The White Sword of Righteousness (7-7-25)

This is the Drive with Josh Graham podcast. For internet sensations, guys. Tune into the Drive weekday afternoons, 3-7 on WSJS. And we're on a Monday Drive. It is WSJS, new stonk sports for the triad, where it's good to be back in this chair after a long holiday weekend.

And you would think coming out of the 4th of July. There'd be more excitement for the U.S.

soccer team right now.

However, The levels on the Optimism meter Currently pretty tepid, and that's Pretty strange. After all, the next competitive match we will see the Americans play Is June the twelfth next year the start of the World Cup? A World Cup? that the United States of America is in fact hosting. That means usually the host get favorable draws.

We'll see later this year what type of draw, what type of group the United States is placed in. And this is following a positive showing in the 2022 World Cup. Remember, they missed the World Cup in 2018, 2022, younger group. They get out of the group stages. It was a positive.

Showing also The U.S. nearly won the Gold Cup last night. They did so with... You look at their starting lineup, it was good to see a couple of Charlotte FC standouts. Showing out for the Americans.

Patrick Ajuman only had he almost had the equalizing goal in the final five minutes of the match. Tim Reem, the Gold Cup U.S. captain, is on the back line for the Crown as well. They did a lot of this with players that will not be mainstays. on the World Cup roster.

They only had two or three. international regulars that will be starters for sure next year. They didn't have Christian Belisic. Their top couple of goalies. And yet still got to the championship match.

Mexico is playing most of their international regulars, seven, eight or nine of them. And despite this, the Americans, they scored in the first five minutes in Houston, just weren't able to hold on. They fell 2-1 in this Gold Cup final. But still, it was a good showing. There's a lot of positive there.

So, why? Isn't there a lot of optimism? You would think. The United States is hosting the World Cup. The United States Had a decent showing last time.

With a lot of the guys who will probably be reserves. They nearly won the gold cup. What is stopping us from from being over the moon. Out of this 4th of July weekend, looking ahead to a World Cup that we're going to be hosting. At the root of the problem.

is a lack of identity. Because remember, last year the United States They made a managerial change. And at that point, the reason for that change was. We don't like what the identity of this Club. had become.

And this was the most common criticism. Burhalter was too Passive. He was too conservative.

Now, with this change, they're going to be, oh, you brought Mauricio in? Oh, he's going to be aggressive. It's got to be creative. That's what this is going to be. But then you watch the Guatemala match in the semifinal.

They're up 2-0, and then they just sat on the ball. And Guatemala scored in the 80th minute, and they pressed, and they nearly knotted up the match. And this was after you were clearly superior to Costa Rica and you were taken to kicks. In the quarterfinal, and then what happened last night? You scored in the first five minutes, and then you tried to sit on it again, and Mexico dominated play the rest of the match.

But that's not the style that we were sold on. Ask yourself this question. If you're a soccer fan, what is the strength? What is the identity of this United States soccer team? That was always clear in the past.

Oh, Clint Dempsey landed Donovan. You're going to work through the middle. You have this strong back line. The United States had a lot of great goaltenders. You work from the back on end.

In 2002. And in 2010. And even in 2014, with Casey Keller and Tim Howard. Don't know what the identity of this team is. Really don't.

And we're less than a year away from the start of World Cup matches.

So, that to me is the root. Of the tepid optimism we're seeing for American soccer, because the details tell us we should be a lot more excited. Excited. than the way we are right now. On X at Josh Graham Show and at WSJS Radio.

That's why we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch. We are back. On The video platforms. Which means the executive producer of this show, Will Dalton, is back as well. Did you miss us, Will?

You know, I did. And then, you know, it's funny, my phone rang and the next thing I knew I was on grammar school.

So. And it turns out I learned I did get that question right. Forgot what the question was. I had to do two, but I got it right. Thank you for referencing a show that very few people remember off the top of your head, considering you don't even remember the question.

It's making me miss you less. I watch Spotlight. Ah, did that? At the movie's double feature later this week.

So now we're referencing shows. From five days ago, and now we're referencing shows that are not happening today, things that are happening later in the week. You are. in mid-season form. Speaking of mid-seasons.

This weekend was the annual clash between perhaps our state's two most popular Major League Baseball franchises. Ha! The Atlanta Braves and the Baltimore Orioles meeting In the place they call the A, which will be hosting the all-star game. At about this time.

Next week. And will We can call it The Atlanta Braves season is. Over. Who needs championships when you can look at birds? Because of my Baltimore Orioles.

There are a lot of Atlanta Braves fans that live in the triad, easily the most popular team in the state. And the Baltimore Oriol just ended your season. It's over. It's Yeah. And if you're not following baseball that closely, let me fill you in on the details.

This weekend felt like a must-have for both teams. The two most talented. Teams that are not playing well this year. making them the most disappointing teams easily in the sport. The Baltimore Orioles and the Atlanta Braves.

Two most disappointing teams. Similar records, similar amount of games back in the wild card hunt. to avoid becoming sellers at the trade deadline. Both these teams needed a jolt going into the All-Star break. Neither could afford a series loss against each other.

And if you did get beat in the series, you absolutely, positively could not afford to get swept. And that is what the Baltimore Orioles did to the Atlanta Braves. They brought out the Brooms. Atlanta has now lost nine of its last eleven games. The last nine games have been at home.

Home games.

So where do they stand right now?

Well, see, the Baltimore Orioles are now 9 under 500. Nine games under? Nine times. The Atlanta Braves are 11 games. Under 500.

Entering a road trip. Going to Sacramento, then going to St. Louis. going into the all-star break. And again, you might be thinking, well, Josh, there are a lot of games left.

You have more than 70 games left. How can you say the season's over? The problem now is that. We are only three weeks away from the deadline. And if you are this far out.

Management has to make a decision. Are you going to risk Keeping players on the team. that could net returns to help you in the future. When you're this many games back. An aspiring contract like Ozuna, Marcel Ozuna.

Maybe you got do they put Ozzy Albies? on the block. They have some relievers that you might consider shopping as well. Again, the praise. Catastrophic pitching injuries.

Just in the last two weeks, you lose. Spencer Schwalenbach, you lose Chris Sale. Spencer Strider missed a lot of the year. Early on, he's back at least, but. losing the last start that he appeared in.

The Orioles They're trying to get back into the mix. And they pass the test. They went on the road, they swept Atlanta. Atlanta got swept on its home field at a time they could not afford to be swept. Thus, we're calling the race now.

on Monday, July the 7th, The Atlanta Braves season is Over. is over. Wow. Did not know that you had that. Was about to cite Billy Packer, and you already had that ready to go.

I take everything back that I said earlier. Thank you for that. This game. is over. That's amazing.

You could chime in 336-777-1600 or on our YouTube chat. This is where Jay Davis writes in. I think it's more Yankee fans in North Carolina than Orioles. I'm not even a Yankee fan, Cub fan. I'm sorry.

No. No, like there's a There are radio stations in North Carolina that carry Orioles baseball. Is that right? That's true. Oh.

There's a reason why the Orioles are blacked out in the state of North Carolina still. And the Yankees aren't.

So again, this isn't me making an argument to say the Orioles are as popular as the Braves, but I'm going to say the Orioles are more popular than the Yankees. in North Carolina. I'm going to say that. I'm going to make a ruling on that.

Sounds like it could be a debate. I don't know. I'm not having that to base today. This game is over. That debate.

is over. We're not having that conversation today. Unless somebody could come in with some hard evidence and say, hey, there are a lot of people that move here from the north. That's fine. That's fine.

They probably root for the Red Sox. They probably root for the Me. Like. I'll even accept Will. Obviously.

That the sum of all the other like Northeast fans outweigh the amount of Oriole fans in North Carolina. Like that's probably second to the Atlanta Braves. Like the mismatch of all those teams in the Northeast. But there isn't one of them that outdraws Baltimore individually. We'll push back on that strongly.

This is fun. After just getting off the air, Adam Gold is going to join us in the next 20 minutes. He loves soccer. He loves hockey. And there's a lot on both fronts to talk about with him, especially how busy the Carolina hurricanes have been.

Daring Gant.

Now, let's see how good Will is at finding clips that might be related to our friend from Panthers.com who's a Hall of Fame voter. We gotta talk Carolina Panthers.

Now that the calendar is flipped to the month of July, training camp is right around the corner, and Darren will be our guest. at around five thirty.

Well, not so tough now, are you? On with the show. Short time. Back to the drive with Josh Graham. It was a long weekend with the Fourth of July being on Friday, so there's a lot for us to recap.

The way we do that in an efficient manner is what the segment we call Graham's grades. Every week is a test for your favorite sports teams. Who passed the test? I don't know. Who dropped the ball?

I don't know. Josh Graham has the answers. What? Time for Graham's grades. The good, the bad, the ma.

From what we saw over the weekend. Let's start. On a positive note. A. It's gotta be Oasis' reunion, right?

Ah, well, I guess it depends on who you ask.

Well this one's less debatable. How about we let this be the A? The Greensboro Grasshoppers 4th of July. There you go. Pittsburgh Pirates affiliated Greensboro.

Had three pitchers throw. Christian Curtis. Jake Shirk? Michael Walsh. They spun the first Nine inning, perfect game.

At the affiliate level since 2017, Greensboro did.

So why is it not? And that or w Why is this the top thing?

Well, WD, I mean, it's baseball on the 4th of July. It's Greensboro. And you know that this is worthy, a worthy, perfect game because baseball happened against the Orioles. Hi 18.

So that's saying something. makes it even more of an achievement, well. The Aberdeen Shorebirds or iron birds, something like that.

So, shout out to the Hoppers, Greensboro. A no. hit her on Friday night. Chase Burns' bounce back start.

So Last week, Will. Chase Burns, his second start didn't go as well as the start he had against the Yankees and his debut. Against the Yankees, struck out the first five batters he saw. Through five complete. Looked solid.

And then against the Red Sox, he recorded one out. at Fenway Park. Yesterday against a really good Phillies team, It wasn't perfect. He had four walks, but... Four and two-thirds, eight strikeouts again.

So you record, let me do the math in my head. You record 14 outs, 8. Eight of them are strikeouts. You only allow one earned run. That's pretty good.

Again, not perfect because Philly went on to still win the game, but Chase Burns gave him a shot. He had a great bounce back. And while we're talking about hashtag ProDeeks, a shout out to Nick Kurtz, who had a home run against San Francisco on Friday night. He continues to play well. He was just named the rookie of the month in the American League in the month of June.

See. USA Soccer's Outlook. It should be more positive than it is. And this is something we'll talk about in. 15 minutes when we returned to USA soccer, they lost the Gold Cup 2-1.

The fact they were in the championship game without having Really, any of the guys that you expect to be your major contributors.

Next summer in the World Cup. That should be positive, but then you lose the match, and you had a chance to win and. Yeah. That's just the general feeling. around American soccer right now.

Meh. It's not terrible. It's not despondent. But it's not super excited either. It's a C.

That's what it is. It's. Yeah. And we could dig more into that. Eh.

Yeah. in just a little bit. The Atlanta Braves. The only reason it's not an F is because they got swept by the Orioles, and that made me very happy. But from a from a Braves perspective, though, they've lost nine of the last 11.

They got swept on their home field. There are 11 games under 500 now. It's not very good. It's not very good. Vance even writes in.

How happy the YouTube headline. The Atlanta Braves are dead. Makes Josh. It is so painful. Uh Well they are.

Yeah. Is this Vance doing the Simpsons meme. STOP! Poppy's already dead! I don't know.

Is that what this is? No, uh the the Atlanta Braves. Toast. Dead. Over.

To quote The late great Billy Packer. The season It's over. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, do we have the Braves fans talking?

It's Mac now. Smitty saying, come see me in September. See you where? You won't be playing.

Well, I mean, they'll be playing in September, will.

Well, you know what I mean. Yeah, October, a totally different month.

Well, late September, they won't be playing when the plays actually start. They don't start in September, Will. I thought they started in late September. They don't. You're so obnoxious.

I'm pretty sure they do. Are you? How about you Google this and tell us the date that the playoffs are going to start? Oh my gosh. If you're gonna chime in and interrupt and be swarmy, at least be right.

Tuesday, September 30th. Would you look there? Uh uh How many days are it in September? Nonetheless. Obnoxious.

F. The Nationals. The Nationals. Firing their manager, Dave Martinez, and their general manager, Mike Grizzo. This was offensive to me.

Offensive will. The Nets, they're We're not going anywhere this year. They're not a team that has all this supreme talent.

So, you need to fire the manager in order to create a spark. Dave Martinez. Won the World Series! for Washington in 2019. That doesn't warrant keeping the guy through the end of the year.

Okay, you might disagree with that front.

Okay, Josh, come on, you know, if you already made up your mind, then make up the decision. Firing Mike Rizzo, too. Do you know how long Mike Rizzo has been the general manager? In Washington, 2009. He was the assistant GM a few years before that.

So he's been with the organization close to 20 years. And you're gonna fire the guy mid-season? On top of that, do you know what is six days from now? Trade deadline. The draft is the answer to that question, Will.

The draft. And you just fired your general manager six days before the draft, where guess what? You have the number one pick. You have the number one pick, Washington. They're expected to pick Ethan Holiday, the other Jackson Holiday, or the other Holiday brother, son of Matt Holiday.

It just really badly run. organization, the Washington Nationals. And that decision, I think. Proves. that point.

Garbage Mike, Graham Cracker. How is Joey Chestnut eating seventy plus hot dogs not in A grade? The sacrifices that man makes for this country should not be. Overlooked. We do have some Joey Chestnut thoughts that we'll get to later this hour.

And they are positive Joey Chestnut thoughts. that we will share. But Still infuriating that baseball hasn't figured it out. I'm surprised that that wasn't on Graham's grade somewhere. What, that baseball?

The baseball coverage on July 4th. Oh, but all the games were on free or for free on MLB TV as long as it's not in your viewing area. Yeah. As long as it's not a team and you're Yeah, you get all the teams except the Orioles, the Braves. The Nats are teams.

In the reds. You don't get any of those teams.

Meanwhile You don't have any national Games on ESPN or ESPN 2? The most offensive thing that we didn't even talk about last week, I didn't even realize what they aired in prime time on. The 4th of July. Did you see what they aired? Yeah.

Banana ball. The Savannah bleeping bananas. We're running Savannah banana baseball and ESPN over Major League Baseball on the Fourth of July. What are we doing? Ridiculous.

Josh Graham loves to talk sports. He also loves the way his new jeans highlight his man curves. Ooh, hot. Oh, yeah, that's hot. You're on the drive with Josh Graham.

Adam Gold. Yeah. 15 minutes from now on hockey and soccer matters. Maybe a little bit of golf too. Open Championship Week next week, the Wyndham Championship right around the corner in Greensboro a few weeks from now.

Speaking of things that are just a few weeks from now, Since it's July? Carolina Panthers training camp is nearing And we're getting to know.

Some of the new players on the roster. Out of all the newcomers. Defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton. has the most potential. to become a fan favorite.

right away. Starting with the football piece. With the man they call Turk? He's a winner. The guy comes from the Kansas City Chiefs.

He won two Super Bowls. in Kansas City. He's 27 years old. Which means he's entering the prime. of his football playing career.

He signed a three year forty five billion dollar contract. That guarantees him at least two seasons in Charlotte. When you look at how the contract is written, he is expected to wear number ninety two with Carolina. But that's not just the piece that we focus on. Yeah, there's the football piece and he might be impactful for Caroline Turk's personality shined.

in the newest episode of Carolina Panthers Blueprint. The cameras and mics. captured the moment. That Wharton met face to face with Dave Canalis for the first time. This is right after he.

He signed his contract. And he Here's how that sounded. Dave, heck coach, nice to meet you, man. Good to meet you. And ready to work and bring that work out to here.

Yeah, I love it. You didn't wear your rings though. No, I didn't wear them. We gotta go get some. I like that.

We gotta go get some coach. Quarterback trending in the right direction. Yeah, quarterback's playing good. He's nice. Yeah.

Like him a lot. He making plays against us. Oh, nice. Yeah, he was. That boy, nice.

He nice. You really can do this stuff. He got eyes in the back of your head. You moving around like you felt me right there? Yeah.

I like him a lot. I love that.

So great. Boss answer. Dave Canalis kind of set him up. Don't know it almost seems staged. It's like the scene.

from Goodwill Hunting. Louis Seeke made a joke about this where Matt Damon approaches the guy at the diner window and says, Do you like apples? Yeah. Why got a number? How do you like them out?

What happens if he says no? Why would you say yes to that question? Clearly, this guy is an antagonist of sorts. In that case, Dave Ganalis just threw up a lob. You know, the.

Iconic dunk where LeBron throws it off the backboard while looking at the camera, and Dwayne Wade dunks it. That's exactly what Canal has said: where are your rings? Don't got 'em. Looking to get some more. WHAAAAAAA Great production work.

Bars. Not a rapid dough. You got He loves Bryce Young. Saying all the right things there. Later in the episode.

Turks just pounding cake? Just sitting in his position coach's office pounding cake. I got a little piece of cake with me. Is that as good as Bryce Young talking about birthday cake? I think it's better.

Or Bryce. I mean he told us that, you know. You gotta have birthday cake on your birthday.

Something like that. I think Turk would disagree. I got a little piece of cake with me. Think Turk would disagree with that assessment from Bryce. Can't have a birthday cake every day.

Turk's like. And the other piece of cake went Yeah. We need a guy on defense. We do. Xavier Leggett's the person we seek out on offense for content.

Come on, Kynes. Come on, Mike. Come on. Defensively, we need that guy. JC has been carrying a heavy burden.

And See that cash up, fam? Turk and just his love of cake, I think, is putting him in an early contention. His love of cake is very relatable. Uh The interior D line, which he's a part of. It has become the strength of this Panthers defense.

Which is strange given... How horrifically bad. The front was last year.

Now. Derek Brown might be the best player on the team. And he played one game last year. He's going to be returning from injury. It's good to have Derek Brown back around.

in our lives. And on that Panther's different. That great laugh. And then they also have A Shawn Robinson under contract. He's back.

So add Turk Walton to that bunch. And it's going to be a significant part. What Carolina tries to do defensively, a lot the like, and he could quickly become. A fan favorite.

So we got Adam Gold who's going to join us in about 15 minutes. Ten minutes. What is this? This is Wimbledon music. Oh, you got it.

How else do you know WD is back? You gotta be kidding. No! Wait, we didn't even do- How long has Wimbledon been going on? They're on round four, so about a week.

Okay, so you have gone.

So That's why we haven't had Wimbledon updates up to this point.

So as what? Are we airing Wimbledon updates? Yeah, but I like mine better. What is this music that sounds like it's from Chaucer? Medieval times.

Wimwooden used to be aired on NBC. And this was the theme for many years: tennis heads, you know about it, you know what's up.

So, yeah, and I had to have my obnoxious music for my update, because that's part of the quarter. How about Djokovic? What did Djokovic do?

So, he's moving into the quarterfinals now, his 16th quarterfinal. And this is why I wanted to update because I was watching this early. He beat something called a De Minar.

Well, no, Damon Narr is actually a really good player. He's French, right? He's number. I don't know if he's French or not. I think he is.

Actually, he might be Australian. I maybe watched this guy play in Winston-Salem at the Winston-Salem Open once upon a time. He's not the one that's the best one in the world. That's another reason why he's Australian. Alex Damon.

There you go. But um. Yeah, Djokovic won that in four sets. Roger Federer watching courtside, suited and booted with the shades on. He looked great.

There's your Wembledon update. That's it! Yeah. Yeah. There actually is.

So Djokovic is flank. There are a lot of stars that have been knocked out of this. On the women's side, particularly, we lost... Coco Gaul. She got out early.

I think first round it was. You do have a match going on right now, though. Center.

Well, that seems like a big deal to update on. Isn't that the top player in the world? Yannick Center? He's number one in the world. You need anything to update us on that in your Wimbledon update that the top player in the world's in action right now?

He's in action right now against Dimitrov, the 19th player in the world. And. Uh it's currently He's tied one set apiece.

So we're in the third set. You're in the third set, right? Is it the deciding set, or is it five sets? They go best of five.

So frustrating, these updates. I hate them so much. It's got they're useless. And then we learn: oh, yeah, by the way, this Wimbledon update, the number one player in the world in action right now. Just thought I'd throw that in there.

Yeah, they're on set number three. You were going to leave that out. It's amazing. Just testing you, make sure you were paying attention to everything. Oh, we were.

We heard. How did you spend? Your week off. Better question. Yes.

When's the last time you had a week off? Um I've I guess maybe Christmas week last year, the week of Christmas. I think that's the last time I took that long off. I don't know if I've never taken a week off, though.

So, what did you do?

So don't you go? I did not go anywhere. Staycation. I had a staycation. I thought about going to the beach on the 4th of July.

Yeah, you did tell me this idea on the phone, and I didn't say it to you on the phone, but I thought it sounded insane. It's like on the busiest day that people are at the beach. I'm just going to drive to Myrtle Beach three and a half hours in the morning, and then I'm going to hang out on the beach for a few hours by myself. No, I was going to take some eye with me.

Okay. Cool. And then you would hang out for a few hours and drive right back the same day. Yeah, I- Sounded insane. I decided not to do that, so Plus, the beach was going to get crowded by like 10:30.

So, you think I know because I was watching the live cams that they have at the beach to kind of monitor this a few days ahead of time because I wanted to see what it would look like.

So, no, I didn't monitor the beach cams. No, I didn't go to the beach. I had a staycation because the whole point was to relax.

Well, what did you do? You had four days. I played video games. Oh, my gosh. I did watch Spotlight, did do that.

Thank you. Um I play tennis. Me and Pops played a little tennis. How'd that go? It was pretty good.

It was good. I was out there. I did have to replace a tire. Had to do that. Got a nail in it.

Did you actually physically replace the tire?

Well I didn't, but...

somebody else did.

Okay. Yeah. So but we got that done. Uh, went to the parents' house for the Fourth of July night, the evening sesh for some grilling, some New York strip steaks. It's just a great time.

Really was. And then the Yankees lost a lot of games. That really upset me. That was the highlight of my weekend. Oh, not sweeping the Braves.

It was the Yankees losing. Correct.

Okay. Got it. Who are the Carolina Hurricanes Getting? and Star Winger. Mm uh Nick Ehlers.

Better question. Who are they not getting? We'll discuss with Adam Gold next. It's the drive with Yeah. Hush scream.

W S J L Yes. Lover of soccer. And the host of the King's Corner podcast, Adam Gold, fresh off doing his daily three-hour show in the triangle, joining us now. Assumedly in a car, beaming after the Mets. Take two out of three against the Yankees.

How about this, AG? Choose your own adventure. Would you prefer to start with the Kanes or U.S.

soccer? Uh let's start with the uh with the money maker. Wow. Make him what's the money? Oh, let's talk Carolina Hurricanes then.

Okay. Rather than asking you who the Kanes are getting with star winger Nick Edlers added to the mix, who are they not? Getting so we can properly appraise expectations. Who is Nick Ehler's not? Um Mm.

He's not Uh Brad Marchand. And that's good. And that's good. Not is not Matthew Kachuk. No.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Brad Marchand is still an elite Hall of Fame caliber player. Um I didn't know if we were going down an escrow path there, okay? We were just talking from a hockey perspective. Good.

Yeah, you know I wa I was talking from a hockey perspective too. Um if Marshan went to free agent uh went to July one uh If I were Carolina, I would have gone harder after Marshan than any other player. I think he's still a a great player. Maybe I'm wrong. Uh but I think he is still at age thirty-six.

37 I guess.

So Ealers is not that. No, because he doesn't play that way. He's not an agitator. He's not a mix-it-up. Stir it up guy.

Um Nick Ehlers is uh a smaller left-handed version of Martin Nietzsche's. Mm.

So really good player. I mean I think Steelers is an excellent addition. to Carol on his team. I talked about it today. I talked about it on the podcast.

Carolina goes into the offseason thinking that they must address Two things. Uh right defense. and center. Carolina made two very good additions. DeAndre Miller, the defenseman from the Rangers.

And Nick Ehlers. and neither of them address those issues. Correct.

Doesn't mean Carolina's not better today. It's just that They still have those two areas that need to improve. in order like it's all about can we get you know, start closing the gap on Florida. And It's there's such a gap. between where the Panthers are And not just Carolina, everybody.

Everybody in the league is staring up at the Florida Panthers. We are talking historically about a great Keen. Like I put this Florida Panthers team up with some of the best teams that I saw uh in the pre-salary cap era.

So you're heading exactly where I want to go. I don't want to forget. To hammer down this point, Adam Gold's with us here. They didn't address. uh center.

They didn't address right-handed shot.

So we saw how Eric Tulsky Acted in the offs, uh, in during the regular season, the type of movie made around January and bringing in Ranton in and how they deviated around the deadline and how they turned a bad situation into something really good. We also know during the Kane Stanley Cup run, they added key parts near the deadline like Mark Recke, Doug Waite. Is that kind of your view? Is that going to be the tact of how Carolina adds that top center and top four right-handed shot? Is that something you can add still in the offseason, or is that something going to have to wait until you get into the year and see who's selling?

Uh well. It all depends. And look, not everybody can win. Last I checked, Gary Bettman uh did not uh uh increase the playoff the size of the playoff pool.

So we're still going to have just eight teams from the East. Out of sixteen.

So at some point These like only one team is actively not trying to get better right now, and that's the Pittsburgh Penguins.

So and the players that are available from them aren't centers 'cause Sidney Crosby ain't getting traded. Yevgeny Malkin might, but I'm not sure I want Yevgeny Malkin at this point. Um So Carolina doesn't really need any more wingers. And yeah, right defense would still be good, but I don't think they have anybody that I'd be interested in. If I were Carolina.

So with everybody trying to get better, in both conferences, 'cause nobody's actively getting worse in the West. Um there's just nobody selling. There's nobody providing that center right now.

So do I think it will B Uh at the uh in the offseason, I think it is more likely sometime during the season? that that uh that that happens. But All depends on how it goes. Let me ask you a soccer question while I got you here. Adam Gold's with us here.

See? I feel there should be more optimism. I feel that the optimism level is pretty tepid for U.S.

soccer. And it's a little surprising considering the Americans are hosting next year. They had a good showing in 2022 where they got out of the group and you weren't playing a lot of your regular international stars that we'd expect to see next year during the Gold Cup and you still got to the championship. Here's the issue with me though: when the managerial change happened last year, the sell was that the Americans would be more creative, more aggressive. Yet They go up to zip against Guatemala and then just sit on the ball and nearly allow them to come back and draw even.

They nearly lost to Costa Rica. They tried the same tactic going up five minutes in and then sat on the ball and let Mexico dominate the rest of the match yesterday. What do you believe the Americans' identity to be heading into the World Cup? Because I'm struggling to figure it out.

Well, I don't I don't think it's Uh it has anything to do with their identity. And I don't blame Mauricio Pochettino. Uh for um the way this team is played. They don't have great players. A at best, we saw maybe four starters.

Uh assuming We we can't get to the World Cup next summer in Tim Reem. still being a first choice center back. I mean, my gosh, the guy's gonna have an AARP card. Charlotte FC Legend, Tim Reen. Charlotte FC Legend.

I The thing is, he's good. He he is our second best center back. Today. But that can't be the case in a year. Um Chris Richards is legitimately good.

He is arguably uh Crystal Palace's best center back.

So that guy can play. Uh they gotta find a better partner for him. But we didn't have either of our outside backs. Serginio Dess and Anthony Robinson. Robinson probably the best player for uh the United States.

in terms of the best at their position. We didn't have Christian Pulissic. And there were a bunch of other players that. Might be starters. but we're not going to be legitimately good until they're not stars.

And I'm talking about guys like Flo Balogan. Or Tim Weia. Um Weston McKinney is very good. But I'm not a I mean I like him, but man, I would like him coming on as a sub for twenty minutes. rather than starting and playing 75 or 80.

And I just think basically Carol the I was called, I don't know why I call it Carolina, that's not fair. Uh, I just think the main national team Just isn't. That's good. We're not that talented. Hey, they got Patrick Adjerman and Tim Ream, so you know, you got two of Charlotte FC's finer players, so it's a good mix-up.

That is true, but they're Charlotte, they're not Carolina. That's true. And look, Patrick Ajuman is a very good prospect, but He's already in his kind of early to mid-twenties. Uh you gotta fit you gotta figure out how to finish a goal. Um he puts himself in good situations.

Malik Tillman was interesting, but I think when the competition goes up, He'll disappear. I like Diego Luna. I'm not sure I like Diego Luna as a starter. but he's put himself in the mix. uh coming in off the left moving Pelisic centrally, kind of play as a uh As a ten Um but Look, where?

If you look at the other, and we're not comparing it to the teams we just played here. Certainly with the lineup we put out there. But if you put them against You don't even have to put him up against uh you know, the top size. But We just don't really have enough dynamic talent. to compete.

Like if Mm-hmm. We'll probably make the knockout stage because we're going to get a favorable group because we're going to be in the apocalypse. We're going to be in the one pot.

So, I mean you're probably going to get a favorable draw. to get out of your group and make the knockout phase. But my gosh They have to get better in terms of talent. It would be great. if whether it's Malagun or Riccardo Pepe or Azerbaijan, who's going to go to Darby County in the championship.

Uh and go uh go play, go score a bunch of goals. They got to figure out a way to become more dangerous offensively. And frankly, I don't think we're good enough in the midfield either.

So A lot of things to worry about. Adam Gold, on the way out, just real quickly, because we got to go. The Open Championship next week. Give me a name. Is there a name that you have circled?

My my son's saying Maxoma no. Uh I love Max Elma, but no. Uh Yeah, we'll go I mean, other than I'm always gonna pick Rory, but uh we'll leave Rory alone. Um Tommy Fleetwood. That's what I was about to say.

I'm all in on Fleetwood. Robert McIntyre. I love it. AG, it's good to hear from you. Keep up the great work on the Kane's Corner podcast, the Adam Gold Show, and all of it.

It's good to hear your voice. And you know what? I like Max Helma too, so I'll agree with your son on that. Thanks for the time. Is nova going across board?

I actually don't know the answer to that, but I just wanted to be in solidarity with all the golds in the car. There you go. See you, AG.

Alright, Venom. This is the drive with Josh Graham. Unless you're a die-hard baseball fan. We're gonna call the race tonight. is a hashtag read a book night.

No braves. No Orioles. Though Yankees. Not even the Nationals. It was a fabulous weekend for yours truly, though.

The Yankees losing two out of three against the Mets. Losing six of their last seven. The Orioles sweeping the Atlanta Braves in Atlanta. Chase Burns even bouncing back. Eight Ks, four walks, one earned run.

Pretty solid after only recording one out in his second career start in Finway. Baseball.

So that was all very good. There are three series. that start tonight between playoff hopefuls. You got the Detroit Tigers and the Tampa Bay Rays. You have the Dodgers and Brewers, each of whom have 50 wins this year.

The Phillies are at the Giants. See, unlike the 4th of July, there are going to be national matchups. Will national networks are actually going to carry some of these games. Tigers Rays is on FS1.

So, no. On the 4th of July, we couldn't get FS1 or Fox or ESBN or ESBN 2 to air one big league baseball game. But on a Monday, July the 7th, sure. Tigers Rays, fire it up on FS1. And then on MLB Network late tonight, it's going to be the Phillies.

In San Francisco. Honestly, it probably isn't so much a book night as it is a movie night. And We gave Will the assignment of a double feature. with him being off a week. And we were thinking he might knock it out at the same time, but he surprised us today saying he has already watched Spotlight.

I have. See, part of the concern that we had with the movie that ended up winning the poll last week. is that this would be a tough sit. As a double header or as a A twin billing is a double feature. Watching misery.

and watching Spotlight back to back. Just a lot to sit through. Kathy Bates hobbling Jimmy Khan, spoiler alert. Movie's 35 years old. And I recall Misery Now and.

You had not seen Misery. I've not watched it all the way, but I know some of it, and yeah, that would be a heavy watch. That was spotlight. They knew! They did new and they did nothing.

Did nothing. to nothing. Uh We'll talk about these movies tomorrow, but the problem is. I You can't Red. Misery anywhere.

No, you have to buy it for like $15. I'm not going to ask you to buy a movie for $15. Thank you. this segment.

So really, We have the options. The other movies that were proposed will. were Say Anything, starring John Cusack, Late eighties Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, late sixties movie. One of the best from Robert Redford. And uh The Caesar dressing guy.

As you put them, the sour dressing guy. Yeah. Paul Newman, very disrespectful. The way that you put that there. And The other option was Donnie Brasco in honor of the late Michael Madsen, who passed away last week, Between those three options, see the reason we put it on the poll, Will.

Misery? was for Vicki Durham. Wes's wife. Yeah, finally got to meet her last week. But she also said you needed to watch Say Anything.

She did. It was her and I and Eagle that were in agreement on that.

So, I think Say Anything should be the replacement movie. Also, I just think that presents the most. Contrast. between spotlights and what your other movie would be. Like I just think say anything as a double feature choice with Spotlight.

is an interesting Option.

So there you go. You you need to watch Cusack movies.

So say anything, Will. That's going to be your movie for later on tonight. And yes, you can actually rent that movie.

So maybe another time if misery becomes more widely available. We might revisit that. But right now, say anything will be your Second movie. If you haven't already, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast. Search the drive with Josh Graham.

iTunes. Apple Podcasts, Spotify, the best hour of what we do on demand. We understand it. You might not be able to catch the full three hours of what we do. And that includes Darren Gant joining us next hour from Panthers.com, or you might have missed Adam Gold earlier talking Pucks, talking U.S.

soccer. Don't worry. Best Hour of What We Do available on all your podcasts. channels And that's a good way to help us. You can subscribe.

If you give us a five-star review. We'll read it on air.

So what we'll do.

So give us a five-star review. That's helpful. And make sure you're subscribed to the YouTube channel. We haven't had these things available the last week. With Will Dalton being out, but now that Will's back, You could check out my sweet Orioles jersey that I'm wearing proudly today.

It's how you can watch the show. In addition to listening to it, additional video content will go up throughout the week as well. Search the drive with Josh Graham on. YouTube.

Now we need to hand out I've just got one best bet. For tonight, so let's hand that out. I'm not a betting duck. Can I make it interesting? You know you do.

You're on. Call me in on this. Your best bet. But my money from the other team. This is Josh's best bet.

Uh-huh. Let's uh see how we did over the weekend. WD, we went one and one. That's how we did. We had USA winning one half.

Of the Mexico game. They would outscore Mexico into either the first or second half. They scored five minutes in, but then they allowed Mexico to score late in the first half, which was a bummer.

So that didn't get home. The USA That bet didn't hit, but We saw clamoring for Joey Chestnut talk. This might be deemed un-American, Will. But we bet under 71 and a half hot dogs for Joey Chestnut. And he finished at 70 and a half hot dogs.

Ooh, he cut it close. Cut it close. But that's what we call a winner, Will. A winner. Joey Chestnut.

Do you ever watch the hot dog eating contest? No. You've never watched The Hot Dog Eating Comedy. I mean, I've watched the highlights of it. Have you ever heard.

the introductions that they do for Joey Chestnut. No. I'm gonna send you one right now. I'm gonna play it right after. Because it literally is the best thing about the hot dog eating contest.

It's not close. It's it's very self-aware. I just sent it to you now, Will. I want you to... Play this.

right after I hand out my bet. We're on Philly's lefty. Christopher Sanchez tonight over five and a half strikeouts in San Francisco. Why?

Well, he's had six or more Ks in seven of his nine starts this year against high K-rate teams. San Francisco, a high K-rate team. Lefties average five and a half strikeouts, oddly enough. Against San Francisco, we say he goes over that number. He had six strikeouts.

He had seven strikeouts in the two starts he's had in San Francisco over the years.

So we say he goes over that tonight. Look at that calendar. Over five and a half strikeouts for Christopher Sanchez.

Okay, for those watching on YouTube, Twitch, and X, we'll pull the video of this. The sound is really what you need. One of the founders in Coney Island of this event. I don't know the guy's name, I should. I'll look it up during the video.

gives these beautiful poetic introductions And this one for Joey Chestnut is just art. We are humbled by age. in preparation for the great insult of death. But there are those who stand immortal. Not through the grace of heaven.

but through their own triumphs. I speak. Of this man! Formed from the shards of shattered angels. Wielding the white sword of righteousness, standing as quiet as truth.

Ladies and gentlemen, while we must all face the dark mountain of night, Forsaken and forlorn, alone in the ruins of our own minds, he will never fail or falter. For he defies the ministers of our faith and the limitations of our birth. And he will not stop until he stands side by side with the gods. His glory strung like beads of light. to adorn the ark of history itself.

No Poetry. Yeah, I understand that why they put that on a set of baseball. Yeah, top of that. I'm sorry. Born from the shards of shattered angels.

That is cinema. Right there. I think he said wielding the white sword of righteousness. Hot dog eating champion. Uh Joey Chestnut.

Standing as quiet as truth. Oh. They know what they're doing, and it's. magical. It's the driveway.

It's John. Uh W S J S Love that Will Dalton's been playing Oasis Drops today as we welcome Darren Gant to the show, who should print the shirts. He missed the opportunity last decade. Cam Newton makes people stupid to print those shirts. Yeah.

Go see the show should be on Daring Gant's. Tombstone one day. It should be on a shirt. He gives the advice that when you're on the fence on whether to go to the show, go to the show, Oasis Reuniting. To play for the first time in 16 years over the weekend.

How exciting is it, even if it's not just Oasis? To see bands reunite, and not only that. But sound great still when they do. Yeah, it is. And listen, I'll admit, as I told you earlier today, Oasis, not really my bag, but I do go.

Go back to this would have been maybe 07 when Van Halen went away and came back, and their very first concert on that tour was right here in Mayberry. And I told my then-wife, I said, we're going to this show because it's either going to be. The greatest show you've ever seen in your life. Or a complete disaster. Either way, I want to see it.

So, how did it go? And as it turned out, it was very good.

Okay. Because, again, I'm not meaning to throw shots. It was viral, a lot of the Oasis clips, but Ozzy Osborne performed for the last time over the weekend and He's stuck in a chair and it didn't sound amazing. Age gets everybody. We love Ozzie.

We get it. But you're right. There is a scenario where this goes poorly. Is there a band right now that you would love to see get back together? Is there a band that broke up that bummed you out?

Um Gosh, I'm trying to think of it in those terms. There are a lot of concerts you always think about regrets. And part of the reason, I mean, probably the one person that made me say always go see the show was Tom Petty. Because when I was a younger man, Petty was here in Charlotte every summer. And it's like, I'll go see Tom Petty one of these years.

I'll go see Tom Petty one of these years. And then all of a sudden, it turns out you don't have any more years to see Tom Petty.

So that's why I say it. I'm failing to come up with anything right off the top of my head in terms of people who broke up. I would love to see get back together. I think most of the people. that fall into that category may or may not be among us anymore.

Daring Ant. Panthers.com, Hall of Fame Voter, Transport. Joining us here. How many days away are we from training camp? Tomorrow will be two weeks.

Players will report. Two weeks from tomorrow. Get your last minute vacations in, all that kind of thing. But it's that time. What do you view as the top storyline heading into Panthers training camp?

I think it's just going to be about a continuation of the build. I mean, Bryce Young last year caught a lot of people. Um, I don't want to say caught a lot of people by surprise, but because the way he played the second half of the season was kind of the expectation early on. But once he hit that gear, once they continued to build, once they, you know. Started get their feet underneath them a little bit, it was like, okay, and now you keep the offensive line together, you add a Teteroa McMill into the mix, and then all of a sudden it's like, wow, what can this be?

I think you know, it's still far too soon to know what that defense is going to look like, how much improvement they can make, but for. From what we saw last year, Bryce Young, and what we know about all the pieces that are back. I think it's reasonable to think they ought to be able to score some points. I'm not saying every game's going to be like the finale in Atlanta, where him and Michael Pennix go. Toe-to-toe for five quarters and put up about, what was it, 86 combined points.

It's not always going to be like that, but. You know, I think it's reasonable to think that I'm doing math in my head, which is always dangerous. 82, I believe, would be the. Answer. But yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing Bryce continue to build on that.

Let's talk hashtag content. On the offensive side, somebody we talk to every chance we get and creates content at every turn, whether it's on the football field, at a horse track, whether it's an elito commercial, whether it's at a hockey game, is our guy, Xavier Lagette. Come on, Kaz. Come on, Mike. Come on.

There he is at a hockey game, Xavier Lagette doing his thing. We appreciate that. I want to plug last week's episode of Carolina Panthers Blueprint. where I think we're starting to see perhaps a budding fan favorite among newcomers, And that is Kansas City Chiefs, two-time Super Bowl champ Turk Wharton, who I thought stole the episode from doing the gritty to having the most badass opening line to your coach: hey, where are your championship rings? I don't know, we need to get some more.

And then, you know, just pass. Pounding cake. I got a little piece of cake with me. Yeah, pounding cake. In the position coach's office, I'm all for that.

I don't know if him and Bryce Young are aligned when it comes to their views on cake. Uh and we're not talking about the band cake, of course. A joke that only Darren Gant. I'm very pro-cake. Yeah, you're pro-cake.

Bryce Young is very picky about when he eats his cake. You can't have a birthday cake every day. Like, you got to wait till it's your birthday. Turk Walton disagrees with that perspective, I think. This is all to ask: which newcomer does Garren Gant?

expect to make the most immediate impact on this team. I think between Turk Wharton and Bobby Brown, you suddenly, once you pair them with drafting big old Cam Jackson in the fifth round, and oh, by the way, Derek Brown coming back, that's the biggest piece of this offseason.

Now, suddenly, you've got a real live defensive line. I mean, a lot of last year's problems were based on the fact that they were running out of dudes and they were standing guys off the street and starting them on Sunday. They were playing people who aren't in the league anymore. Let's just say it like that. And now you've loaded that position up with dudes.

I think between those four. Four guys, really, and Trayvon Merrick. Trayvon Merrick, people think of him, oh, okay, here's a safety. You know, they think in terms of past defense, Trayvon Merrick is here to fix the run defense. His ability to go forward, get in the box, make plays happen in that direction is 90% of the reason he's here.

I think the way they play safeties, it's not that old school model where there's one strong safety in the box, one up high. They kind of mix it up and do things a little differently. But his ability to come forward and be a factor against the run, that's going to be the thing. We won't see any of that really until about a week into training camp, five or six days into camp when you put pads on. it's not going to really show up in the same way, just like with offensive linemen.

But they've done so much to stabilize those two lines of scrimmage. The run game ought to be better, the run defense ought to be a whole lot better. If The Construction of this roster. goes according to plan. And Carolina stays healthy, which they did not last year, obviously.

So we're assuming health. Who do you expect to lead this team in sacks? If it's going well, Who's that guy? In sacks, I don't know that there's anybody that I think of right off the top of my head and say, oh, that's a 10 sack guy. But I think there's probably at least three six or eight sack guys.

I mean, DJ Wanham's always been that kind of guy. I mean, he had four in eight games last year. Patrick Jones is another. Guy who seems consistently at that eight level. And I think if you can get that kind of production from those two, while Nick Scordon and Princely get their feet underneath them, and speaking of getting your feet underneath them, I'm still not 100% ready to say Princely's last name live on the radio.

Same here. It's going to take a minute. Give me time, but I respect him enough that I will get that right. I've been slowing it down and saying, You manned me, Evan. Nailed it.

That's as close I can get. We got to get to know each other better. But it's like Tederoa Macmillan. I say his full given name because his mama said, don't call him Ted. Yeah.

See that or Team Hack. Those are the things that we go. We don't call them Ted as well because we respect Mama's wishes. That's right. Don't make Mama mad.

Darren Gant is with us here. I probably should have asked this on the setup of Wharton. Being inside the building, are there personalities that stand out the most on this team to you? Personalities. In terms of new guys or Well, I think the one thing, and I can tell you from being in the building on Monday, July the 7th.

Chuba Hubbard kind of runs that place right now. He's sort of the grinder's grinder. I mean, when you walk in there on Friday, the 4th of July to pick something up off your desk and get out of there, when you're in there on Monday, July 7th, Chuba's in there working out. I mean, that's his deal. I mean, he's led.

I was talking to him the other week, and he said, you know, even the first week after OTAs, it was a little light. A lot of guys take a break, go on vacation right then in June. But I mean, there's. 15-20 dudes every day in there working out with Chuba, and Chuba is kind of like that North Star. Not, you know, pun intended since he's Canadian, but Chuba is the guy who's in there every day doing the thing.

And so he's got the Chuba youth. There's some young guys in there who are following him around, and I think he's a good role model to follow. I have said, I respect what Chuba has done in his four years because his rookie year, he was drafted to a team that had Christian McCaffrey. He didn't get a lot of chances. When he got chances early on, he wasn't a dependable catcher of the football.

So, what did he do? He spent an hour a day on a jugs machine and became good at that part and just continued to work at his football. And Chuba Hubbard is where he is. He got the extension he got last season because of the work ethic. And I think guys like him, you know, Derek Brown's another one who's around there every day.

You know, this is very much a grinder kind of team right now. And I think that's good when you're young and trying to develop something to have guys like that that you can say, hey, you want to get on the field? Go work like that guy over there. I mean, and it wasn't always that way, but, you know, that's. Those are the guys they're looking to right now.

I've always said the world's divided into two types of people. They're show ponies and they're pack mules. And Chuba Hubbard and Derrick Brown are pack mules. I mean, those guys, you know, there's nothing flashy about either of their games, but all Derrick Brown does is tackle a bunch of people. All Chuba Hubbard does is game four or five yards every time he touches it.

And Derrick Brown has the laugh of a cartoon bear. He has that too.

Sounds just like that. Like he does. It's great to hear from a big guy. And I can attest to what you're saying about Chuba Hubbard. Later this week, I'm going to go to Charlotte FC's match on Saturday.

Excited to be there. I remember I was there during the summer right before training camp started last year, and I remember there was an area blocked out, like normally, like where the press would be gathering during football season at Panther Games near the elevator. And I'm like, well, why can't I walk through here? It's like, oh, there's some guys working out, and I'm expected to see soccer players there. Nope, it's just Chuba Hubbard.

In a helmet in mid-July before training camp set to start getting work in. That's true, Baha. It almost sounds like a cliche, but that's just how he lives his life. Nobody else was there. It was him.

He's in there doing this every day.

Now, he's usually got Tommy Trimble with him. You know, those two are kind of partners in this deal. But one of the other things, and we'll have some more. Speaking of content, we've got stuff planned because we create a plan at Panthers.com for you to carry you up through this dry period to the start of training camp. And one of the things that's really emerged is this has become kind of a player-driven.

Sort of offseason. And the Chuba Hubbards of the world are kind of dictating the pace of some of this work. I mean, there was a day early on where, you know, XL has a good day at practice, catches a bunch of deep balls. He's been running around a lot. He comes over to Chuba and Tommy and the gang at the Jugs Machine.

He's like, all right, let me get a rack. And Chuba's kind of like, You don't have to do everything all at once. One day, you know, just kind of come on in, get you a few. You don't have to do the full load. You had a busy day.

And so when players are able to kind of Dictate to their own. That's a good thing, I think, for that thing coaches like to call culture. On the way out. You're an upstate guy. How are we feeling about the Mountaineers?

Oh, I feel great about the Mountaineers. I was in the high country this weekend, riding around a little bit. It's always good to be there. It's good to be a Mountaineer today and every day. Uh-huh.

We'll see if they give their all against Charlotte at Bank of America Stadium on August 29th. Is Darren Gant going to be in the building for that? Have we figured that out? We believe that's going to be the case. As with all things training camp, my schedule is not entirely my own.

So we will, that'll be to be determined, but definitely looking forward to that. You know what I say about ASU football? Biggins lineup, Lilland's bunch-up. Come on. Last thing for you, this poll is alarming.

It makes me upset, frankly, but Will Dalton. Kind of forced my hand on this. If the Atlanta Braves are the most popular MLB team in the state of North Carolina, see, you and I root for teams that are technically in market. You're a Reds guy. I'm an Orioles guy.

So I asked who would have the next strongest following? And I put the Orioles, the Nats, Yankees, and other with respect to your Reds. And 54% of people voting say the Yankees. 54%. And all I can say is: like, here's what I got to say in response to that.

I feel like people are conflating fandom with people that just like the hat. And I think 90% of people that wear Yankee hats around here. Couldn't name two players on the team. I think that would probably be the case in about 46 states of the union. I think in South Dakota, the second most popular baseball team is probably the New York Yankees.

So You're you agree with that. I'm talking in terms of baseball. Baseball players. I don't agree with it. I mean, I, you know, I love watching Cincinnati Reds, and this is the time of year I enjoy watching baseball.

And I've watched Reds' games. And listen, the Reds have good young pitching. They've got Ellie DeLaCruz, who's the most exciting player in baseball. I mean, you never know when he's just going to. When I saw him last summer in Yankee Stadium, he had a triple and a home run in his first two at-bats.

The triple was more exciting to watch. Got a In all the show cover with Ellie and Gunnar Henderson. That's right. Yeah, I was bummed out that Andrew Abbott, who's a family friend of my wife's. Didn't it make the all-star game?

Unbelievable. He's a true snub. 7-1 with like a 2-0 ERA. Unbelievable. The pride of Virginia.

Darren Gant. The pride of App State, you gave your all this segment, and we appreciate that. We'll see you when camp starts in just a few weeks. Maybe we could talk about Hall of Fame. Canton, that's not too far down the way either.

Panthers legend Jared Allen going in this summer. Hey, by the way, appreciate you give me the time. Everybody, be careful down there. We're thinking about the triangle, and everybody down there with the weather that's going on. I mean, first and foremost, in our thoughts, I was checking in on friends this morning.

It's like, it's unbelievable what you see on TV.

So be careful out there.