that they might have. A thirst bucket, though.
It's like a... Is this like a tangible buck can it No, it is not.
Okay. A person would be described as a thirst bucket.
Okay, yeah, then it's somebody who would post a lot of thirst traps and whatnot. Like, very attractive women, Instagram influencers, I guess attractive men could probably do the same thing. Shirtless, those would be described as being thirst buckets, that the bucket is full of thirst traps and things of that nature. Is that your final answer? Yeah.
0 for 3 today, Josh. 0 for 3. A thirst bucket is actually not the person who's posting all of these posts. The thirst bucket is the desperate person. Yeah, you're a thirst bucket.
The person who has like, like, who actually subscribes to OnlyFan accounts. Those people. He's a thirst bucket. Thirst bucket. Or she's a thirst bucket.
Man, tough day for you. It really is. Let's hope we got him. Let's hope this doesn't. Ladies and gentlemen.
We got him. Let's hope it doesn't transition to the hockey tonight or even the baseball. I don't know. This is what we've learned today.
So, WD watched Top Gun Maverick for the first time. And we have a rewrite to that recently. This is what WD brought up, too, that they're looking at maybe having another Top Gun movie.
So. W D Painting a picture. A few years ago, When we started doing the at the movie segment, said that his. Familiarity of Tom Cruise was the movie Valkyrie. That's what he knew him from, Valkyrie.
And I thought Right.
So he's seen none of the new Mission Impossible coming out later this week, might be the last Mission Impossible. Since then, we've had Will watch not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven. Eight, no wait, ten, ten Tom Cruise movies. Since then, yes, over the last two and a half years, we dug up the number today. He's watched 10 of them.
Which leads to the question. What is your favorite? I released my list earlier. Jerry Maguire is my number one Tom Cruise movie. What is your favorite Tom Cruise movie?
First of all, I can't even name 10 Tom Cruise movies. When you said Jerry Maguire, I was like, oh, damn, that is Tom Cruise. Let me rattle them off then to allow for you to filibuster since I didn't prepare you. My top five was number, do we have Bob to help us count down my top five again? Number five.
Risky business. Number four. Top Gun Maverick. Number three, Rain Man. Oh, that's a good one.
Number two, a few good men. Woo, another great one. Number one. Jerry McGuire, but also not making the cut was like Magnolia, the firm, the color of money. Like a lot of good choices.
I think your top three will be my top three, but just sort of reposition. I think Jerry Maguire would go two. What was your three? I think your three is my one, and your two is my three.
Okay, so my number three was Rainman. That's number one for me, man. Him and Dustin Hoffman. Oh, my God, man. Like, it doesn't get much better than that movie.
That movie is amazing. And then I throw Jerry Maguire, show me the money at number two. And then number three, I think that's Top Gun. It was quite the revelation, though, that WD is now said. I think my favorite actor might be.
Tom Cruise now. Based on all these movies that we've had them see. And it probably is the top actor that we've had you watch. Movies. You got the wrong time, man.
Better than Hanks and crews, man.
Sounds like better than Hanks, man. Bruce ain't better than Hanks, man. Put that on your pole. Bruce ain't better than Hanks, man. Hanks played.
I'm talking Hanks. Hanks made you think that Wilbert, what's his name, Wilbert, was a real person. Who? Woody. What's his name?
Oh, Woody. Woody! Wilson! Oh, Wilson, the volleyball. I think it was.
Oh, Wilson! No. He cried when Wilson died. He cried.
Well, we don't know if he died. We don't know that. I mean, well, when we lost Wilson.
Okay, when Wilson got lost, sure. I hope Wilson's living a happy and fruitful volleyball life since then. There's no way you pick Cruz over Hanks, man. No way. I think Tom Cruise.
Has a deeper catalog? No way. I think he does. Because the 80s, like a lot of these 80s movies are outstanding from Cruz. Cruz couldn't have played freaking Forrest Gump.
I know, but the point I'm making is gone. No, the point is that all the run really started for Forrest Google. For Tom Hanks in the 90s. And it might be the greatest movie run of any actor ever, but none of these, I'll take all the 80s Cruise movies over Bachelor Party, I mean, Big and Turner and Hooch. Like, those really are the ones that stand out from the 80s until you get to the 90s.
Right. And then you get the run where he did this in a row. This is the argument for Hanks. He did these movies consecutively. A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle, Philadelphia, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, Toy Story, That Thing You Do, Saving Private Ryan, You Got Mail, Toy Story 2, The Green Mile Castaway.
All in a row. But that's like Will Smith. Pull up Will Smith. He did the same thing. Will Smith did the exact same thing, dude.
Not that conversation. Not that electric. Not that crazy. No, I'm not from 95, from like 95 to 2002, that run from Will Smith will never be topped ever. It will because Wild West was in that run, and that might be the worst movie I've ever seen.
At the box office. Again, I'm not disputing it.
Okay, keeping up with the Kardashians is a better show than 60 Minutes because it has more people watching it, I guess. But Wild Wild West also shows Will Smith's reach. Also, Ali didn't meet the mark. I love that. I love Ali, Muhammad Ali.
Ali didn't meet the mark. No, it didn't. My man. All right, we done here. Shark tails in that run.
Shark tails in this run. What are you talking about? Bro, you forgetting bad boys, independent, bad boys. No, no, no, no. I'm not saying you can't cherry.
That run. I know. I just told you Tom Hanks did all of that in a row. And I said, and the run you're talking about features Shark Tail and Wild, Wild West. Neil Smith went six straight summers locking down the block, like locking down Blockbuster.
They called it Summer of Wheel for six years in a row. What are you talking about? Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise never had their own summers for six years in a row. Cruise did, actually. Are you that?
I don't think I am. You got to put some respect on Tom Cruise's name, I think. No, you got to put some respect on Will Smith's name. He turned down Django. That's all I gotta say.
I mean, you know. But then he came back and did his own slave movie that was decent. Dot, we love you, brother. Enjoy the start of the cover. We'll talk to you next week.
How he's doing this. Hi, what's it got? You're on the drive with Josh Graham.
Okay, here's the theme. Make it themes plural for WD's movies next week. Two ideas in my head. Revenge movies? The Carolina Hurricanes trying to exact revenge on the Florida Panthers in these Eastern Conference finals.
Also, I rewatched. Death Wish for the first time in a long time last night. You probably haven't seen the 70s movie. It was remade. six or seven years ago.
That's not a shock. Shout out to Charles Bronson. And this year has been the year of remakes and sequels. There's been a lot of them. And it was announced last night That there's a new lethal weapon being made, and apparently Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are going to be involved with that project.
So, with that in mind, Feel free to shoot some movies our way right now that WD should be watching in the themes of revenge movies. Yeah. Sequels slash remakes. that. Maybe WD has seen Maybe WD has not.
And we'll get to that shortly. Put some movies on the poll that you can vote on on our X pages at Josh Graham Show and at WSJS. Radio. This is the question we set out to answer today though. The NBA draft lottery.
Didn't go Charlotte's way. in that they didn't get the number one pick. They got the number four pick in the draft, so no Cooper flag. Sadly for Charlotte. Once again, bummed out on lottery night.
The Combine. Just finished. over the weekend in Chicago. Got a lot of valuable intel from that. A lot of reports, a lot of mocks coming out since then.
So If you are a Charlotte Hornets fan. What are you rooting for? At number four. What is the best case scenario? Because reading the tea leaves here.
Baylor's VJ Edgecombe seems to be. That best case. for Charlotte. For one, There are numerous red flags. With Rutgersgaard Ace Bailey.
See it. Even though Rutgers had Two of the four best players in this draft. Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey. They were not a good Basketball team. Rutgers basketball.
Not very good. last year. And His shot selection? A problem? questionable.
Also concerning? He was listed at 610 at Rutgers. And then he gets to the combine, he gets measured, and he is two and a half inches shorter. Then What he was listed at. At Rutgers.
We hear about growth spurts. Wow, this guy is taller than we thought. Two and a half inches shorter? Hmm. Mm.
Some questions. should be asked there. According to ESPN's Jonathan Gavoni, Ace Bailey has been described as, quote, unpolished close quote in team interviews at the Combine. And many teams have question his feel for the game.
Now You could dismiss this as draft spin. Oh, this is a team just trying to manipulate things, right? Ashador Sanders. If team interviews Those not going well. Can hurt your draft stock.
Ask him, see what he would say.
So that's Ace Bailey.
Meanwhile, Vijay Edgecombe, he is both a basketball and a culture fit in Charlotte. See, the problem with Ace Bailey is... W D. A guy that has shot selection issues. that there might be some Personality, off the court things that are questionable, maturity, maybe even a question mark.
Does that sound like the type of guy you might want to surround Lamello Ball with? Does that seem like a great combination? Hey, let's... bring in a guy with questionable shot selection that might have maturity. as something that you're questioning.
Hmm. Not the greatest. Vijay Edgecombe seems to be a basketball and a culture fit. From a hoops perspective, he will be a more reliable perimeter defender than LaMello and Brandon Miller. Brandon Miller, very skinny.
Not really a guy that you're leaning on for defense. Lamello ball effort is just a problem on that side. Not for Vijay Edgecombe. Vijay Edgecombe comes from a winning program. We watched.
Baylor and Edgecombe in the NCAA tournament in Raleigh. He was in that same region that Duke was at. And That UConn was at. We watched them. They made the tournament.
Scott Drew produces... reliable defensive players. Whether it's Jeremy Sohan in San Antonio, whether it's. Davion Mitchell. I mean, they won a national title a few years ago.
So BJ Edgecombe, he comes from a winning program. He's willing to play defense, which Charlotte Desperately needs, and he seems to be a player that would slide nicely right there at the three, along with Lamello. And with Brandon Miller.
So give me the best basketball fit, give me the best culture fit. If it's really close from a talent perspective, which it seems to be. Charlotte's board at number four should be two names long. It should be Edgecom and it should be Ace Bailey. That should be the list.
Because you know you're not getting Cooper Flag, and you pretty much know you're not getting Dylan Harper either. The other Rutgers guard is probably going number two to the Spurs.
So whomever. Philadelphia. Does not take with the number three pick in this draft, Charlotte should take with the number four pick. But, Josh, didn't you just say all these concerns about Ace Bailey? Why would you still take him with the number four pick?
When we were talking the day after the lottery will. The reaction we had was this was not doomsday for Charlotte. And the reason why it wasn't doomsday for Charlotte is There is a drop-off. It would seem in talent After four. You wanted to be in the top four.
Because there is a talent drop off from Ace Bailey, VJ Edgecombe. Till you get to more situational role player types, not really franchise caliber guys. Like Trey Johnson, who's a really good shooter, or Khan Knippel from Duke, or Kamon Malowatch could do a lot of things and start for you. But isn't like a franchise pillar type of player. There seem to be only Four of those.
in this draft. Cooper flag a different level. Dylan Harper, maybe in his own tier two, has.
well below Cooper, but still pretty high up. But then there's Vijay Edgecombe and Ace Bailey that we put into a similar box, and Charlotte. We'll have one of those guys available on the board, and that you should be pretty happy about. if you're a Hornet fan.
Okay. WD, we need to figure out what your movie is going to be.
Next week, we have cool slick writing here.
So, are we still using fit?
Okay, LOL. Only if it's even you go to fit. See? There are guys like Trey Johnson, Con Kenipple, they'd be better fits than Ace Bailey would. But Ace Bailey is so much more talented, has so much of a higher ceiling, you take those guys over them.
Like, fit shouldn't factor in unless it's a tie. And I view Ace Bailey and B.J. Edgecombe very similarly. Like, it's almost a tie. And then you you go.
and talk about fit.
Okay, let's get to next week's movies.
So the problem with revenge movies will We've done a lot of them. Tarantino movies and Glorious Bastards. Oh, yeah. Django, Kill Bill. Those are a lot of.
Might be the best revenge movies. Unforgiven might be the best. Yeah. John Wick. We've done that.
Deserves got nothing to do with it.
Well, that's not John Wick, that's a man on fire. Cape Fear. That counts as a revenge movie.
So we we need some We need some more.
So was racking my brain a little bit. Have you seen you said you hadn't seen Death Wish.
Well Have you seen Commando? Like Arnold what Arnold movies have you have we done? We've done Predator versus Alien. No, we haven't done versus Alien, but we've just done Predator. We've done Predator.
Uh is that it? Terminator? We haven't done any of those. We haven't done any of the Terminator movies. I have not.
See, those aren't really revenge movies, though. No. But we'll keep it noted. I I mean, Terminator 2 might be the best sequel ever.
So All right. I do like the idea of putting lethal weapon. On this poll, 'cause you haven't seen that, I'm sure.
Well and I like the idea of putting Terminator on this poll too But if we do either of those, you have to watch one and two. It can't be just one.
So it's gotta be a double feature. It has to be. Because Terminator 2 Is maybe the greatest sequel, not named Godfather ever. Or Empire Strikes Back.
Okay. And Lethal Weapon 2 is much better than Lethal Weapon 1. You gotta watch them both. Like, there are more beyond two, but two is the best one of those series. Terminator gets my vote.
Okay, but you don't even know what lethal weapon is. And lethal weapon two is again, I'm fine with putting both of those on the poll. I'm fine with that. Let me see. There's a new Den of Thieves.
Did we do the original Den of Thieves? I had already seen it. Good for you. There's a running man coming out. All right, we've got our sequels.
Let's just focus on. Let's focus on Revenge Baby. Have you done Memento?
Well, that's a Christopher Nolan movie. That's probably the big... That's probably his first big movie that he ever did. Yeah, I don't even know what it is.
Alright, then we'll put that down. That that would be great. And you know what, since I watched it last night, we'll put Deathwish on there as well.
Well, how's that for variety? We got Terminator. We got Lethal Weapon, we got Death Wish, and we have Memento. But I think we have an idea which it which one of these two, or which two this is probably going to come down to.
Okay. We have oh my goodness. How about this? We have, Will Today. On May the 20th.
Over-under win totals for ACC football teams this year. We have them in front of us. Plus even some week one point spreads. We'll hit on those in Best Bets Next. W S J N Yes.
We already said we've jumped on. The Canes to win the series against Florida since Carolina's an underdog did that. In best bets yesterday, let's Actually. Push things ahead. Two.
football season, where on May twentieth, today, The day we received ACC football over unders. for the 25 season. Let's get into it. I'm not a betting duck. Care to make it interesting?
You know you do. You're on. Call me in on this. Your best bet. But my money's on the other team.
This is Josh's best bets. Robert Walsh chiming in on the show. How TF did Will just watch Top Gun? Make them watch Vanilla Sky. That's outstanding.
Uh, he's watched Top Gun a good bit ago. He hadn't seen Top Gun Maverick. Which is equally as surprising because he's been the producer of the show. since that movie came out. Love our guy, Robert.
Total on our pole. At Josh Cramp Show and at WSGS Radio. Which movie should you watch for the first time next week? Death Wish, Terminator 1 and 2, Lethal Weapon 1 and 2, or Memento? At Josh Cramp Show and at WSGS Radio.
Okay, we've got odds here. WD, let's focus on the ACC Big Four. Do you want to take a guess? What North Carolina's odds, what their over-under win total is. For this season under Bill Balachak.
Seven and a half. That is correct. See that cash up, fam? I may or may not have seen that already. Oh, you saw it on your feet?
Well, that's cheating, Will, and. Cheating should not be rewarded, but. But I don't know the rest of them. Caroline's the only one that I took a look at.
Okay. How about Duke?
So they won nine games in each of the last two years. Lost Riley Leonard a couple years back last year. Made it happen with Malik Murphy, who's now the quarterback at Oregon State. They bring in Daria Minsa. From to lane to run.
Chop? I'm gonna say 10 and a half. The answer is six and a half.
Well, what? 10 and a half? Yeah. Are you out of your mind? I think they're going to get better with Mensa.
There's no team that has 10 and a half. Like Clemson is 9.5. Ten and a half for Duke, you must be a You should go fire off a bet right now. No, I don't think I'm going to do that. Over six and a half wins, can they get to seven?
I like that. I like those odds. But ten and a half you might You might be pushing it a little bit there. NC State. This has gotta be six and a half.
That is six and a half. Send me that cash. Dickerts. The What did he call himself? The Breakfast King of the Midwest.
That's right. The Breakfast King of the Midwest. His first season at Wake Forest. Pssoo. Uh Five and a half.
Four and a half. Ugh. Second worst odds in the league, Stanford. I felt like a friend in. Three and a half.
So those are some of the ACC win totals. I'll tell you what, man, Duke's the one I want to jump on. That's the one I look at and say. We're probably gonna Go over six and a half wins at Duke. Can you pull up their schedule for me?
Do it on the screen here so we can see what Duke's Schedule looks like. Maybe why the schedule looks that way. Let me see where George Attack is as well. Georgia Tech over seven and a half wins. I like that as well, given what that schedule.
Looks like. Those are the ones that stand out going over four. And then we got odds for week one college football.
Alright, do we have Duke's schedule here? Zoom in on that a little bit.
So. Because my eyes aren't.
So great.
So Duke. has to play Ole Miss and the David oh wait, that was in the bowl game this past year. They open up with Elon. Illinois win win 'cause that's in Durham. Oh, a rematch, or the revenge game too lame.
Daria Minsa playing is that's gonna be fun. End of war once you got stayed at home. At Syracuse, Georgia Tech comes to Durham. You gotta go to Cal. Ah, okay, you go to Death Valley to play Clemson.
Yukon on the road, okay. Nothing too daunting? Wake at home, Virginia at home, at North Yeah. I see seven wins there for Manny Diaz. And this Duke program?
Yeah. I think I'm on them and I'm on Georgia Tech. Those are the ones I really like.
Okay, getting the week one odds. Do you wanna know? Where would you place the line? for ECU at NC States. to open up the season.
I hope We'll give them Five and a half. That might be too much. NC State minus five and a half? Is that what you're saying? Yeah.
14 and a half. Oh boy. That was a bad pick. A lot of points for the Pirates. Who won the bowl game?
Lot of points. for the Pirates. How about Bill Belichick's first game? In Chapel Hill. TCU eight o'clock kick Monday night, Labor Day, Monday, facing the Tar Heels.
What's that line? Carolina Ten and a half. One and a half. No respect. Might want to lay that line right now, Will.
Might just want to lay that right now. North Carolina minus one and a half. Other marquee games that we could see the ACC. You could say a lot of things about the ACC wheel. But they schedule bangers to open the season.
They do. On Thursday night to open up. The opening weekend, Colorado Georgia Tech. George attacks a three and a half point favorite at. Deion Sanders, Colorado team.
in Boulder. On Friday night. Syracuse faces Tennessee. I think that game's in Knoxville. Saturday afternoon Alabama goes to Tallahassee to play Florida State.
That night, Clemson in Death Valley faces LSU. Sunday afternoon, South Carolina faces Virginia Tech. Sunday night, Notre Dame, Miami. That's an ACC game. And then you have TCU North Carolina.
It might be the greatest weekend the ACC. Has had schedule-wise with all these high-level bangers. Clemson favored against LSU by 2.5 points.
South Carolina favored over Virginia Tech by 9.5 points. Florida State is an 11.5 point home underdog against Alabama. Tennessee, 12.5 point favorites against Syracuse. Notre Dame favored by one and a half against Miami and Carson Beck. And we mentioned that North Carolina is only a point and a half favored against TCU.
You might be thinking, Josh, this is way down the line. How about you just give me a pick tonight? Fine. We're going Rudy Gobert over nine and a half rebounds. Do they cash up, fam?
For Minnesota tonight against Oklahoma City. This is the concern I have with Oklahoma City, Will. The concern I have is... The size of Minnesota. It's not Anthony Edwards because you got Shea Gilgis Alexander.
It's. It's the size of Minnesota. Rudy Gobert and his one start against the Knicks. Uh Against Isaiah Harkenstein, I should say, last year. Had 15 rebounds.
So, just need to get into double-digit boards. I think that might be the flaw with Oklahoma City, who's coming off of game seven just a couple nights ago.
So, we like Rudy Gobert to grab some boards. Tonight. And that's been best bets For today. Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast. Search The Drive with Josh Graham, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast.
Huh? Oh yeah. I'm really disappointed in you. I forgot. Yeah.
Breakfast And baseball today. Breakfast! ACC, what was that? You never heard that mean? Breakfast.
Never heard that. Breakfast? How's that spelled? B-E-A. K F A S D Backfist you just take the R out?
You do. Why? Why? It's a meme, just look it up. Beckfist.
Look that up. Yeah, the ACC baseball tournament started 9 a.m. Yeah. 9 a.m. with Al and Miami.
And cow, how about it? A big 10-run win? 10 runs. 12 to 2.
So they. We'll move on, they'll get Wake Forest, and then Right now. You got... Top of the seventh, Virginia Tech, Stanford. Virginia Tech up six.
That's terrible. Yeah. To two, and the winner of that game gets Clemson. I'm ashamed that I asked. Are you?
I am.
So there you go. Got Louisville Pitt coming up at five o'clock after that. That is. It's terrible. Is it?
The Baltimore Orioles are also terrible. Seven straight, they've lost.
Well They are fifteen and thirty one. On the season Atlanta plays Washington tonight. That matters more. Then whatever the Orioles are doing. On TBS, it's the Mets and Red Sox.
Your Yankees play the Texas Rangers tonight. Mm-hmm. The D-Backs drilled LA last night. Saw that. St.
Louis is really good. They beat the Tigers, who have the best record in the American League.
So that's what's going on. in baseball. Not just the ACC baseball tournament. Wake and Duke will be in action tomorrow. Wake Starts at 9 a.m.
Tomorrow morning, facing The Cow Bears because of Cow's winning. And according to Les Johns, Logan Lunsford is going to throw tomorrow morning. for Wake Forest. Actually, that's according to a release from Wake Forest Athletics. The drive with Josh Graham only on WSJS.
you The Navy calls it. Fighter Weapons School. The pilots call it Top gun. W D's movie for this week. Top Gun Maverick.
Usually, I don't have to put this disclaimer on this segment, Will. Because the movies we're talking about are 10, 15, 20, 30.
sometimes even 40 or 50 years old. But since this movie is only three years old this month, I have to put the disclaimer. There might be spoilers in this segment. Top Gun Maverick. WD already saw the original Top Gun.
Let's see if he liked it. First time watching it this week. Unless you're talking about Star Wars movie one has taught you well. Movies aren't exactly Will's thing. I don't get it.
You had cultured swine. But that's about to change because Josh can't stand it anymore. This is at the movies with Will Dalton. I also. For those who are unfamiliar, we'll get back to the sports ball, sports-related stuff in a bit.
Looking at you specifically, Darl. I think his name's Darl. Who's writing in? I always love when a comment starts with these two words. Hey, stupid.
It's a great way to start. Like, what? What sentence, what comment starts better than hey stupid? It's great. Do you know anything about basketball?
No punctuation either. No comma, no question mark. Charlotte needs a big man. You're probably the reason, you probably the reason why they haven't drafted properly in the last 10 years. Listening to you.
Appreciate you watching. Listening. Darl? It is great. I mean, what's not Was Mark Williams drafted in the last 10 years?
I think he was. Yeah, within the last five, I think. Five? No. Three years ago.
Three, yeah. Because he was the guy trying to contest Caleb Love's shot in 2022. Right. Let's not. Forget about that.
Hey, stupid. Not using great grammar or punctuation either via text. It was one of my favorite things in Top Gun. This probably isn't the thing I'll choose. Capturing old man techs very well.
Between Mav and Ice. Yeah. Using a lot of punctuation, correct pronunciations. No abbreviations, no nothing. Appreciated that.
We're getting sidetracked. What did you like? Did you like Top Gun Maverick? I did like it and It's tough to like it's tough to get to a place where you like something more than the original. I'm there.
I think I might be too now. One of the things I liked about it so much and one of the things that I'm going to do isn't you a guy who says that the The prequels are better than the original Star Wars? Yeah. So why is that tough for you to say something is better than the original?
Well, okay, so it's a general thing that people say is it's tough to outdo the original. And honestly, a lot of people disagree with me about the prequels in Star Wars, besides the point. But because of. I feel like on the mission when it gets late in the movie... Especially when Tom Cruise basically says, screw it.
I'm gonna show them that this can be done, right? Yeah. Oh, and they set it up, made sure to emphasize time and time again: 230, that seems impossible. And then they do it in 215, and it's like a sports movie for about five minutes. Whoa!
And it just. The visuals of Tom Cruise in the cockpit. And just seeing it go sway back and forth with every movie made. Like, it was just so cool to look at cinematically. And it's a movie that I really wish I could have seen in theaters.
100%. It seems like one that was meant to be seen in theaters. Saw it twice when it was in theaters. I have written down what did I like, what did I like about this movie? Almost everything.
But if I had to just point to to one thing that I liked the most about this movie. The answer might surprise you, Will. I wrote down two words. Jennifer Conaway. Yeah, she was pretty good in this movie.
She Is Perfect. Perfect. Tom Cruise struggles to find Love interests that he has chemistry with. Jennifer Connolly. Got the job done.
I mean the intimate scene was awkward as it is in every cruise movie. We did Days of Thunder a few weeks ago, and that's when he had like the Splenda. And It didn't make a lot of sense. This one, they're just laughing. At something.
and you don't really see much of anything at all. This is A great movie, PG-13 movie that you introduced to you can watch if you're 13 years old, you can enjoy if you're 18, maybe even a little bit younger than 13. But WD, she's so perfect. It's to the point where it becomes a fault on those. And what I mean by that is.
You wonder If there's actually a person like this in real life? And the answer is no. Oh, wait, there's this single person that looks like Jennifer Connolly who can man the most perfect bar ever right off the beach in San Diego by herself with 125 people at this bar at one time and still have time to have a conversation with you? And oh yeah. Is loaded enough to have like an early 60s Porsche and has the most perfect child ever that doesn't seem to have any drama whatsoever.
And also knows how to sail. That person exists on this planet and is still single, just waiting for Tom Cruise to walk in? No. No, she does not exist, but in this movie, just perfect. And Jennifer Connolly is perfect.
And I think it's her best role. Also, I have to throw this out there before we move on to what we didn't like about this movie. I loved Glenn Powell's character. I loved Hangman. That doesn't surprise me.
I just, I thought he was fantastic. What did you dislike? about Topka. Maverick. How was he able to survive the Mach 10 crash?
Okay. Are you glad I win here? That does lead to a theory on the internet. There is a theory. that for those who haven't seen the movie, They He goes Mach 10.
If you don't know what Mach 10 is, Mach 1 is the speed of light. Yeah. So 10 times that. His plane explodes and then he walks into That. Restaurant.
Restaurant. Where are you from, Earth? Yeah. Great scene, but there's a theory on the internet. That he actually died.
And it makes sense that he died in that crash at the beginning, and the rest of the movie is just a fever dream. Smitty writes in speed of sound actually, not speed of light.
Okay, thank you. Appreciate the correction actually, I honestly do. And The theory is that that's why everything's so perfect. Oh, that you should be kicked off for wrecking this plane, but no, we're gonna send you back to Top Gun where you're needed and. Oh, Jennifer Connolly, your old flame is just waiting for you and the bar is perfect and oh, you get to reconnect with Iceman and make amends with Goose's son.
and everything's so perfect. And there she is with a Porsche at the end. Yeah. Like, there is that theory out there. And also, according to ChatGPT, It's not scientifically possible for a human to survive that type of ejection.
No. Wait, it's hard to pick anything when you say that you like everything in the movie. And if I do pick something specifically, my heart isn't fully in it. Like, I could do. Dogfight football.
Football with two balls, offense and defense at the same time. Like, if I wanted the nitpick, I could do that and say, this doesn't make any sense. I just want to know the rules. If we had Tom Cruise on the show, see, I see he's going on McAfee, which is interesting because he doesn't do interviews, and he's going to go on with a wild card. If I'm McAfee, I'm just asking about wild card or asking about dogfight football.
Is it gonna end up like the Oprah Couch interview? I don't know. Like, what are the rules? How does that work? I could say that they rip off Star Wars with the way that they blow up the Death Star in the original Star Wars is a lot like how they blew up.
This whatever. You could criticize the fact that we have no idea who the enemy is. And say, like, it's super ambiguous. Like, is this the Chinese? Is it the Russians?
What part of the world is it? But. Then you could say, well, Is that actually good that you don't know who it is and make the movie age better? I don't know. You could criticize the Star Wars ripoff and the point break ripoff, but also say maybe those are just paying homage.
to those things.
So my heart's not in it. for any of those criticisms. All right, what's the best quote? I don't sail boats. I land on him.
It's the only one I've got. That's a pretty good one. Maybe so, sir, but Not today. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. This is your Savior speaking.
You really do like Glenn Powell's character in this movie. I did. Talk to me, Goose. Talk to me, Dad. Yep.
This is probably the best one. This is maybe the life lesson of the movie, Top Gun Maverick. It's not the plane. It's the pilot, yeah.
Alright, rotten tomatoes score. Between 1 to 100, 100 being very good, 1 being bad. I bet this one's really high. Let's go! And it may not be high enough.
It may not be high enough. The answer. For the Rotten Tomatoes, score of Top Gun Maverick is 99. 99. is the answer.
99. That might be the highest one that we've done. I don't think you can get higher. It is. I don't think there's a 100 out there.
And that's been at the movies. With the WD.
