I Don't Believe In It

This is The Drive with Josh Graham podcast. We're internet sensations, guys. Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on WSJS. Welcome to a Wednesday Drive. It is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where despite the dreary, rainy hump day that it's been, we're going to improve morale across the Piedmont with weekly positivity later this hour.

We have basketball tickets that we will be giving away for next week during that segment. And in the spirit of positivity, the Carolina Panthers received positive injury news as the team returned to practice today. Most notably, Bryce Young, a full participant at practice. It's also telling that they feel comfortable with Bryce's status, that they put him out there and had him take all the snaps, despite the fact that there were slippery, rainy conditions on the outdoor field they practiced on. Dave Canales, when asked directly if he expected Bryce to go, says he feels pretty confident, hopeful, if you will.

I would hope so. He really wants to. Again, we've got to be smart and we've got to challenge him physically in the next two days to make sure that he can do that.

So that's why we're still calling it day to day. We do have to throw some different types of movements and things at him. But he's focused. He's ready. He's into it.

I know he wants to go. And so if he can, he will. There's another element, Will, we learned today. This is just from the last half hour. Dave Canales meeting with the media.

Bryce Young practiced. Do you know who didn't practice? Andy Dalton. Andy apparently hurt his thumb on the first drive of the game, which might explain how the rest of the game went. they didn't know about this during the game and then the thumb according to canalis kind of blew up so to speak assumedly talking about it what's the word we're looking for here like like jammed up yeah but what's the word when something grows or expands oh swells thank you swells is the word.

That's what I took Canalis to mean when he said that the thumb kind of blew up after the fact. Even though Brady Christensen is out for the year with an Achilles injury, we learned that immediately after the game Sunday, Chandler Zavala had his 21-day window open up on Monday and a full participant today at practice. Austin Corbett returned last week right in time for, unfortunately, Cade Mays to go down. And while it doesn't seem Cade Mays is going to be available against the Packers, it's good to know you have Austin Corbett there and you have Chandler Zavala as a full participant at practice to potentially slide in there at right guard. Here was Canales on that timing with the Packers looming.

Couldn't be a better time for Chandler to step in here and to be back available for us. You know, his window has just opened up. You know, a lot of times you don't want to rush guys back out there. He looked great today. We need him.

So it kind of ties up well for us to have that help inside and to have Austin Corbett in here to be able to step in for Cade to do that. You know, it feels like we're going to be able to put our best group out there that we can to give us a chance to win. This is why it was so important for Carolina not just to bring back the full starting five unit from a year ago, but bring back nine contributors from last year's team. nine times because Taylor Moten he missed practice today Canales says he feels pretty good about where he's at says that Moten has a shot to play but even if he doesn't will well Yash Nyman has experience there you can plug Yash Nyman there you don't have Robert Hunt who's been out for a long bit Chandler Zavala was the guy at first before Zavala went down and Christensen set in so now that Christensen's out the timing is such that Zavala is returning to action. Austin Corbett, Cade Mays were kind of seen as a 1A, 1B.

This is why you have all the depth that Carolina had. And strangely enough, you feel kind of good about it, even though Green Bay is the opponent. And did you know that Micah Parsons, who is top 10 in the NFL in sacks, isn't even tops on the Packers in sacks this season. Rashawn Gary has 7.5 sacks. Micah has 6.5.

So they've combined for 14. Good luck to the Carolina Panthers front this weekend. Even though that's a lot of positivity right there, nobody's giving Carolina a shot at winning in Green Bay. We did our show from Bank of America Stadium yesterday. Charlotte FC losing 1-0 in their playoff opener against New York City FC.

But a lot of Panthers folks were in there. Nobody's feeling good about going into Green Bay. Double-digit underdogs. Panthers have some injuries. They've struggled on the road.

Oh, but they won the last time. Yeah, how much of a struggle was it to beat the Jets 13-6? But if Bryce is available, maybe Carolina shouldn't be written off completely. How's that for some midweek weekly positivity? On X, at Josh Graham Show and at WSJS Radio, it's where we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch.

Will Dalton is the executive producer of today's show. Mentioned we have basketball tickets for weekly positivity. That's Wake Forest American next Monday. That is next Tuesday, NC State women's basketball in Greensboro at the Coliseum facing the Tennessee Lady Vols. You can have your pick of those prizes.

Let's play some basketball! Speaking of basketball, Mike Jones, UNCG coach. Who? He'll be joining us at 4.15. How about we talk some basketball?

Let's play some basketball! All eyes will be on North Carolina's newcomers in the Tar Heels' second and final exhibition tonight. The Tar Heels facing Winston-Salem State. More specifically, two newcomers in particular. Luka Bogovac is the obvious starting point.

Are we going to see him play? we're already seeing hashtag free Luca all over the place from concerned Tar Heel fans. It didn't help when Jaron Stevenson started in the spot Luca would be occupying at BYU, and he had five turnovers against the Cougars. Nobody seems to know what's happening. That's the problem.

We don't have a clear picture here. because he cleared the American visa hurdle getting to the United States from Montenegro before class started. It was close, but they got that done. He cleared the NCAA hurdle. The NCAA is just trying not to get sued from anybody, so they don't want any problems.

The last time they ran into it with Tez Johnson, we remember how that went.

So they don't want any part of that. And Hubert Davis said last week, it's a university deal that they're trying to get squared away. Don't quite know what that means. Is this team rule violations? Is this university clashing with the athletic department?

We don't know. And then there was an anonymous report last week that maybe it was a little bit of an ankle injury he was dealing with. Nobody seems to know.

So we'll find out 7.30 tonight if Luka's out there. And if he's not, then that's going to be a massive, massive story heading into Central Arkansas, the season opener on Monday. Caleb Wilson, the other newcomer we're watching, he has a chance to continue building a national profile before this season tips off. It's his first game inside the Smith Center. First time really in front of the fans, unless you count the blue-white scrimmage.

and he's coming off a terrific game at BYU, a terrific outing where he had 22 points and he had 10 rebounds, 3 blocks. He could immediately be the focal point of North Carolina's offense, which has us thinking, when's the last time North Carolina's best player was a freshman? You might not like the answer, Cole Anthony, but that is the answer. Good recall on your part, unless you count the year after that, where Armando Baycott led the team in scoring as a sophomore, but Caleb Love was right there. Nah, it's Cole.

That was Roy Williams last year. Yeah, so Cole Anthony, that's the last time that a freshman was the best player on the team. Let's hope that this goes a little bit better for North Carolina than that season went for Roy Williams and company. Granted, Cole Anthony was injured for stretches of that year. Regardless of the score, it is special from a local perspective to see Winston-Salem State out on that floor.

Roy Williams had a tremendous amount of respect, probably still does, posthumously for big house games, the Winston-Salem State coaching legend. This is a celebration of HBCU basketball in our state. And Hubert Davis, he loves the state of North Carolina. He has a lot of respect for some of the smaller programs that are out there. And the ones that are close to his heart, he lets it be known.

Obviously, with his family tied to Johnson C. Smith, they've played them in an exhibition and having Winston-Salem State on that floor at the Smith Center tonight. That's a special deal.

So we'll be keeping an eye on it. Wake Forest is also in action tonight against East Tennessee State. No broadcast for that or no video broadcast. Stan Cotton, he's going to be there in Freedom Hall, Freedom Center, whatever they call it, over there at East Tennessee. In terms of the Tar Heels, there is an ESPN Plus stream at 7.30 later tonight.

Darren Vought also going to be on the program to answer unusual questions. Big Deke energy writes in. Duke, UNC, Wake Forest, they won't schedule UNCG anymore. You didn't mention NC State there.

Well, Will Wade used to coach with Mike Jones at VCU back in the day.

So there's a relationship there. And you'll have UNCG visiting Raleigh later. Not later this month, but still in October. But in a couple of weeks, that will be the case. We'll see those two go head-to-head.

We'll ask him about trying to schedule some of those ACC Big Four opponents. Coach Jones joins us next hour. The Drive with Josh Graham, only on WSJS. If you'd like to win some tickets to see Wake Forest face American, Monday inside the Joel or Tuesday in the Coliseum. First to rise in Coliseum in Greensboro.

NC State Westmore's group face the Lady Vols of Tennessee. 336-777-1600. All you have to do is give us a call and tell us something good because on this rainy Wednesday, We lift morale in Weekly Positivity. Oh, yeah. What happened to Buzzsaw?

He had to split Will Dalton's movie for next week is the original Running Man 1987 starring Arnold Weekly Positivity is brought to you by our friends At Biscuit King Biscuit 336-777-1600 if you want in Let's go to Nathan who's calling from Ashboro. Hi, Nathan. Hey, what's up, Josh? Hey. It's good to chat with you.

When's the last time you went to the zoo out in Ashboro? Is that a thing that regulars go to quite often? No. Actually, I haven't been in probably 20 years. Oh.

See, I don't even remember the last time I went to the zoo. It might have been 20 years as well. See, I'm in my early to mid-30s, so I don't think I've been since before high school. I don't think that's abnormal. It's a great zoo.

Yeah, it is a great zoo. That's good. Tell me something good with you.

Well, just got off work, getting ready to go home, watch a little sports center. Listen, one week away from basketball kicking off, My wolf pack, gonna finally make the tournament again. Everything's looking A-OK. Yeah, so if you're just getting off work, that means you probably get to work pretty early, don't you? Yeah, I usually get here about 6 in the morning.

So what time do you wake up, Nathan? Around 4.30. Oh my goodness.

Okay, so let's go through this. And this is good. 4.30 in the morning, Nathan wakes up. All right. What's the next hour and a half look like before you get to work?

Drink a little coffee, take the dog out, watch a little SportsCenter. You love SportsCenter. I do. Do you have a favorite SportsCenter host? Do you have a favorite SportsCenter host?

You're like, I'm Hannah Storm. She's great. Or I don't know, Matt Barry. I'm trying to think of my SportsCenter host. Kelsey Riggs, what's up?

You know, just try to figure it out.

Okay, we're your favorite sports center host. That's what we're here for in the afternoon. Right.

Okay, so the Wolfpack. Are you trying to go watch the Wolfpack next Tuesday night? Is that what we're trying to do? I am absolutely trying to go watch them play. All right.

Then we will take care of that for you.

So enjoy watching Tennessee NC State next Tuesday and appreciate the call. When do you go to sleep if you're waking up at 430, by the way, Nathan? usually around 9 in the p 9 in the p Well appreciate you giving us a call on your ride home You enjoy the basketball next week okay All right, thanks a lot. There you go. WD will get the rest taken care of for you.

Before you take care of that, tell me something good.

So, as we know, I'm a nerd. I like to play video games. See, here's the thing. I'm a nerd, too. There's different types of nerds.

I've got, you are a child. That's probably the better way to win it. See, there's a difference. I am a nerd. These glasses, my ability to recite stats and things, that is nerdy behavior.

But you can be an adult who's a nerd. You, I wouldn't push back so much on nerd. But more emphasis, the behavior you're describing is child. You are a man child.

Well, I mean, I just, I like what I like. I don't know what to tell you. I'm very authentic to myself. And we love you for it. I appreciate that.

Thank you so much.

So last, late last week, maybe even over the weekend, doesn't matter. We learned that they're going to be remaking the first Halo game. Halo Combat Evolved. Only now, don't know why they went with this, It's going to be Halo campaign evolved. Whatever.

Back when I had game consoles, I had the original Xbox. I know. Xbox 360, I loved Halo. We've established that. Like, I had a dog die the day that Halo 2 came out, and I wasn't that sad.

Oh, no. Because of how excited I was about Halo 2. And I loved that dog, but I loved Halo 2. That's right. Dual wielding?

What? That's what I'm saying.

So, I never played Halo growing up. I was around people playing it, but I never had an Xbox. I always had a PlayStation. That was my game. Halo.

Halo, and I was very good at the NHL and college football. Very good at sports games.

So we learned in them remaking this game, it is going to obviously come out on Xbox, but it's going to come out on PlayStation as well. Oh. So I mean, I could just buy an Xbox and play the original. But I will be able to play the new Halo because I have a PlayStation. Oh, so you had allegiance to PlayStation?

That's why you didn't play Halo growing up? It's not so much an allegiance. I mean, did I prefer PlayStation? Yes. I just, I have a PlayStation.

I'm not going to buy an Xbox, too. It's like I'm not made of money over here. I think I grew up with PS2. Yeah, that was me. And I had an Xbox and then the Xbox 360.

That's what I had my entire life. and then someone gift to be an N64, which has just been sitting in my man cave for the last few years without being used. You should come over sometime and just play N64 with us. I would love to. I would love that too.

Let's make it happen. That's good. What's good with me is just a shout out to the very kind folks at Charlotte FC. They didn't win the match last night, but they really took care of us. We were in a suite.

let me tell you what being at a suite in Bank of America Stadium is like being BDOT hanging out in there and there are probably about 12 seats in the suite and then they had these this these chicken turkey melts that they made that looked really good some Bojangles chicken Supremes, some sliders, some mashed not mashed potatoes, some mac and cheese and then your options for whatever drinks you might want. What you might care to have. And because I've had a stomach ache this week I didn't eat any of it last night. And I felt so bad. I was like, oh man, this looks so good.

And I'm just going to look at it. I think I ate half a slider and a bite of mac and cheese and had a couple of Cokes. Didn't want to do any of the alcohol or any of the other stuff, but we had a good time out at Charlotte FC nonetheless, even though Charlotte lost the game 1-0. Jay Austin writes in, I took a PS2 to my freshman college dorm. My first ever console was 8-bit Nintendo.

Jay Davis, JG, you're a child of the 90s, or maybe early 2000s, or both. And that's been Weekly Positive. How many game consoles do you own? Yeah, you're really going to think I'm a man child now. I have a PS5.

Uh-huh. I have a PS3. Are you writing this down? I am. Is there not a PS4?

Well, there is, but I sold my PS4 when I got my PS5 because you can play PS4 on PS5.

So when would you use, why would you still have a PS3?

well that's more of like a vintage console type thing why is there value in that because i like to play like my old games from but you can't play the games on that would fit for the ps3 on the ps5 no you can't do that but you can't with the ps4 because it's like more recent so ah i have what games do you still have on the ps3 that you would play oh as vintage games that you wouldn't be satisfied enough with the games you have on the PS5. Right.

You need to retain an entire console in order to potentially play.

Well, I didn't even retain it. I went out and bought it. You went and bought a PS3. Because I like to collect all the consoles that I played when I was a kid. Then why did you get rid of the PS4?

Well, I got rid of the PS4 to get the PS5.

Okay, okay. How many games? Ballpark it for PS3. Oh, boy. Games that you can't play on your PS5 but you have for the PS3?

Probably about... I probably have about currently eight, nine games. What's the best one? Call of Duty 4, Modern Warfare. See, that's when I got lost.

When Call of Duty started to become realistic... That was my favorite game. I can't do it. I'm not good at it. I'm bad at it.

I was really good at Halo, but then Call of Duty happened and just not. I'm horrifically bad. The way that I'm bad at golf, and people just assume because I do a sports talk show that I can play golf. Sure. That's me at Call of Duty.

Horrifically bad. Really? Horrific.

So that's why you stop playing. You do not want me to play Call of Duty with you? I'm terrible. Awful. Really, really bad at Call of Duty.

But I can still get some things done in the sports video game space. I haven't played the new college football style the last two years.

So maybe I'm bad at the college football game, and I might be like a dad in that regard. But I could still get some things done in FIFA, some NHL. love to hear that can hang in there so you have those two consoles and that's it ps2 wii nintendo 64 i'd like to collect them it's like a the wii yes the wii when's the last time you fired up the wii uh it's been a little while probably a couple months ago to play what wii tennis you don't want to see me in Wii Tennis. None of you. None of you.

The triad. None of you. Might as well be the theme music for Mike Jones joining us from UNCG. coach when are socon preseason poll voters going to learn their lessons about your program top three finishes in the league each of the last three years once again we were talking about this last year the spartans picked fifth no players on the all socon team as a motivating tool for your guys how much is the concept of being overlooked useful to you i mean it's to me it's always good to be, you know, have lower expectations than higher. I've been on both sides of it and we've had success on both sides of it, but certainly a motivational tool when you're, you know, people underestimate you a little bit or they don't know.

And so they devalue you from the beginning, but obviously there, there really is no value in preseason polls, you know, other than motivation. The value is at the end of the season, and so that's what we're working toward. We've got a long time to go before those awards come out, so hopefully we'll be a much different team by that time than we will be right now. Recently, Will Wade was on with us, and he said scheduling UNCG was a no-brainer because of the relationship you had coaching on Shaka Smart staff together at VCU. Since we're still learning how irreverent, let's call it, he can be, what's the best story you can share with us working with Will Wade for a few seasons?

I think the thing that really stood out to me about Will, he developed a nickname called the White Mamba.

So from Kobe, you know, Kobe was the Mamba, I guess the Black Mamba. Will became the white mamba and you know he's a killer and uh it was really through recruiting uh that he developed that nickname uh on our staff and the thing that he was really good at is just developing relationships with people um he would go you know on the road and he would always know like the best restaurants in that particular area it could be a mom and pop joint it could be a you know a chain restaurant that he liked. He loved the casserole from Cracker Barrel.

So he would always, you know, go into a town that had Cracker Barrel. He might break bread with somebody in that, you know, mix in that relationship. But he used those opportunities to really get to know people. And, you know, that's, you know, that's what recruiting is all about is the relationships. And so I'm sure like me, he's still benefiting from the relationships he built through all those potato casseroles and turkey sausages that he had at the Cracker Barrel back in the day.

As a recruiting killer, does that mean he was responsible for some of the killers you had at VCU on the way to the Final Four? Was he responsible for Troy Daniels? Yeah, yeah. I don't remember specifically who had who, but they were there before I got there. I got there late.

Shaka had actually hired another assistant coach who left after two months, and I came in after that. They already had Troy Daniels and Darius Theus by that time, and I'm pretty sure Will had a lot to do with Troy. But, I mean, just even when he was there, like Javante Reddick was a part of that team, DJ Haley, who was a seven-footer that started for us. Will had established a relationship with him when he was at Harvard.

So, yeah, he just had his hand in a lot of those – recruitment of a lot of those guys. And then when he was there as an assistant, like his relationship and development with Jamie Skeen, you know, helped Jamie to become the MVP of the Southwest Regional and really propel us there.

So all of that stuff came into contact. We're visiting with Mike Jones. Make sure you get your tickets for UNCG Basketball. Really fun slate that we'll talk in detail about in just a second. But since you bring up food locations, which is very important when you're on the road, Monte Ross, the other, I mean, you know, right there at A&T down the road in Greensboro where you're at, he told us he has a tradition on game days where he has to eat at Waffle House.

Like right after they get done tipping for home games, he eats at Waffle House. What are you telling your Dobo in terms of spots that you need to identify, say when you're going to Manhattan, Kansas, you're facing Kansas State next week? Do you have places that you want to seek out, types of places? Yeah, we definitely do. We've had a couple of games in Texas here in the last couple of years, and we've got to eat at a barbecue spot, brisket.

When we go to Kansas, we're going to be in Kansas City. you know we got to have some ribs and some barbecue.

So, yeah, that's definitely a part of it. It usually revolves around barbecue or if it's like down at Furman, there's a restaurant, I think it's called Firebirds, that we went one year and the guys loved it. It was, you know, great food, great atmosphere. We played well.

So, you know, it has to do with if we play well, we go to the restaurant, we play well, then we're probably going to eat there again. Mike Jones is with us from UNCG. Other than the opener at K-State, There isn't a ton of long travel in the non-conference for you guys.

However, including NC State, a ton of fun in-state matchups, including that home opener against Elon next weekend and road trips against, I mean, you go to Asheville, you go to Minji's Coliseum to face East Carolina. How much of a priority was it when you were putting together the schedule to play locally? Yeah, we always want to do that. You know, we had an agreement, we thought, with High Point to continue that series. They opted not to.

But as much as possible, we would like to play everyone here. We asked Duke. We asked Carolina. We know that Wake Forest has decided not to play because of, I think, their relationship with East Tennessee State. But it just makes sense.

You know, it's fan interest. It's budget conscious. it's uh you know um you know their familiarity with programs so there's a lot of reasons it's not just one so uh we love playing uh locally and you know hopefully we can continue to do that you let me help you out here a little bit let me help you help you in the few ways that i can mike jones as not the acc tournament is in charlotte this year but the following year it's in Greensboro. And Roy Williams always used to tell us when he was back in Carolina, he actually liked scheduling UNCG or an opponent at the Coliseum the year that the ACC tournament was there.

So that way, you know, get familiar. You can kind of try to, you know, replicate, simulate, so to speak.

So next year we could try to get one of these teams maybe to bite at the apple? What does the sales pitch look like? How do these conversations happen when you're trying to convince a team to play at the Coliseum, which again, has all the history. It's right down the road. Yeah, it makes sense to me and you.

But apparently to those high major coaches, it doesn't make sense. You know, we tried the first two years to get a lot of teams to come and play. I think the previous coach, Wes Miller, had some of those guys come. But he also played NC State very tough in the Coliseum. I think they got out of there with a one possession win.

Oh, Markel Johnson hit a half court shot to win that game. Oh, is that right? I knew it was something close. And, you know, I'm sure in their minds, I know Kevin Keats, he refused to play us during the last few years.

So I understand, you know, why they do it. But the scheduling model has changed. The NCAA has changed the scheduling model in terms of net rankings and how, you know, teams that play for bids, they want to play quad ones or quad fours. They don want to play quad twos and threes which is where we sit a lot of the time So it just becoming increasingly difficult That why I so appreciative that Will decided to play us It saves us about and having to get on a flight and go to Manhattan Kansas to play a game.

So we can keep a lot of that for our budget and make sure we have a first class program. But it's becoming more and more difficult. We started asking last year about the tournament coming back to Greensboro. And so far, no takers, but we'll keep trying. And any help you can give, we appreciate it.

I'll try to get into the heads of a few of the locals, see if we can try to shake something free. Mike Jones is with us here from UNCG. This is just my second year as a homeowner with a neighborhood that has trick-or-treaters.

So I'm learning lessons from year one, Coach. I'm learning lessons. I'm coming prepared. Got multiple Costco bags of candy ready to go on Friday night. what's your game plan Friday?

What's Friday night look like in the Mike Jones household? Usually for Halloween, man, my wife and I and the dog, we'll sit out right in the front and greet them as they come up. Our neighborhood is pretty neat. It's well lit and most families participate. We don't have a lot of decorations on the house.

And my wife usually dresses the dog up in a referee's costume. She may also be in a referee's costume, but I'm just going to be, you know, good old regular Mike Jones. But we definitely love seeing the kids come up and pass out some candy. And I'm sure in that instance, you're modeling really good decorum with the referees. Of course.

I always treat refs great, man. They know it. All right. Just so just in case people might be knocking on the Mike Jones house this weekend and and the referee, Doug, and your wife. What type of candy are you handing out?

Is it like sour type stuff? Is it chocolate? What are we doing? It's a good mix. It's a good mix.

Yeah, a lot of, you know, definitely M&Ms. I like to give away the non-peanut M&Ms because I like personally to eat the peanut M&Ms.

So I hoard those. But Reese's Cups, Sour Patches, all that stuff. Ooh, Sour Patches. Yeah, good stuff. That's the good stuff.

you know what the good stuff is next week the start of college basketball season best of luck at K-State we'll do this more often it's so good to see you and we always appreciate your visits on the show make sure to get your tickets for UNCG basketball big one against Elon next weekend thank you for doing this coach we greatly appreciate it yeah thank you for having me hope to see everybody at Elon on Saturday the 8th you're on the drive with Josh Graham WSJS Sincerely asking this question, is load management still a thing? Or is it a boogeyman that people talk about but doesn't actually exist anymore? I definitely think it still exists. who is Mr. Load Management the only guy I mean Paul George really that was not the first name I was thinking of course I think he's actually hurt right now so not right now but last year Kawhi Leonard seems like the poster child oh he's definitely the poster child of load management but who else like who are the younger players looking at and saying I want to be like him, thus I want to load manage.

Because the most influential players didn't do that. LeBron didn't. How many games LeBron played last year? If you had to guess. I'm going to guess he played about...

I'd be willing to guess it was more than 70 games. Closer to 80 than 70. I'll guess 75. LeBron played... Oh, he played in 70.

Okay. 71 the year before that. That's a lot of games. It is. I think load management, I think you're barely getting to 65 games.

Yeah, like, oh, got to sit out some back-to-backs on the road. Oh, yeah, that. That's not a, certainly wasn't a Kobe feature, and it definitely wasn't a Michael Jordan feature.

So Mike Tirico brought up load management with Michael. When the topic was brought up, Michael said, how did I know you were going to talk about this? Probably because every single one of these topics are vetted ahead of time, if I had to guess. And the reason Michael reacted that way is because Michael has thoughts on the concept of load management.

Well, it shouldn't be needed, first and foremost. You know, I never wanted to miss a game because it was an opportunity to prove. It was something that I felt like, you know, the fans are there to watch me play. I want to impress that guy. way up on top, who probably worked his ass off to get a ticket.

You have a duty that if they're wanting to see you, and as an entertainer, I want to show, right?

So if the guys are coming to watch me play, I don't want to miss that opportunity.

Now, physically, if I can't do it, then I can't do it. But physically, if I can do it, and I just don't feel like doing it, that's a whole different lens. Right.

The question for the NBA is, does perception meet reality? Because the perception that's out there is you have stars all over the place load managing and not playing when they otherwise could. I felt that was a very real thing a few years ago. I no longer feel it's that real because I feel the players have realized how wildly unpopular it is. The league has recognized how damaging it is.

look at tonight. Not because of load management, but you got a primetime game between Minnesota and the Lakers. Am I going to watch that game? No, because LeBron and Anthony Edwards aren't playing in it. That's how damaging not having your stars play.

So if they don't play because they're healthy, it's unacceptable. And there also is no evidence that this is a practice that works. Again, the thinking is This is the argument for load management. Players won't ever voice this because it's so wildly unpopular to attach your name to it, but this is what they say when the cameras and the microphones aren't on. as a concept load management.

Players believe their bodies can handle a finite number of games in their career. But there is a number. There's a number of games that they can play in in their career physically. And they feel if they take a few games off, take five to ten more games off than they otherwise would, during a season, then that's five to ten extra games that they add potentially to their career. And if you do that over ten seasons, then maybe you just added yourself one or two extra years to your career.

If you play 10 to 12 years, maybe you just added an extra contract. And how much do you get per contract, per year? Millions upon millions of dollars. That's the belief.

Now, the science doesn't exactly back that up, the sports science of that. But that is the argument. There's the latest insight into excellence from Michael Jordan on the broadcast last night. Do we think they just taped for two hours and now they're just cutting this up? Is he wearing the same thing?

I believe so. Look it up. See what Michael... Because I think that he might have... See what Tariqo and Michael were wearing last week when the...

We know it's the same room. Yes. But is he wearing the same stuff? Yeah, let me... And if he is, then this might have been taped.

They might tape once a month. Might be a little... All right, we'll use this over the next four weeks. And we'll tape with him once a month. Michael will welcome Mike Tirico to his lair.

And then talk to you for an hour. Once a month. We might do this. See, I thought Michael was going to show up to a studio. I thought Michael was going to be at some arenas.

Maybe when the playoffs get around. Maybe you'll start to see more of that, but I'll let you investigate that matter. Shifting things. Halloween is on our doorstep. Friday is the holiday.

And it's only fitting that this weekend happens to be the spookiest, no, most terrifying weekend of the season for ACC football. All four of the league's ranked teams are on the road this week. What could go wrong right before the first college football playoff ranking? You know, the rankings that matter. drops next week.

At noon, number 10 Miami is at SMU. At 3 o'clock, number 16 Louisville is at Lane Stadium facing Virginia Tech. 345, number 15 Virginia is at Cal. In prime time, Will Dalton in attendance, number 8 Georgia Tech is at NC State.

Now, there's no way all four of these teams are going to win.

Somebody's going to lose out of those four ranked teams this weekend. Maybe multiple of those teams. This is like watching the horror movie where you know that everybody in the house isn't going to make it.

So who gets stuffed in the closet first? Who's that going to be hanging upside down in the closet? We got to figure that out. Who do you have the most confidence in? Who do you have the least confidence in?

I'm most confident in Miami after seeing how SMU looked last week in Winston-Salem. Least confident in Virginia who three straight weeks fortunate to win? Washington three straight games fortunate to win. Needed two defensive touchdowns just to go to overtime with Louisville. Down 20-10 in the fourth quarter at home against Washington State needed overtime against North Carolina last weekend.

Not feeling all too great about the who's, my who's. We could see another top-tier college football job come open this weekend. Four weeks ago, it was, or three weekends ago, it was Penn State firing James Franklin. Two weekends ago, Florida firing Billy Napier. Last weekend, LSU firing Brian Kelly.

So who might it be this weekend? If Wake Forest wins at Florida State Saturday night, Mike Norvell isn't going to get a chance to coach against Clemson the following week. You can add them to the list. Florida State to national programs, programs that can win national championships, making changes already this cycle. And Wake has real reasons to feel optimistic.

They're 5-2. Should be 6-1, given the debacle at the end of Georgia Tech. FSU is 1-11 against ACC opponents the last two seasons. Wake Forest has won three of its last four against the Seminoles, including the last time they visited Doak Campbell. Plus, this weekend, if that's not enough for you, Duke and North Carolina have opportunities to spoil parties, Halloween parties, on home fields.

On Halloween night, it's Bill Belichick's best chance at an ACC win going to Syracuse, which has lost its last four games. Duke looks for its first win in Death Valley in 45 years. They have a really good shot. That line's around three, three and a half points.

So those games are certainly worth watching.

So when you add it up, Miami SMU, Louisville Virginia Tech, Virginia Cal, Georgia Tech NC State, Wake Forest Florida State, North Carolina Syracuse, Duke, Clemson. That's seven ACC games worth watching right before the start of college basketball on Monday and right before the first college football playoff rankings drop on Tuesday. After Freddie Freeman's walk-off win in the 18th inning, I was sitting inside Bank of America Stadium doing the show yesterday, and I said that the Dodgers had won the World Series. George Springer's hurt. when you have to pitch these long 18-inning games, they can be massively, massively impactful on the rest of a series, especially if you have to play the next day.

But then the Dodgers, without George Springer, put four runs up on Shohei Otani and then coasted to a win at Dodger Stadium, setting up Game 5 tonight. That's tied at two games apiece. to talk baseball with us. It's Darren Vought. We'll answer unusual questions in a bit.

You know him from ACC Baseball, etc. D1 Baseball, Lottery Boy, ECU Men's Basketball starting next week, and a ton of other stuff as well. Darren, what read do you have on the rest of the World Series because your boy doesn't have any clue at this point? Yeah, I had similar thoughts to you. on um what night was that monday night monday night that was monday night inning monday night tuesday morning right um which is why why i thought it was odd when at a certain point dave roberts the dodgers manager indicated that they would go to throwing a position player on the mound because i mean once you got to like a 15th inning in my mind whoever wins this game is probably winning the series like that's just the nature of it and how we see these these long marathon games go um because it can suck all the momentum out of a historic Blue Jays run to fight for 18 innings and ultimately lose right so last night It was a really, really good big-time bounce back for them.

That said, I'm just struck by they were saved in some ways by Vladdy Jr. And the Dodgers bats outside of Shohei have struggled I am struck by the we been here before aura that I get from the Dodgers including managerially I think John Schneider has been outmanaged in several occasions in this series, even in instances in which the Blue Jays win. And you might tell me that he can't be outmanaged in games that he wins. but there have just been some odd choices face running errors to and decisions to send runners which is not necessarily Schneider but I just think it's all going to add up it might go seven but I just I just think it's all going to add up and the experience is going to give the Dodgers just a the slightest advantage there's actually a baseball question on social media that we're going to begin unusual questions with right now.

So let's get to that. 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.

Shout out to this Lebitard Show fan account that posted this on X. if Shohei Otani hitting three home runs and striking out 10 in a win is the best baseball game ever isn't going 0 for 3 and giving up four runs in a loss the worst World Series game ever I'm going to argue against this partially because of semantics yes he had four earned runs charged to his line. He pitched into the seventh inning, which he had not done all year. And when he exited, it was a very manageable situation, albeit with a base runner. He only allowed like four hits, didn't he?

One of them was the Vlad Guerrero two-run over. There weren't many mistakes other than, and I don't even know that you can call it that big of a mistake. It's just Vlad Jr. being one of the greatest hitters on the planet um when Shohei left it was a two to one game and again it was a manageable situation he left base entered four hits going into the inning allowed two hits to start the inning he finished six hits allowed four runs earned the two earned runs were scored with banda coming in with runners at second and third he I know I know the question is intentionally lacking context. He reached base nine times in the game before.

I think that actually speaks to the point. I mean, if you're going to say, oh, that's the two-way nature that makes it so much better than everything else we've seen in the past, then when you play badly, then it has to be viewed in the lens that you're extra worse. You're extra impactful on a negative in too if you want to be seen as extra impactful offense in a positive sense you're extra impactful in a negative sense too conceptually i am with that you cannot it's not a bad performance when you get into the seventh inning i'm with you theory i'm it's not necessarily a bad performance going oh for three with a walk it's just not a great day at the plate like it's different if he goes 0 for 5 with 5 strikeouts and he doesn't get out of the first inning because he gives up 6 runs. You know what I mean? There's a big difference and there's a lot in between that would constitute, okay, worst singular day in baseball history.

I just thought it qualified as a fun, unusual question to get us started here. Because I know WD's question has to be something Halloween, trick-or-treat candy related, I'm going to go in a different direction, but it is still food-related, kinda. Your boy, without getting into details, that's the second time I've said your boy this segment. This isn't good. I don't like that.

I don't know. I don't like it either. Is it BDOT? Our boy? I don't know.

Well, BDOT's not here today. He was there yesterday. We did hang out at the soccer game last night. That was fun. I'm good with it.

You're our boy. It's true. Yeah, just twice in one segment seems to be a little bit much. Anyway, your boy was not feeling tip-top earlier this week. Don't need to get into the details of it.

But in situations where you might not feel 100%, what's on the menu? What are you grabbing to make yourself feel right? What's the elixir that you're seeking out if you're walking into, in my instance, the North Point Food Lion down the street from this here radio station? I'm not going to pry, but it does depend on the version of not well that you're feeling. I vomited.

Yeah, okay. I don't know, man. I'm a terrible person to ask about this. For me, I got some Ritz crackers. There you go.

I got a big Powerade. A big Powerade. And I also had a couple water bottles too. But if I'm also not feeling right, but it's, you know, I wouldn't mind a burger, some comfort food. I don't know about that one.

That's the poor choice. That's a little heavy. I didn't do that yesterday. that's a little heavy because i had the ritz crackers i think you start with a gallon or so of pedialyte and you go from there if you're if you're up for you know some soup or something like try to keep that down i think that i don't believe in it i think that's the typical i don't believe in soup you don't believe in soup i don't believe in it. How do you not believe in soup?

There's the title. There's the podcast title for today. Like in what context? Like you don't think it's a real thing? I think it's a waste of time.

It's not.

Okay. Oh, you just offended a lot of people. It's too much. Panera bread. Shout out.

It's not enough to be a main dish. It's too much for a side. It's too much to do as a side. I don't believe in it. Not a soup guy.

Just eat the soup. quit belly aching about soup I don't believe in it I like soup but see like I think if your stomach's upset and you need to eat something I'll eat something I believe in I don't believe in soup no but see like you need something that's substantive enough Ritz crackers saltines alright alright You can have it What's your unusual question Will Okay So we've had some rain See you underestimated me It has nothing to do with Halloween It has nothing to do with food today What's the weather Yes so we've had We've had some rain around here lately I love that he's proud of himself I am So I'm going to go all Forrest Gump here And ask if you have to, if you can pick what type of rain you're gonna be stuck out in Well, that's not forest. That's Bubba. But the movie.

Okay. Which are you gonna choose? Because, like, you could argue, one might be like, oh, just a little sprinkle, but some might say that's just a little spitting, that's a little more annoying than like a heavy pour.

So what are you going with? Nobody's going heavy pour. Maybe not a heavy pour, but just like a steady rain, as opposed to the I don't think there's a sane human on the planet who would say, if I'm getting stuck, which is by nature bad, and something that you don't want, right? That's in the preface of the question. This is an awful question.

No, it's not. I want less rain. Less rain. Even like the annoying little spitting rain. Versus what?

Maybe just like a steady rain. Just steady. That's not annoying? I don't know. It's an awful question.

It's unusual, is it not? I want less rain. A lot of people don't like the annoying spitting rain. Shout out to Blind Melon. I want no rain.

Forrest Gump. It's becoming less and less unusual that Will has a terrible question. It really is awful. I... just awful.

You do know that that is our favorite quote from the movie Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump. It is the activists after Forrest gets done speaking, not knowing that the mics were pulled during his entire speech. That's all I got to say. You said it all, brother.

About that. Forrest Gump. Forrest Gump. It's our favorite quote from that. What is your unusual question, Darren?

Good luck topping that. Yeah.

So this is similarly to the first thing we addressed. This is a social media question that I saw, which is great. Like, I kind of miss Twitter when a random question would be posed and there would be this giant collective conversation around it.

So I saw this and it... Yeah, the best example of that from a sports perspective was the day that everybody debated, if you had to score a basket on Kevin Durant to escape a room, do you die in that room? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, right? Like, it's our version of the 100 men and a gorilla thing, right? Like, it's our version of that.

So I saw it posed on Twitter. Do you remember who won the Heisman Trophy your freshman year of college? And you start to look at the replies and the quote tweets, and it's, A, you see a lot of, like, Lamar Jackson, and you start to feel old. But then I got to wondering, and I was like, well, I think it's this person, but I'm going to Google it just in case.

Well, I'm not going to Google. Just tell me the year, and I'll tell you who it is. Same thing for Will Dalton. Don't Google. We'll do this together.

Will, don't Google. Did you already Google? Turn your mic on. I haven't found what I was looking for yet. You turn your mic on when you talk to me.

But I think I know who it is.

Okay. What year is it for you guys?

so I I started college in the fall of 2008 I was 2011 I'm 32 years old had to think about that yeah so I swore I saw the tweet and was like oh yeah Mark Ingram that was 2009 yeah I went back I think it was Sam Bradford who won in 08 that's correct I googled and it was like man I haven't thought about Sam Bradford in a long time. Yeah, because he beat Tebow in the title game. Tebow won in 07, I think. What year for you, WD? 2014.

Was that Marcus Mariota? No, Mariota would have been 2015, I think. No, no, no, no. I think you're right. Yeah.

I think you're right. Did he win the Heisman? Yeah, Derrick Henry won 2015. 2014 was Marcus Mariota. That's right.

So he did win the Heisman? Yeah.

Okay. Double check me, but I'm pretty sure because Jameis Winston won it in 2013. Manziel was 12. Do you have the Heisman list up? Because my freshman year was 2011.

I'm pretty sure that was the RG3 year. I think RG3 won in 2011.

So Mariota was 14. 2011, I think, was RG3. Was RG3. Yeah, cool. See, this is just how...

You're now learning how my brain works where it's... No, it fascinates me because it was in that moment that I realized some people just have it where they can categorize it in their head like a Wikipedia. I'm one of those. I was basing it off of remembered experiences, watching Alabama with friends that I associate with that first fall that I was in college. and apparently I was just doing that my sophomore year too, obviously, but those were the memories that I was associating with that.

So I just lined it up in my brain in different ways, but no, mad respect.

Some people just haven't like that. That's been unusual questions for today.

So let me try to think of the best measured way to ask a question about Durham Bulls legend and Baltimore Orioles manager Craig Albernaz, who was hired this week and his thick Boston accent from Fall River. Fall River. Boston. How many World Series over under one and a half, Craig Albernaz with the Orioles? I'll go under, but I think he gets one.

He gets one. He gets you one. That would be so amazing, man. Can you imagine how obnoxious this show would be if the Orioles were in the World Series doing what the Blue Jays are doing? Can you imagine what the show would be like?

This show would be unlistenable for some people. It's like, it is football season. I just wouldn't care. I just wouldn't care. The people who would listen to this show since the beginning would understand.

They'd be like, let them have this. Let them have this moment. I would offer to help. There'd be Orioles guests on this show every day. Every day.

That's what I'm saying.

Like, Adam Jones, bring him in. Ryan Ripken, come on down. Brian Ripken, Billy Ripken all the Ripken every one of them give me all the Ripken if your last name's Ripken I want on you're here we're gonna figure it out no Jeff Arnold you're a regular back here in Winston-Salem brother voice of the Orioles it would be over for like two to three weeks brother I just hope it happens in my lifetime it'd be amazing can't even imagine we talked about a lot of spooky negative vibes during the show today this has lifted my spirits just the thought of that just the thought of hosting a show while the Orioles were in the World Series for what it's worth on Albernaz you mentioned his history with the Durham Bulls he is now the only manager in major league history to hit a home run off of the hit bull win stake sign so i posted that video and the durham bulls folks ripped my video and gave me no credit just gonna put that out there they have great social media folks they know what they did they know what they did darren you know creditor did they do the thing where your your name shows up underneath the video but they didn't specifically put it in the caption yes see that's fair game for me Darren Vaught you enjoy the rest of the World Series and the start of college basketball we'll talk to you next week sounds good see you guys