I Just Got Chills

This is The Drive with Josh Graham podcast. For internet sensations, guys. Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3 to 7 on WSJS. We're on a Thursday drive. It is WSJS, News Tonk Sports for the Triad.

Where it is a Carolina Panthers game day. Yes, it's the preseason finale against the Steelers from Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, where almost none of Carolina's impact players are expected to play.

So rather than open up by digging into the details of a game that essentially does not matter. Let's hit on a related topic that is much more important. It's about time for Carolina Panthers GM Dan Morgan to cook. We have fun. Don't forget.

that Dan comes from the Seattle In on every deal, Braintrust, John Schneider. and company back in the day. And with that in mind, There are potential trades out there. Screaming. the Panther's name that has the Panther's name written all over it.

For one, Carolina's Greatest position of need is Edge Rusher and two of the best. past rushers in the league. Micah Parsons. Trey Hendrickson. have asked for trades.

There are reports that Carolina has inquired About Hendrickson of the Bengals. There was a report yesterday. From Coach Schottenheimer in Dallas that he expected that Michael Parsons would be playing for the Cowboys in their opener, but the details of that are still very murky. This week It was reported that the Vikings are wanting to add a veteran receiver. Um Carolina has a former Viking and Minnesota native who still owns property In Minneapolis.

That checks those boxes. Adam Thielen, of course, who we're talking about. And he happens to play a position that might be Carolina's. Deepest position. right now.

So these are deals that are right there for Dan Morgan for the Carolina Panthers to make. The Panthers also need to upgrade at free safety. You're pretty good with Trayvon Merrick, your biggest. Offseason signing on the defensive side of the ball. But on the other end, Nick Scott, not a good answer there.

Now the Panthers will tell you Well, he has history with Agiro Evereaux and He knows how to call the defense and has familiarity in it.

Okay, that's fine. But it's not a good answer. And neither is fourth-round rookie Lathan Ransom, at least not yet, to start right out of the gate. But much like Trevin Wallace a year ago, seemed pretty obvious as the Shaq Thompson replacement a year later. That's the way you should probably view Lathan Ransom at free safety, the future answer at that spot.

But right now, If a Scott replacement We're out there It could be found via trade or more likely on the waiver wire where Carolina's had some success in recent years. Right before Matt Rule's first season in Charlotte, They discovered Rasul Douglas on the waiver wire after the final cut. And he might have been Carolina's best corner that year, a year before they drafted some guy named JC Horn. You had At corner. Carolina.

Right before the season started a year ago, they added Mike Jackson, who turned out to be their second best corner and signing a multi-year extension in the offseason.

So, could Carolina find a guy like that at free safety? Maybe. Dan Morgan needs to cook. And after this preseason finale, Dan has difficult decisions to make when cutting down the roster to the fifty three. Wide receiver getting the most attention.

Do you keep six or do you keep seven? What does that mean for the depth that you have on the defensive line? the type of guys you might be having to cut. That You might not have expected. you were cutting back in the spring.

There's a kicker battle ongoing between Matthew Wright and the rookie Ryan Fitzgerald. There's A lot of areas that they're still Some interesting decisions that have to be made, and now is the time to do so. The next week? Or between now and the Tuesday deadline to cut your roster down to 53, this is Dan Morgan's time. I don't feel pressure.

Jay Davis writes in, Hunter infro. Made Adam Thielen expendable. No point in keeping Thielen when you could trade him or keep Hemi Horn. Good evening. It's catching on the Hemi Horn.

Statement. Yeah, there's that. And then you have Jalen Coker. And you have Bo David Moore. is an underneath target that's been with Dave Canalis.

for years, four or five years in Seattle. The one year in Tampa with the Panthers last year.

So if you want to Keep him around. By keeping six receivers and Or a Bryson Tremaine who's been great in camp. You could move off of Adam D1 and still have the roster space. order.

So Don't necessarily hate that, but if you do get rid of Adam Thielen. There goes a vet. From that locker room. And it's just another reason why, contrary to what Panther fans might think. This is a team positioning itself to contend in 2026, not so much in 2025.

On X at Josh Graham Show. And at WSJS. Radio. That is where we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch.

However, and wherever you're listening or watching, greatly appreciate that. The phone number is 336-777-1600 if you want in. Will Dalton is the executive producer of this show, who is way too excited for a preseason game tonight. Why are you so excited? I mean, the Panthers are going to be on the field.

Get some action, some live action. I'm a Panthers fan. It excites me. It's Jack Plummer.

Okay. Probably going to start. We're still going to be having the action going in the pan. I better stand if it's Andy Dalton. I'm going to have football on my TV.

Yeah, but not good football. I love steak. I cooked myself a couple of steaks last night. But if you told me there was a steak sitting out. For 12 hours.

You could say to me factually, that's a steak. But I ain't eating that steak. It's Still Panthers football.

Okay. And that's fire. And that's still a steak that's been sitting out for 12 hours.

Okay. Let's move over to baseball. Ever since MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said expansion and divisional alignment based on geography were on the horizon, these are things he said, Sunday night baseball during Williamsburg. Classic. That was played.

He could see in the next five years of the sport. This is all the baseball world's been talking about all week long. Heck, Jason Stark of The Athletic even reported today: it's almost a certainty that the regular season. Is going to be scaled back to either 154 games or 156 games when expansion ultimately happens. But around here, expansion sites are the hottest topic.

As it appears, as we've been discussing for over a year now, but people are now starting to catch up, North Carolina and Nashville are going to be battling it out for a big league expansion franchise. According to all the insiders, do we have this Jeff Passen sound? from the Pat McAfee show. Nashville has early poll Position. Here was Passon saying as much on McAfee.

Expansion just makes sense because of the windfall that would come from those expansion fees being redistributed out to all the other teams. And listen, I think Nashville is almost a shoe-in at this point. You've also got Salt Lake City, which has really impressed people at MLP. And they've got ownership in place, they've got the stadium plan in place. This is the way you need to think about it.

It's likely going to be one team in the Pacific Northwest. Salt Lake or Portland. or a team. and a team. and the southeast.

Nashville. and a team in the state of North Carolina, whether that's Raleigh or Charlotte. Nashville and Salt Lake are the presumed. Frontrunners. The good news is.

North Carolina does have some advantages over Nashville.

So while Nashville has been lobbying longer. For Major League Baseball, talking about stadium plans, getting XGMs involved in all of this. There are advantages that come from in North Carolina over Nashville. Number one, Raleigh if it were Raleigh, a bigger market than Nashville is. Charlotte right there with Nashville.

Raleigh is bigger than Nashville. Our state. more than doubles the population in Tennessee. We also have a have a billionaire owner in ton in Tom Dundon. who is outwardly pursuing.

Major League Baseball. An owner of an NBA and NHL franchise in our state is saying he wants Major League Baseball in our state. Nashville does not have that. Nashville does not have an owner. Of that type of caliber saying, I'm going to be part of the Nashville expansion.

Process.

However, Portland is going to be interesting. considering that's the top contender for Salt Lake and Tom Dundon just bought the Portland Trailblazers. Is there a scenario where Dundon says, you know, Nashville seems to be that shoe-in that Passon's talking about. I still want to be a Major League Baseball owner. Rather than put all my eggs in the Raleigh basket, how about I instead try to pursue Major League Baseball in Portland rather than.

Salt Lake. But as Patterson noted, Salt Lake Probably the most famous. Far along, they have an owner. And that seems to be a budding market as well.

Okay. In the end, it'll be up to the owners. to decide what Where baseball goes. And this is the problem, Will. Nashville just has more buzz than either Charlotte or Raleigh.

We can talk about all these advantages as much as you want. But All these advantages still exist for North Carolina over Tampa. And yet, Major League Baseball is still going to keep a team in Tampa or in Florida. If they move somewhere, they might move to Orlando. Why?

Because owners want two teams in Florida. Plain and simple. Why? Because they like going to Florida. They like hanging out in Florida.

It is in the family. And that's many of them live in Florida for tax purposes, right?

So they want multiple teams in the state of Florida.

So all these things about all media market and what If the owners say, you know where we would like to go with Major League Baseball, Nashville. over going to Raleigh or Charlotte, that's going to be hard to overcome. But It's far from finished. They are frontrunners, Nashville and Salt Lake, but that can change. And this is going to be a battle.

And North Carolina is going to have to play from behind, it seems like. in that battle. W D A week from today. Duke's going to kick off its season against Elon. East Carolina is going to kick off its season at Carter Finlay Stadium against NC State.

It is right there in front of us. We have. ACC action this weekend. We have A top 25 Big 12 conference game being played in Dublin, Ireland. This is the real end of the college football offseason.

And we have our final three futures bets to hand out for the upcoming college football season. And we will share those bets with you in today's best bets.

Next on the drive. It is a Thursday drive. I'm Josh Graham, Will Dalton in tow as well. Looking at some of the bets we handed out yesterday, we went one and one. with Shohei Otani got shelled.

So he went well under six and a half strikeouts. That one hit. We bet. On the Milwaukee Brewers against the Cubs, but the Cubs. They ended up winning the game.

They'd now take in three straight against Milwaukee, and the Brewers that. Entered the week on a 14-game winning streak.

Now, Since have lost four in a row.

So one and one in those bets. This is An extravaganza of sorts, Will. It is the last. Futures bet segment for college football. Throughout the offseason, we've been handing out a few.

In totality, this is the last of our college football future bets since week zero starts on Saturday. We'll have some week zero bets on tomorrow's show. Got three more. They hand out future bets-wise in the college game in today's best bets. 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's on the other team. This is Josh's best bet.

Okay. Three more. to hand down. And let's start local, Will. We're just going to take the plunge.

The plunge of faith. with North Carolina over seven and a half wins. It's weird. You thought this number would be juiced. You thought that this would be an overhyped football team that everybody is picking and it's trendy.

It hasn't been that. North Carolina isn't favored in their opener at home against TCU. And Eight wins at this schedule, it is manageable when you're talking about Bill Balichak. With Decent line play with A lot of investment, good running backs, and a good quarterback that they brought in in the portal in Geo Lopez.

So we're going to take the plunge.

Some would say we've been suckered into this. I don't think so, with how close to the situation we are. North Carolina over seven and a half wins for this year. Share cash up, family.

Next up. We're going to bet against a couple of Big Ten teams, Will. Oregon. Under 10 and a half wins. Leave that cash up, fam.

It's just too much. Yes, they're preseason. Number seven. In the AP poll. But their schedule again.

And it's Just brutal. Nobody has it easy. In the Big Ten, but... You talk about the travel. You talk about all that's been lost.

We did bet against Oregon last year and looked stupid, so we're just going to double down. on that and think that These East Coast trips, which include a trip to Happy Valley to play top five penn states and You got... The rivalry games against Oregon State and Washington that are more than losable, especially with the Washington game being on the road. USC is better. Minnesota.

Going to Iowa, Northwestern, that could be tough with some of the injuries. You don't have Dylan Gabriel quarterback anymore. You don't have Evan Stewart for the entire season out wide. And. 10 and a half wins, you just lose two games and it's over.

I mean, Oklahoma State. in the first couple of weeks is a losable game. I think Oregon goes under this number. Send me that cash up, family. We're also going under on Michigan.

Michigan under nine and a half. Wins. Send me that cash up, family. Are they going to be favored against Oklahoma on the road? In Norman.

Week two? Ah I don't think so. At Nebraska? Week four, there's a chance you're looking at a two and two Michigan team. Heading into October.

And then in October, road game. At USC and You go to East Lansing this year. You you could be talking about Three losses. before you get to Halloween and that's all we need. For this to be a full season under, under nine and a half, brutal schedule.

Do like they have Underwood at quarterback. This will probably be. A b Better Michigan team, but that's not saying all that much. I don't understand this number being nine and a half.

So under nine and a half. For Michigan. That's our third and final college football future bet that we have here to go along with the four that we've handed out over the last few months that involve the ACC. Georgia Tech over seven and a half. We were on them before they became a bit of a trendy pick.

Their schedule's favorable, and that number's been juiced.

So you're not even gonna get great value on the over seven and a half anymore. Pittsburgh, over six and a half wins. This was a team that started the season 7-0 last year. Wake Forest over 4.5 wins under Jake Dickert. You look at their non-conference, man.

There's three guaranteed wins there. And if you beat Oregon State, you only need one win in ACC play. They have the easiest schedule in power conference football. I think Jake Dickert can get the five. And then, amazed at this number is at plus 125.

Clemson to win the ACC. Look at all the talent on that team. We're talking about the Clemson Tigers here.

So we're on that as well.

So, those four, in addition to North Carolina over 7.5 wins, Oregon under 10.5, and Michigan under 9.5, those are our college football futures for the 2025 season. Davin Clemens wants in on the bats. Dave? Just rattled off seven for you. What do you think?

Well, what's up? JG, I wanted to throw out one NFL real quick.

Okay. 35 to 1. On the Giants quarter. Back, I don't know why it's Jackson Dar. Jackson Darr.

Yes, thirty five. Uh Uh still available, but my college 35 to 1 what to win rookie of the year? To win Rookie of the Year.

Okay. Yes. Hopefully he gets the starting knot out there. But in college, my biggest one is the Clemson Tigers to win the national I got it at 16 to 1. couple months ago And it's picked up some steam, so it's down to 11 to 1.

And just like you were saying, The Clemson Tigers, they are loaded. If you look at mock drafts, There's three or four dudes all over the first round, and then it reminds me of how. Ohio State was last year. If you looked at Martin Graff's last year, Last year, Ohio State. players were all in it.

So I was just gonna get your opinion and see what What your thoughts on Clemson possibly winning the national championship this year? I love it. I do because I do think Clemson. along with Texas, have the most talented rosters. In college football this year, and you get a lot better value for Clemson, even at 11 to 1 than you would for.

the Texas Longhorns. I'd rather just take them to win the ACC and not deal with playoff draws or any of that. But I still might take a sprinkle on Clemson to win the national championship. But in terms of what We're spending More units on here. Clemson.

To win the ACC at plus money. In fact, three of those four ACC ones we handed out. had already handed out or at plus money. Pitts over six and a half. Clemson to win the ACC championship, and Wake Forest over 5.5.

Four and a half wins.

So there you go. Best bats for college football, the regular season starting. This weekend. Tonight you have Panthers, Steelers, the preseason finale. Aaron Rodgers is going to be in the building, but.

Much like pretty much everybody else of note will not be playing in this game.

So, here are: if you want to get into the football nitty-gritty. Here are three areas that stand out in the Panthers' preseason finale. Once again, wide receiver is the main draw. While the starting group won't be out there, Jalen Coker. is expected to get some playing time.

Coker. Got sick during The trip to Houston last week didn't participate in the joint practice or in the preseason game, so he'll get a little bit more work. And then you have a lot of guys of note fighting to make the roster. It's been the undrafted rookie Bryson Tremaine. Raising eyebrows, Jimmy Horn, or as we call him, Hemi Horn, David Moore, Hunter Rimfreu.

So, familiar names across the board at receiver tonight will be. Appeal the kicking battle should be decided after tonight, and this really. has gone back and forth. Hunter Infro. He Or on a riffra, Matthew Wright.

He had the better first couple of weeks, just flat out. If... Those who were watching it practice were saying, yeah, Matthew Wright's making more kicks than the rookie Ryan Fitzgerald is. But then last week in Houston, Ryan Fitzgerald in the game hit a 52-yard kick. Wright lined up from 55, did not hit it.

If it's close, you think they're going to give it to the rookie. It does seem close right now, but both those guys are going to be battling it out tonight, and we'll see how those reps are. distributed. Lastly, this might be a small Side note, but The Panthers brought in a new quarterback in Bryce Perkins. He was the backup quarterback.

On the Rams Super Bowl title team. He was last seen winning the UFL MVP. This is the Spring Football League. He was playing for a team called the Michigan Panthers.

So from the Michigan Panthers to the Carolina Panthers. He's practiced just twice. in a Carolina Panther uniform thus far. And tonight he's going to be playing in Bank of America Stadium for the first time since. He led Virginia to To an ACC championship appearance, that was a loss for Virginia against one of those Trevor Lawrence teams a handful of years ago.

So. Wide receiver, the kicking battle, the new quarterback Bryce Perkins. Those are a few things to look at for the Panthers' preseason finale later on tonight. As a reminder, Make sure you're subscribed to our podcast. Search the Drive with Josh Graham, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify.

The best hour of what we do available on demand for you. And if you leave us a five-star review on Apple Podcast, We'll read the review out on the air. Obviously, don't say things that the FCC says we can't say, but you know, whether it's your favorite. WWE wrestler. Or Something you want to say about the show?

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Later this hour, we've got Panthers Blueprint highlights. New episode from Training Camp dropped. But before we get to that, Bill Belichick had jokes. and even some insight. Out at Tarheel Football Practice this week, you'll hear.

from the Carolina Coach and we'll react next on the drive. I feel deprived of the singing jingle, so I'm just gonna stare a hole into WD's forehead until he. Reenacts. The jingle for us to continue to show. Oh, you want that?

The entire triad wants it. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. W S J S It's not the same. Do you think you can top that impression? 336-777-1600.

If you call in and impersonate the. And WD can even give you the lines if you don't know it off the top of your head. For the attempt, we'll give you a Bobo's gift card. Or a Thai Destiny gift card at 336-777-1600. Jay Davis writes in, No commercials?

You missed the commercials. Jay Austin, is the intermission music and not commercials a permanent thing? LOL. See, I've often theorized that the favorite part of the show are the commercials. It is something that we're working through right now.

And we appreciate your patience because we understand that everybody listens to the commercials and then they put up. with us. That's how this works here. Getting to College football. in our state.

Behind the scenes. North Carolina's roster is taking shape. This is why Bill... Bill Belichick, that is. Decided to have some fun when he was asked.

about. WD, you're gonna need an update on your computer. Just... Letting you know based on that sound. Is that what that means?

Or were you getting an update?

Something about my firewall. I don't know. Oh, got it. Uh. That was a joke, Will, when I said that you need an update on the computer.

This is me saying to mute your browser. That's what that means. An even better joke. Than that was Bill Belichick having some fun when asked about the Tar Heel quarterback competition. How close do you think you are in gaming starting quarterback and how would you apply that competition so far?

Yeah, we're getting ready to do that this afternoon to announce the starting lineups and the play times and how we'd be substituting everything.

So Brandon, I'll get that to you as soon as we get done. We want to make sure we get that out there right away. That big smile on his face. Yeah. It sounded like that was AI generated.

We're gonna share the entire lineup with you. Let you know who the starters are. We'll get it out to you. right when we're finished here. At this point though, Why even ask about the quarterback competition?

GLOPE at this point. You we would be surprised. if Gio Lopez was not the starter. This is what the target Let me break some news. This is what the tar heel depth chart is going to look like at quarterback.

Geo Lopez. You brought him in for a reason after the spring. He is your first string guy. He's a left-handed quarterback. Bill was even talking about there's some Differences preparing.

Yeah. Having a lefty at quarterback than having a righty.

Some fine details. What do we know about? The other quarterbacks on the depth chart. Oh, Max Johnson's experience, and he's still around, and he's a lefty.

So You have Gio Lopez, first string, Max Johnson, Max Johnson's your backup. And then Bryce Baker is your future. He's the third stringer. He's the pride of Kernersville, that is. He's for Scythe High School.

Kernersville! When Bill did acknowledge separation at camp, He highlighted actually a key difference between college And coaching in the pros. Listen to this. No doubt some players have separated themselves from others. That's always a hard one when a player who's Maybe less talented but more experienced, outperforms a player who's less experienced and more talented, and then you just.

As a coach, wonder what will happen when that less experienced player gains the experience because he has more talent and maybe more potential. When do those lines, when those lines cross and when does the younger, less experienced player, you know, overtake the other one? What's the timeline on that? And I'd say that's a little bit of the challenge here in college football is there's a little bit less time to make that. You know, you have the three preseason games in the NFL and a couple scrimmages and sometimes that will start to declare a little bit quicker.

Yeah, the talent and experience gaps are more pronounced or more extreme in college than you see in the NFL, and you don't have preseason games. Two. Simulate. The real thing.

So, when the lights turn on, so to speak, there might be some differences in performance than what you see in camp. We thought when Bill took the job that Bill was just going to be awful with the media and give us. Ten Five-second answers. Two-word answers, that type of thing. To Bill's credit, when he does media He gives really long answers.

to things. And it seems now there are things he just won't talk about. If you ask him about playtime or rotations as we saw when Bill joked. He wasn't going to tell you anything. And he'll fill a buster and give you coach speak.

But when you ask about how things work. mindset type of things behind the scenes. He will give you Real answers. Or he'll just laugh at you. There is a growing concern, Will, on the offensive line.

By the way. Feel free to tell me what some of these callers want to talk about since we got some of the. Yeah. We have plenty of different things that are being discussed right now. There is a growing concern on the O line for Carolina.

Carolina is down a few bodies at camp. including the starting center. There's a chance they might get some of those. Body's healthy and time for TCU. Don't know if that's completely likely.

It'll be interesting to see how. How? Truthful?

Some of North Carolina's injury reports are availability reports. We saw Kansas State and Iowa State put out theirs ahead of the Dublin game earlier today. That'll be interesting. Uh And this is supposed to be the strength of Carolina's team, the offensive line, the fronts, and We'll see how theirs look. The old dog writes in on X.

or on YouTube. Boy, the Porsche is running rough today. LOL. See, we steer into the skid, Will. We really do.

I would argue when it's running, Rog's going to make it. We make it.

So. Here's what we do: we reward people when things are not going great.

So when we don't have the lady singing, It's the drive with Josh Graham. She actually might have just shown up, by the way. Just Instead, we Get the audience involved in things. Instead, and you know, when you try, you tell Will Dalton if you want Bobo's gift cards or Tidestiny gift cards. Let's go to Bob and Burlington.

Bob, I don't want to hear anything else come out of your mouth other than. The intro, go right ahead. This the Drive with Josh Graham on WSJS. Excellent. That's really good.

Really, really strong stuff from Bob and Burlington. I can tell. I might want him to sing something else in the future. Get that guy's number. Let's go to Jew in Winston-Salem.

Jew, same treatment for you. Nothing else but the jingle. What do you have? It's the Drive with Dias Gram W S J S. We have great singers in the audience.

We really do. Thank you so much. Reward those people. Make it happen, W. D.

Congrats. To those two. Making good out of a A bad situation. Shifting things. You want to talk about making good of a bad situation, Will.

Let's talk about the Baltimore Orioles for just a second.

Some might think that the marquee game tonight is Yankees Red Sox.

Some might think that that's the case because both of them are. In the wild card right now, and there isn't a lot of separation. And the Yankees and the Red Sox, it's a big rivalry, but that's not the case. No, it isn't. This isn't just because I'm a Baltimore Orioles fan that I'm saying this.

Orioles Astros. is the story in Major League Baseball tonight. And let me make the case to you if you think that this is all about bias. Let me make the case for you. Let me sell you on it.

On the mound for Baltimore. is a rookie by the name of Brandon Young. The last time Brandon Young was on the mound, He nearly threw a perfect game, Will. You know how many perfect games have been thrown in the 150-year history of baseball? Slides, not many.

Okay. For 150 years, 24 times a perfect game has been thrown. Last Friday night in Houston, the last time this guy started the game, he had never won a Major League Baseball start. He is he had an 0-6 record, Will. Yet, in his 10th career big league start, close to his hometown of 13,000 people, with half that town seemingly in attendance to watch him pitch in Houston.

He goes seven and two-thirds innings perfect. And the perfect game was broken up. with two outs in the eighth, By a guy who spent the first six years of his career in Baltimore, he was traded a month ago an infield single by Ramon Arias. And it could have been deemed An error, a throwing error by Young himself. Correctly scored a hit, though, and it's the only hit Houston got that day.

And Will, he's back on the mound for the first time since that game. And who is the opponent? Once again the Houston Astros.

So, hey, you only allowed one hit and got your first career win against Houston, where you grew up playing or going to games.

Now, first. Time back on the mound, and it's the same scouting report. It's the same lineup that you're going up against, except this time. It's going to be played at Camden Yards, which brings us to another drawing point for this game, a point of appeal. Two star prospects are going to be making their home debuts tonight in Baltimore.

And that includes a top five prospect in all of baseball, get to know the name now. Catcher Samuel Basayo. Turned 21 years old a week ago, and Will, this guy hits. Baseball's hard. And even when they're out of the zone, low out of the zone, high out of the zone, he hits everything and he's 21 years old.

Also The Astros clinging to an AL West lead in that division, one and a half games up on Seattle currently. Along with Dodgers, Padres, and the NLS, probably the most fun divisional race.

So there you go. That's That is the pitch. For Orioles Astros. Being the game of the night in Major League Baseball, not Yankees-Red Sox, which is just a fake national rivalry. That isn't really a rivet.

It's fake. Ever since 2004. He doesn't think it's fake. I know, that's what I'm saying. It's a fake national rivalry that they're like, oh, these teams hate each other.

No, they haven't hated each other since 2004. Nah. Get out of here with that. Fake national rivalry. Give me Brandon Young.

Back on the mound again. against the Astros after going nearly throwing a perfecto. Last week. That's what I'm here for. The Carolina Panthers.

dropped a training camp edition. of their blueprint series. And you're going to enjoy the highlights that we've dug up for this, and those are the things.

next on the drive. It's the drive. Where's John? Uh W S J S We got some Carolina Panthers news. Carolina has activated tight end Tommy Trimble.

From the physically unable to perform list, otherwise known as the pup list. This shouldn't be a big shock, the Panthers have said as he deals with a back injury. He Is expected to be ready for the season opener, if not. Maybe by week two. If he was not Trimble activated by next Tuesday when rosters get cut down to 53.

He'd have to miss the first. Four games of the season. Players who are still on the pup list beyond that deadline. Missed the first four games of the year.

So, Tommy Trimble expected to be on the week one roster. for Carolina, which is key because Towards the end of last year, Tremble. Was a safety valve, safety blanket type of option for Bryce Young, particularly in that. Finale. Against The Atlanta Falcons, where he had some big catches in the game.

We have highlights from the newest Carolina Panthers blueprint episode from their social media channels. Will, where shall we begin? How about With Dave Canalis's Introductory spiel. He's Standing in one of those Meeting rooms, which is also where he does his post-game press conferences. We know that room pretty well.

There's a basketball hoop that's hanging and They have messaging on the walls, and the entire team is sitting in this meeting room listening to Canalis. It's day one of camp, and this is the message that Canalis wanted to impart. on his team. Philosophy of our football team is what? It's all about the ball.

I just got chills. This play style right here. Look, there's 31 other buildings with.

Well, 30 other. play styles okay because I stole this from Pete but I believe in it But I believe in it though. because I've seen it work and I got the hardware to prove it. Uh-huh. Good.

Catch. Bye. Dave Canalis. 31 other teams that have Their own mindset and philosophy.

Well, 30 because Pete Carroll's back in the league and coaching. The Vegas Rangers. I Scott Chills. You're trying to sidetrack this segment. No, how would I do that?

Am I against that? No. Do you want to hear what it sounds like? when I'm at the beach And Sarah Bradford and I decide To veer off Emerald Isle, go to one of those pop-up ice cream shops, and I eat way too much of the cookies and cream ice cream. Ice Got Chills.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Do you want to know what my reaction was? When I got back from vacation and realized that high school football starts on Friday and real college football games start on Saturday, including Frank Reich in the ACC, Stamford facing Hawaii. I Scott Chills.

We can have a lot of fun with these things. This is the type of atmosphere we like to have on the show here.

Okay. J C Horne. We've heard give me that cash up, family. That there's a lot of Thomas Davis. and J C Horn.

And what we mean by that is Lot of talking. He likes to talk during practice. But up until now, we've never heard that mic'd up. We never heard the type of things that JC Horn says. Will, if you think I've got chills.

is a drop. JC JC Horn. Said about three or four things during this brief segment of the episode that might be new JC Horn drop material. These are, this is how JC Horn trash talks at practice. Oh yeah, that's pit off.

That's that's love. I want to know it. No, no, no. Yeah. What the Oh, that shit definitely picked off.

Andy? He blind. And brace! Oh There's nowhere to go, Bryce. Hey, Andy, stop being scary.

Just a little fun trash talk, trying to get in the head a little bit. Check down, Charlie! I ain't seen you make a throw yet. JT, tell him to throw the past five yards, bro.

Okay, there we go. Ah, hey Andy, almost don't count, right? You up and through, that's your fault. These are insults that bullies say in middle school. What was the one that he said about Andy Dalton in the middle?

Andy? He blind. That's what you say when you're playing dodgeball out on the field. Andy! He blind.

Just It's outstanding. Picking on the red-headed kid on The jungle gym. in fifth grade, which is just fitting because Andy Dalton is a ginger. He blind. Just like myself.

No. We don't have souls, but we have eyes. It's a That's the truth about it. JC Horde talking trash at practice. Oh!

It's not a joke. That Bryce Young loves the NBA. He compares his NBA game to one of Darius Garland. Compared CJ Strouds to Michael Porter Jr., he has put thought into these things. And apparently, Bryce's NBA interest is obnoxious to the point where when he's mic'd up, we capture him.

Talking about with his teammates NBA-related topics. I mean, the Thunder are bringing back the same rock here. Like, they're on list for all time. I think it's like point differential or something. I mean Timber Wools, Ants.

Ants. Like, you can't count out Luke and LeBron. You can't count out Luke and LeBron no matter what. I feel like Jalen Green is like, oh, we just lost Jalen Green. Bro, I think he's gonna go stupid in.

I think he's probably the best third option to leave. Like, you do everything you can. Like, obviously you're getting KD, but like, those are just it's just a lot of movement, you know? Yeah, and W D's nodding along. Yeah.

I love that. Bryce has got bars. He does. I mean, you don't count out Luca and LeBron. You don't.

He loves the NBA the way I love the NFL. Talking about Jalen Green, as if anybody cares about Jalen Green anymore now that he plays for the Suns. Is anybody gonna have a Jalen Green opinion? Bryce will. You got that right.

Could picture Bryce last night just watching WNBA basketball, watching Paige Beckers go for 44. That game was a blast. Kelsey Plum dropping. A curse word after she hit a buzzer beater. That might have been the game of the year in the WNB.

In the dub. In the dub. And the dub, Will. Make sure. We get it right in the dub.

Brad Idzik, our guy. former Wake Forest quarterback. He's the receivers' coach and offensive coordinator of the Panthers. Actually, he's not the receivers' coach, he's just the OC. And he was breaking down the receiver group and Gave us a little bit of insight if you pay close attention.

Wide-out positions, obviously, an interesting one. We got. Four, seventeen, nineteen. And then after that, there's a little bit of a battle for depending on how many spots we keep. You know, we'd love to be six or seven with the talent you got, but.

Six o'clock seven before Remember Will, when we said that There were four and then there was separation. Brad Idzik pretty much confirmed that when he said four Tedderow and Macmillan, Xavier Legette, seventeen, nineteen Adam Thiel and Jalen Coker eighteen. Like, Darren Gantt didn't even agree with that point a few weeks ago, saying, Do we know for sure with absolute certainty Jalen Coker is going to be on the team? Yeah, we do now. And um Brad Itzik.

The way he talked there said there was some separation, but not so much separation between Hunter Infro, Bryson Tremaine, David Moore. Jimmy Horn junior or as we call him, Hemi Horn Junior. Not a lot of separation. And do you keep six receivers or do you keep seven? That is a conversation with maybe a little bit of.

Salesmanship there. Hopefully, seven. It'd be cool. If we can keep seven. Brad Idzik.

lobbying for more receivers. On The roster there. Local college baseball fans. You're going to want to catch today's ACC Baseball, etc. podcast.

Longtime Wake Forest pitching coach, now Duke head coach Corey Mascara. A guest with Darren Vought, ACC Baseball, et cetera. You can find that. Darren Vought joins us now as he does each week. Before we get to that and North Carolina's case for an expansion team in Major League Baseball, Let's just hit on the ramifications that would come with expansion, the comments that.

Commissioner Rob Manfred had in Williamsport on Sunday have been the topic of baseball this week. More specifically, divisional restructuring that becomes more localized, more regionalized, and As Jason Stark reported this morning with The Athletic, an almost certain scaling back from 162 games to either 154 or 156. This doesn't bother me as much as I thought it would, but as a lover of baseball, how does all of this hit you? I think I'm like anyone else in that For so long as a baseball fan, we pay so much special attention to records. and the volume of games for a single season record You have to account for that if that number changes.

That said, I think I'm kind of in your boat. Like the closer it gets to a reality, The less I find myself caring about that, and maybe the steroid era did this because we largely disregard a bunch of single season records because of that anyway. I just, I'm not as bothered by it as I maybe once would have been.

Well, also, historically speaking, if you really want to dig into it, if we go back to 150. Right, we put the qualifiers on, you know, live ball era. Oh, sure, but 1908 to 1961, they played 154 games.

So if you went back to that, that's not so much a problem. If you want to get into the restructuring of divisions.

Okay, you can have issues with that from a National League, American League perspective, but you're still going to be able to maintain rivalries with how the schedule has looked even the last couple of years. Teams, every team's still going to play every team, regardless of the structuring.

So, This is proactive, and I'm all for it. And I don't really see, I don't buy a lot of the drawbacks that some are putting forth.

Well and I'll even say this. Regarding the the Feed. You know, proximity rivalries, local rivalries. What have we been saying for years in this, this? Whatever you want to call the recent era, baseball is a supremely regional sport.

I think the more you can pull that into focus, it probably in the long run benefits Major League Baseball in ways that, like, you know, I've seen so many realignment patterns that are being discussed and that sort of thing. Like, Every other major sport uses East-West. And I get that you're in your feels about American League, National League. There's literally no difference now with the DH being universal. I don't see any reason why Major League Baseball couldn't.

go to an Eastern conference, Western conference kind of system. Darren Vought with us here. If we are to assume on an expansion front that there is a team going to the Pacific Northwest, Portland or Salt Lake City seem to be the front runners. Don't rule out Vancouver yet either. And another is going to be A running mate with the Atlanta Braves.

It's either going to be Nashville or North Carolina, it seems. It's a battle. Dashville against the state of North Carolina. It does seem that North Carolina has some advantages. You look at...

The state of North Carolina being twice the population of the state of Tennessee. More people in Raleigh, a bigger media market than Nashville is. Having a billionaire owner who already owns sports teams. saying he wants Major League Baseball. Tom Dundon is that.

The state of Tennessee doesn't have that. Despite all of this. Nashville is being discussed as a shoe-in. Those are the words that Jeff Passett used from ESBN, and we played earlier. Why do you think that is?

Why do you think Nashville is being viewed as such a Uh poll position. player for expansion over North Carolina. I think in a lot of ways they got a humongous head start. Like, if you're looking to Tom Dundon, owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, and weirdly, the Portland Trailblazers now, I guess. By the way, to hold you real quick, that's a piece that's going to be interesting as well because, okay, Tom Dundon wants Major League Baseball.

Does it shift where he's got a team in both spots where they crave an expression team? Portland's being discussed. If it becomes Nashville, it is seen to be the more obvious pick as it's being discussed. Does Tom Dundon hedge his bets and say, you know what? I said I wanted a Major League Baseball team.

I didn't say specifically in North Carolina. Maybe I can be the owner of a team in Portland. No, for sure, for sure.

So, like, if you're looking to him, he did not pull. publicly State that he's going to gun for a Major League Baseball team in Raleigh until very recently in the grand scheme of things. Whereas in Nashville, they have had this groundswell of support. And it includes former Major League Baseball general managers. It includes support from the Negro League Museum and that organization and foundation, right?

Because it's important for them to have baseball, professional baseball, major league baseball back in Nashville. I think the timing has. as much to do with it as anything. That being said, if you can prove that there's money in it, and Dunon, obviously, we know has a bunch of it. We saw this happen with Major League Soccer expansion when the battle was between Raleigh and Charlotte.

It was like, okay, Raleigh's the foregone conclusion. And then Tepper comes in with his bags of money and secures it for Charlotte with relative ease.

So, um, I do think Nashville is a pretty far-ahead leader at this point. But again, it can change.

Now let's answer. Unusual questions with our friend Aaron Thought. But last week, guys, everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference. That's not right. I thought it was an unusual question, and it's okay.

It's time for unusual questions with Josh Graham. Even though that clip is four and a half years old now. Still going to keep running it because people love Roy Williams and also. When I get asked, what's the context of that quote? I enjoy so much explaining what happened way back when.

Alright. Do you want to get us started with unusual questions today, Darren? I will, thank you. You mentioned that Corey Mascara, a new head baseball coach at Duke, is my guest on ACC Baseball, et cetera, this week. You can find that wherever you get your podcasts, part of the D1 Baseball Podcast Network.

It was The lightest lift of an interview that I've done of a head coach. in a long, long time. If you know Moose. You know, he can talk, and in some cases, he will ask your next question for you. And then just keep rolling with answers.

I'm curious, you interview a lot of people. What is the fewest? What was the instance in which? You said the fewest number of words you've ever said in an interview. limiting it to coaches and players or anybody.

And whoever comes to mind, it's a coach and player. Tim Brando. Of course. Tim Brando, you ask one question and the interview's over. That's that's Tim Brando.

If it's a coach, it's It's Roy. Like Roy I'll never forget it. First time I had Roy on the show. He sits down. I asked him when was the last time you played at Sedgefield?

He tells a long amazing story. And then He noticed something Orioles on our set. He's like, You an Oriole fan? Yeah. Oh man, I started talking about Mickey Mantle and the Yankees.

And then I look up, and the PR guy, Steve Kirschner, shout out to Kirsch is like giving me the wrap-it-up side. I'm like, all right. It's fine. Awesome. Enjoy that.

Is there anybody that comes to mind for you, Will? We can have a joint answer here.

Well, you mean.

So, for me personally, just hosting the show and the handful of times. Long-windedness. Who comes to mind?

Okay. And it's not even in a bad way. It's just like he goes in such detail and has so much depth that, like, all I have to do is frame up a nice question, put some con, like, and it just he will go. And it's like it's fantastic. He's been regularly referred to as an inning beater in the World Stock radio business.

David Glenn's going to be a guest on tomorrow's program. On free for Friday halfway to Margaritaville. We'll figure that out. Here's my unusual question because... I started the week at Emerald Isle.

And Emerald Isle is lovely. A lot of restaurants along Emerald Isle. that are air quote walking distance from where Right. Spot was at. If you're at a place that's deemed walking distance from a restaurant you want to visit, How far does it have to be before you decide to drive the short distance?

Because for me, It's generally 15-minute, maybe 20-minute walk. More than 20, I'm driving for sure. But Where's the cutoff for Darren Bot?

So yeah I go distance here Oh, you can look at the. See, I just pull up the app and see how long of a walk it is. How long is it going to take me? Yeah. That's.

Smart in other ways. Maybe like a mile and a half, I'm probably out. If you get to a mile, if it's right at a mile and a half, you're talking like a 30-minute walk. Depending on where you are, access to sidewalks, how many turns or whatever you get to. But you know this about me.

I prefer to walk. I'm a walker. We've had this discussion in Uptown Charlotte. We're there for whatever event. I would much rather walk than bother driving and trying to park.

To me, there's a give and take with the convenience there, and I'd rather not get in my vehicle. See mine is a situational answer. Because if I'm like On a trip, like if I'm In a like downtown area, I'll I'll do I'll walk. If I'm at a beach like on Ocean Boulevard and Myrtle Beach, I'll walk a good ways to get where I'm going. But if it's like I'm in a shopping center, like Friendly Center in Greensboro, where it's kind of spread out, if I can see it, I'll walk to it.

But if I can't, and it's like around the corner somewhere up the road, I'm just going to get in my car. Before I get a text from my wife listening saying. Josh The place we went. was right across the street you went and you decided to get in the car. I know.

I was just speaking in generalities.

Okay. That's all I'm saying here. I'm not proud. I'm not to mind the question. That's right.

That's it. WD, what is your food-related question? I mean, what is your unusual question? I almost did do a food-related question today, but I got to think. We already know.

Yeah. I got to think.

So, Doja Cat is releasing a new single tonight. It is the first song of her new era that she's doing. She's got a new album coming out. I'm very fired up about that.

So, this era is going to be. More 80s-themed type deal, and I love the 80s, so I'm very excited about this. We got some synths?

Some synthesizers in there? What are we talking? Let's find out tonight. I will anxiously anticipate the release of the song. Yeah, you'll hear the 80s in it for sure.

Um so that made me think. Whoever your favorite artist is, if they do the whole Eras thing. What is your favorite era? Can I answer your question with the question? Yeah.

What was the food question? Cause it might have been better.

So I went to fresh market earlier today. And I was looking for some a snack. I am. Fresh Market has it popping when it comes to seasonings. They make it happen.

They got some selection. And I just got the thing. If you exclude salt and pepper. What is your favorite seasoning? Garlic.

Fresh powders. Shout out to Fresh Market. You can sponsor the unusual questions. You can. You can figure that out.

I asked food-related stuff, so fish. Favorite season. I like I like some tahin. Once advanced. Um Yeah, generally.

I like lemon pepper.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm speaking more in a a u A utility manner. This has also been an area of growth when it comes to me, as we learned with BDOT and Randolph Childress a few years ago.

It's been a growth era. I'm still trying to grasp how bad the music question was. Asking us what our favorite era was, I think it's a great question. I think Taylor Swift's the only person that refers to eras. Yes, but you can clearly see, like, Michael Jackson had different eras, like, where themes.

Like B Bowie was good about this. Bowie had had. phases where he was basically in every genre. Yeah. But it is more of a recent thing, right?

It's like, okay, Beyoncé's a country star now. Post Malone's a country star now. Yeah, like even if they don't specify it as an era, you can clearly see this is like a different theme or an era that they're in. I think. Arrow store.

Taylor Swift. Love it. Is that just a poster? Yeah. Shout out to Tony for bringing it into our studio.

And we said we put it behind us somewhere. Nice. Just love that.

Okay. I wanted to make time. That's been unusual questions for today. For Darren to tell us, Corey Mascara. We mentioned it a few times.

We'll listen to the full ACC baseball, et cetera, pod, but what was one of your bigger takeaways from the conversation? Just how much he had to do to catch up upon his arrival at Duke. Interesting, because that team was so close to making it to Omaha this year.

Well, but if you think about it, the timing, which is necessary, it's not ideal, but it's necessary in college athletics now, the timing of Chris Pollard's exit. to Virginia Required a lot of quick movement on both ends, right?

So. Moose Hit. inherits Fewer than 10 players on his roster. when he got there. Um The admissions window that was necessary there for Duke, and again, it's Duke, so there are.

obstacles there with admissions. was up like seven days after he got hired.

So he had to get a special extension in order just to just to get a roster filled. With players.

So he's got 43 on the roster going into the fall. He seems to like his group, and it's kind of a miracle.

So he's. He talks a lot about that. And again, there's just a ton of logistical stuff. And obviously, you know, he's got a family, so you're going to move him. It's crazy what a college coach goes through these days because there's really not an offseason.

ACC Baseball, et cetera, podcast with Corey Mascara. D1 baseball, lottery boy. Professor At the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, radio voice for ECU basketball does some high point from time to time. Play-by-play. I mean, he does everything.

Darren Vaughn. High school football. High school football starting this week. Yeah, you got that going as well. All right.

WCCB and Charlotte. Let's go. Mallard Creek, Rollsville, top 10 in-state matchup to get us started.