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Let's get on the show. The drive starts now on WSJS. Welcome into a Thursday drive right here on WSJS News Talk Sports. For the triad I'm Will Dalton, also known as the WD. Rocking with you.

on a Thursday. Good to have you in wherever you're listening from. Whoever you're watching, YouTube and X, you got options there. We appreciate that. We really do.

The Canes, the Carolina Hurricanes. They know yeah! Yeah So it's Cam Scataboo up at Giants Minicamp said the other week when he walked by a camera. Whoa! That's it.

No other words needed. And that's how I feel. Because the Carolina Hurricanes, they have their round two opponent. They know who they're going to be dismantling in the next round. It's the Philadelphia Flyers.

We'll get to that matchup here in just a little bit. Darren Vought. of ESPN. D1 baseball. Going to join us later this hour.

Bye. What? We got to start with some college basketball breaking news today. Because Duke John Shire? Nina King?

The whole gang over there? They just continue to play 4D chess. When it comes to Innovative moves in college basketball and in college sports in general.

So We've seen Streaming? Start to take over professional sports. NBA, major leagues, NFL. I mean, we're getting NFL games on Netflix now. A lot of these NBA playoff games, they're on Prime.

And it's starting to, you know, what do we say? What does Coach K say? They stick it with the Duke theme here. College is pro sports now.

Well. That continues to be the case here because Amazon Is starting to get its mitts on the college game because Duke has announced a multi-year partnership. With Amazon Prime. Which is going to give Amazon exclusive access to multiple Duke basketball games each season. This year being.

November 25th. When Duke faces UConn in Las Vegas, we learned about that matchup yesterday. We didn't know the Amazon detail of it until today, but that's going to be one of the prime games then, December 21st. Michigan. At MSG, can you say cinema?

Can you say it? And then February 20th against Gonzaga in Detroit.

So It's a nice lineup of games there, and they're all going to be exclusively on Amazon Prime.

So Oh, and to go a little bit further into the details It's going to be Um It's going to include a very extensive NIL. Uh multiple NIL opportunities. It's part of a broader retail partnership between these two parties. That's going to be announced at a later time per Jeff Borzello. Um As if Duke needed more NIL opportunities, you know what I mean?

But that's the point here. Like that's the point of all this. Is they continue to be the first ones. They continue to push the boundaries of this. new era of college sports a little bit.

They, you know, they were the first college basketball program, program. To Hire a GM. Rachel Baker, the former Nike and NBA executive. That's her. You probably see her on the sidelines or close to the bench where she's seated there at Cameron Indoor Stadium in a lot of these games.

That's her. And Amazon, see the other piece of this, there's a lot of layers. There's a lot of tentacles to this. Amazon has a very global audience, as we know. One of the biggest Brands and companies in the world.

We love getting our stuff in two days. One day, even. It's great. We love that. But with that international reach.

This is where recruitment. comes into the mix. Because as more and more international players start to come in, To college basketball. You know? Like we saw Carolina do it.

earlier this week. Picking up a big man. And now. Speak of the devil, no pun intended. Absolutely no pun intended there.

Did not plan that. Uh this comes on On a day where Duke gets a commitment. From Joachim Buntebunte.

Now that's a fun name to say three times. No, I won't. No, I won't. And guess where he's from? FC Barcelona.

But These FC Barcelona guys are finding their way into college basketball, finding their way into the ACC. You got Kaida coming to UNC, and now Bunte Bunte. I love saying that. I just want to keep saying it. I like this.

Um Yeah. This dude just turned 17 years old. He's really young. And because he's just turned 17 years old, He's going to have to play two years for the Blue Devils. in order to do before he can enter the NBA draft.

So Which actually kind of works out because he's going to be a bit of a. Developmental piece. Like, he's going to be good, but he's going to be a developmental piece nonetheless. And. He's 6'11.

He's got one of the higher Ceiling prospects. in the 2026 recruiting class, if he were a part of that class. He's the son of former Joint Georgetown Hoyas. Uh legend. Reuben Bunte Bunte.

Are you familiar with these names, Morgan? I do not know any of these names, but Bunte Bunte. Great name.

Sounds amazing. Does. And you know how important the big man is just for being a Michigan fan. It's a very critical piece in this modern basketball where teams tried to get small. And that worked for a little while, but the second a team got size like a Michigan or a Yukon.

It it kinda seemed like other teams couldn't really keep up with that. Yeah. Duke, though, right out there in front. And even though he's going to take some time to develop, He can end up being really, really good. Uh John Shire, he's building a monster again.

AGAIN! In a way that I'm not sure that Duke fans necessarily thought he would.

Now, a lot of this is because of what they got coming back, and then you marry that with the things that they. Got in the portal, the recruiting class coming in. Like, I mean, listen to this. And here and but before I do that They don't have a Cooper flag. They don't have a Cameron Boozer.

They don't have that level of star on this team. But what they have is an obnoxious amount of really good depth. And depth of really good players. Like you got John Blackwell, the transfer coming in. Caden Boozer is going to be back.

He's seasoned now. He's got that horrible moment against Yukon under his belt. He's going to learn from all of that. He was. He was a big reason why Duke made the run that they did.

in the ACC tournament and beyond. Dame Sara returns. Caleb Foster returns. Cam Williams coming into this class. Pat Gamba returns.

Rippy. And now Boonte Boonte. That's a loaded team, and I can hear everybody that's not a Duke fan now. Yeah, but how many national titles do they have with all these players they get every year? Valid, but nonetheless, they continue to build this stuff up.

year after year after year. That is undeniable. Duke, they just created yet another You know, first move, a measuring stick. Move, if you will, with this Amazon deal. And You should probably expect other big name college brands to follow this model as well eventually down the road.

336-777-1600. That's the number to call. If you have a reaction to Duke signing, by the way, I didn't even get to this piece of it. This. gets a lot of people upset.

Like the streaming aspect of this, it's like, oh, now I gotta have another subscription to watch my game. I don't have Peacock. I don't have Amazon Prime. That's true, I don't have peacock. I don't.

I love the office and everything, but like I'm I don't have peacock.

So, if you have a reaction to this, if this bothers you actually, that these games, really big non-con games, are going to be on Amazon Prime, I want to hear that reaction as well. Morgan Corson is the executive producer of the show. What do you think about this? Do you have Amazon Prime? Yeah, I do for NASCAR.

Now, you were telling me earlier you got a ton of subscriptions for just NASCAR alone. Yeah, for NASCAR alone, not only do you it's on Fox FS1, it's also on Peacock USA. N B C TNT True T V H B O Max Yeah. See, that's nine. If I want to watch just the Cup series, if I want to watch the Truck series, I need FS2 as well.

If I want to watch O'Reilly, I need to go ahead and get. I think it's now it's ESPN Plus. Or no, Unlimited, sorry. Oh, yeah, that's is it not Plus anymore? No, it's now Unlimited.

So there's so many of them. There's ESPN Plus, and then there's ESPN Unlimited.

So I have to get ESPN Unlimited. All right. And then. For the Arca series, if you want to go even deeper, you have to buy Flow Racing.

So that's about $300 a year or a month. If you do all that, I do not do all that, but what happened to the good old days where it just came on Fox? It's gone. Money. Like, come on, just put it on Fox, give us the boogity, boogity, boogity, and let's go racing.

Let's just call it a day. Are the Lakers in trouble? Is that uh are they are they is Le is LeBron, is he in trouble? I think he might be. Ha ha!

So the Lakers last night, for the first time in 18 years, LeBron did not close out a series on Home Floor.

Now They could still do that in game seven, but they could have done they had that opportunity last night, and they did not take advantage of it at all. Um It was Austin Reeves' first game back. And so going into that, you might have thought. Oh, great. This is a done deal, right?

I mean, they've already looked pretty great for the most part without him. You get him back in there and We're on to the next round, right? You'd be wrong about that.

So This would be an epic collapse. If the Lakers blew this 3-0 lead to Houston, no team's ever. blown a 3-0 lead like this in the playoffs. And It would give a lot of fodder. A lot of fodder to the LeBron haters out there, to the MJ's the GOAT crowd out there.

Even though LeBron's been the best player for the Lakers, he's averaging 22 points per game on 44% shooting. Again, like I said yesterday, they're in this position because of LeBron. You know what I mean? It's like, but you know how this goes when you're LeBron or when you're Tom Brady or when you're Cam Newton or like one of these, whether it's the most elite athletes or the most polarizing, because Cam Newton, obviously, that one year he was the best, but in the grand scheme of things, it's really, he's just a really polarizing figure.

So but those guys are fodder for people who Talk into these things. Um Kenny the Jet. Did have thoughts on Austin Reeves? Because again, He came back. He scored 22 points, but the problem was Is that The majority of that came from free throws.

He shot four of 16 from the field, two of eight from three, 12 of 13 from free throws.

So over half of those were free throws. Um and it really messed with Luke Kennard too, it seems, in terms of the chemistry. He still started the game. Al Sarivas came off the bench. Luke Kennard had.

One point. Juan. 0 of 4 from the field, 0 of 2 from 3. 31 minutes played. Yikes.

Here's Kenny the Jet. on Austin Reeves. The Lakers will hope that Austin Reeves has the Joel and Beat effect, meaning on his second game back, he has more rhythm, he understands the continuity of it and plays at a higher level in terms of proficiency, not go four for 16.

So, if you want to look back on something, like if you're Jay Davis. in our YouTube comments, and you're a Laker fan. Maybe this will help you give you some solace because He had an injury in February, Austin Reeves. In his first game back at Brooklyn, he scored 15 points, 33% shooting, one of five. From three on 21 minutes, he played 34 minutes last night.

Then the next game after that against Philly, he dropped 35 on 70% shooting. Five of eight from three.

So maybe he just needs a game to get situated. Maybe. But this does reek of going to Game 7.

Something about it. For one, the Lakers, they look They looked tired last night. You know, LeBron is because that is, as Charles Barkley was pointing out last night on Inside the NBA. He has looked great for 41 years old, but As the playoff series goes longer, That's where that age starts to catch up with you a little bit. And in spite of that, still dropped 25, just saying.

They did have a couple of turnovers late. That Kind of helped in the process of them losing, but nonetheless, he was keeping them in it. Defensively, the Lakers. Need to stop doubling Shingoon, in my opinion. Because Just let him get his, like he's going to, anyway.

He had 14 last night, but if you let him get hit, like he had a game in this series, I think, where he dropped 33 and the Lakers still won, because when you. Double him, it spreads the floor open for the rest of the Rockets.

So maybe you just kind of let him get his, whatever that is, and then take care of everybody else if you're the Lakers defensively. We already know Kevin Durant's out for game six of this.

So The Lakers, they might be in a little trouble. Just a bit. But I actually think they'll end up pulling it out in the end. In game seven? In LA.

I bet that's scary for Laker fans. Could you imagine the discourse on LeBron if they blow it? Whew. Even if it's not his fault, it doesn't matter. Just the way it is when you're LeBron.

Turning your ride home into appointment listening. Welcome to the drive. I want to get to some Carolina Panthers stuff. But I gotta get to the phones first because that's more important, especially when David Clemens calls in. Dave, go right ahead.

What's up, WD? First off, wanted to give a shout out to Miss Beth and Greensboro. Happy birthday to that lady. We met her one time at one of these WSJA events, and ma'am, she was such a nice person.

So, just wanted to tell her happy birthday. And on the Duke thing, real quick, man, y'all hit the hammer on the head with not just them, but everyone going to different streaming apps and everything like that.

So, I have officially today, because of this, I'm going to build me a TV quad box.

So, like, on the TV screen, you know, like my YouTube TV gives me a quad box option, but it doesn't include Amazon Prime. It just gives me like YouTube TV content, right? But what I'm going to do in my man cave WD, I'm going to put me four TV screens together, and I'm going to build me a quad box.

So, one TV in the upper left-hand corner, I can have me some Duke basketball on Amazon Prime, and on my upper right-hand TV, I can have Me the 1996 Royal Rumble. And in the bottom left-hand corner, I can have just a regular YouTube TV game, whatever that may be. In the bottom right, I can have my Hornets on FanDuel Sports TV, whatever they're going to be with next year, because they actually are breaching that contract and they're going with somebody else. But I think that's the day and age we're getting at right now, WD, is to watch all these games without having to log out of one app and into the next. And it's not just hit one back button anymore.

I'm literally going to have to have four TVs that are logged into separate accounts. And I think that's how I'm going to start watching my sports and my wrestling going forward. What do you think about something like that? I think I'd like to be invited. That's what I think.

That sounds like a great setup, Dave. See, I want to get the quad bucks too. I don't have one. I didn't get one. Might might need you to show me how you do that, 'cause I got my own man cave, so.

An LED wall. Like, have you seen the LED ones? Yeah. Like the panels? Like, for the concerts, you can get little ones and make a wall out of it.

Interesting. Might have to get a little construction project going here. Uh Let's talk some Panthers real quick. Our guy, uh, Josh Graham. Who's now on Westwood One Sports Night?

Can hear that weekday, night, mornings, 11 p.m. to 3 a.m.

So it's night transitions to morning, obviously. And tonight, he's got an exclusive interview with Dan Morgan, Panthers GM, that's going to run. But we've actually got some of the goods here for you now. Get you a sneak peek, early access.

So It's pretty clear. That Dan Morgan. Um believes that Bryce Young has everything he needs to Succeed? If he's going to succeed, And if he's gonna. You know.

Prove the Panthers right in believing in him, taking him number one overall. Even though that was a different GM, of course, Dan Morgan was still there in the building. Still David Tepper we're talking about here that helped make that pick. and prove them right and ultimately Hoping to give him a A contract extension at the end of the year. He's got everything in place that he needs.

Here was Dan Morgan on giving Bryce Young that fifth year option officially yesterday. I think the, you know, his days are really bright and ahead. Um he has all the tools. He has you know He can extend plays, he can create with those legs. He's got the arm.

He's got weapons around him now, and he's got an offensive line that I think is pretty good. He does have all of that. Good weapons. I'm excited to see what Chris Brazil does out of Tennessee. Maybe he ends up being that third guy.

Maybe it's Xavier Legette. Maybe it's John Mechie. I don't know. But He's got the weapons. He does.

And To take the conversation a little bit further, Sam Darnold is a prime example of somebody who was written off in a major way. Rightfully so at the time. He was seeing ghosts, remember? And ironically enough, he came through Carolina for some years. And Eventually, He was a backup.

But the Niners. And he resurrected his starting career in Minnesota. and then went to the Seahawks, and now he's a Super Bowl champion. And by the way, he's only twenty eight years old. Bryce just turned twenty-five.

And You know, this is a story. Could we see another story? I'm not saying Bryce is going to win a Super Bowl necessarily. I'm just saying, could this be another success story where somebody was written off, benched week two, a couple of years ago, comes back and resurrects their career? in a good way.

Here was Dan Morgan on Kind of the Perception. Or misperception, even that some people think you just come into the NFL, you're a great college talent like Sam Darnold was at USC, like Bryce was at Alabama, and you're just going to light it up immediately in the NFL. Here was Dan Morgan on that concept. You know, I think a lot of times with these young guys, you know, everybody's so impatient, you know, including with our guy. Um, you know, I think sometimes these guys, they just, you know, they're coming from college and you.

You know, they're looking off cards instead of having to regurgitate long huddle calls.

So there's a lot of things that you have to develop and You know, you gotta work through and you have to learn on the run. And I think, you know, in today's society, everybody's just. They want instant gratification. They want somebody to come in and just light it up right away. And in the NFL, that's really not the reality.

No, it's not. Usually it's not. And these offseason moves that they've made drafting another tackle in Monroe Freeland to help keep A clean pocket for Bryce, keep him upright as much as possible. They're clearly investing in him. They want him to be the guy.

He's just got to go out there this year and answer those questions, which I believe, and clearly Dan Morgan believes he has all he needs. To do that. If that made you mad, good. Paul Will Dalton. Man, you can't touch me.

You're on the drive, the triad's longest-running live sports talk show. Back at it on a Thursday drive. We are now joined by one of our favorites, Darren Vought. ESPN, D1 Baseball, The Lottery. Everything.

Darren, welcome. Hey, good to see you. That's quite the introduction.

Well, I mean, it's, I guess it's by word, it was normally what you do say. It was just it came with a little more chutzpah this time around.

So I liked that. I enjoyed that. I mean, listen, I learned from the best. David Glenn gives intros to people, you know, this better than anybody.

So learn from the best. Good. Uh you've got a pretty good game. that you're going to be calling on ACC Network Saturday. It is ranked Boston College going up against Clemson.

Boston College ranked number 20 in the D1 baseball rankings. What's an interesting nugget about this matchup?

Well, I mean, for Clemson, this is a... Very rich history, especially in recent years. They've been sort of on the cusp and looking to break through and get back to Omaha. It is still a good Clemson team, but they, oddly enough, are currently last. in the ACC Regular season standings, which is uncharted territory, really, for them.

For Boston College, they are firmly in third in the conference. It has been a pleasantly surprising year for BC. They actually were picked to finish. 16th of 16 in the preseason coaches poll. And now they're playing with the last few weeks of the season for potentially a conference regular season championship.

Potentially for a hosting bid as one of the top 16 seeds in the country. There's a lot going on here. And yeah, it'll be interesting. A phenomenal pitching matchup with Michael Sharman of. Clemson on the mound for the home team, the Tigers, and then Brady Miller for Boston College, who's had a tremendous year.

Should be fun. Can't wait to hear you on the call for this. 1 o'clock on Saturday on ACC Network. Getting to the MLB very quickly though. We've got some really bad situations in Major League Baseball.

Red Sox, Phillies, Mets. We got options here. Red Sox practically fired their entire coaching staff. Phillies fire Rob Thompson, who actually has a really good overall record. As a manager, took him to a World Series a few years ago.

Now you got the Mets that just have not been able to figure it out. Who do you think is the worst situation of those three? Yeah. Um God, it's a good question. No, it's a good question.

I'm going to disqualify the Mets. All right. Because they have not yet moved on from their manager. And I understand that maybe there's an argument that they are the biggest dumpster fire because of that. I don't think that's the case.

Carlos Mendoza is not the reason that they are as bad as they've been. And they also, I mean, look, they've got. They've got some pieces to build around. Such as one of the best players on planet Earth, and Juan Soto. Um, So anyways, the Mets are not the worst.

The Phillies have at least more of an identity in their front office with Dave Dombrowski. They do have this core that they have decided to roll with it, this core of older players. Um It feels like you If you're a Philly fan, you can better justify. the dumpster fire that you are because you kind of chose to. Go down this path.

And there was some risk and reward associated with it. And again, they have the kind of team, the kind of players that I'm not writing them off this season. Especially with Don Mattingly stepping in as the. The interim. As the interim manager, like they got a chance this season.

I mean, it's early. It's very early. I think you got to say it's the Red Sox just because there's no cohesion at all. And the front office is taking the brunt of it. It feels like Alex Corr and his coaching staff were the ones that got punished for.

For the The misgivings of others in this scenario. There's also like a disaster of a PR mess. For the Red Sox, too, because You have your very own players coming out and publicly speaking against the decision to move on from Cora and the coaches. Like Trevor Story was, he made no bones about it. The other thing is.

You basically fired, and again, they put it in the release as reassigned within the organization for Jason Veritech. But basically, you just fired a franchise legend from a coaching. From a coaching job. And granted, I know a lot of people were a bit misled in that, oh, they thought maybe Veritech would. potentially be a future manager of Of the Red Sox.

I mean, he didn't even get an interview their last couple of searches.

So I don't think that's as much an ordeal. But you got, I mean, again, you put some fluffy wording around it, but you fired Jason Veritech, and people aren't too pleased with that in Boston.

So, like, there's just a lot going on. It's a young core that sure. the right people. And circumstances, you can figure it out. But um Yeah, like it's messy, really messy.

Yeah, the epitome of dysfunction is what Ken Rosenthal called it. Darren Vought with us here of ESPN.

Now, Let's get to out of left field. There you go. From minds that wander off a beaten path. Here we go. Unexpected, unscripted, unbelievable.

I like it. Simple to the point. It's the curveball of your day. Bring the bare necessities of life. Out of left field with Darren Vought.

I'm gonna let my producer go first today, because he actually had a pretty good question. Morgan let her rip. I love pizza. I know I've been sticking with the food ones, but I'm a big little Caesars fan. I've taught it well, Darren.

Okay. No, I second that. I second the pizza generally. How do you feel about pineapple on pizza? Hate it.

Okay. Will, did you call this a good one? Yes, I did. Can you see why? It's food related.

This is my apprentice here. It's fine. It's not how I would choose to eat a pizza if it's there and it's the only option. I'm gonna eat it. I'll enjoy it.

I love pineapple. Um. I don't think it needs pizza. I don't think pizza needs it.

So. But but I'm not like, you know, I'm not gonna hot take you into oblivion if if That's your choice for pizza. I just don't think it's worth it.

Some issues, some matters. are of a bit more Severity, they're a bit more dense and they require our energy more than. worrying about what other people are eating. I second that, but I, again, I hate pineapple and pizza. I just, I can't do it.

I love it. I'm glad you do. This guy loves some pizza. He really does. Listen, I love pizza.

Same? Love pizza. Just not pineapple on it. But I just, I'm rarely, if ever, going to order it with pineapple on it. I s I feel you on that one.

Uh, so with the news today that Duke is going to be playing three games on Prime. It got me thinking. Which streaming service, like of the Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Prime? Who do you believe has consistently The best overall catalog. Like when you just want to pop on and watch.

A show or a movie, you don't even know what you wanna watch, you just wanna find something. Who do you find of those services always has something good for you? I don't. So this is an interesting change in the the in like consumer dumb. of recent years, it used to be that you would just like Surf.

on Hulu or Netflix or whatever. To see what was on there. And occasionally, yes, I'll do that on like a Netflix to see: okay, hey, what movies are on here now? But I don't I don't really do that And again, as these things have fleshed out over the years, If I'm pulling up an app, more often than not, it is with A specific thought in mind: I want to watch this.

So It's good. I think the way you packaged that question would require like surfing to frequently be a thing. And I just don't do that.

Now, like, I do like the offerings of Apple TV Plus because I've talked about shrinking on this show. They just did their finale. It's confirmed for another season. It's very good. Ted Lasso is coming back in a couple of months.

So, I do like Apple TV Plus, but then at the same time, Netflix has plenty that I've liked over the years too.

So, yeah, I don't know. I don't think I have a good answer to this. I tend to be an HBO guy. Hello, Game of Thrones. Uh the White Lotus.

The Last of Us. The Sopranos. I mean, to me, just I don't know, and horror movies. They always have good horror movies. Hold on, I know the others there have the in the title, but is it the white lotus or is it just white lotus?

I think it's the I think it's actually just white lotus. I think I just got on a wrong. It sounded matter. And it sounded weird, but you obviously wouldn't call the sopranos just sopranos or whatever.

So I just wanted to make sure.

Okay. All right. So just white lotus. How would you answer that very quickly? Just peacock.

Peacock? Yeah. Okay. Any particular reason why? I feel like they got a good variety of live sports and comedies.

I'm a big comedy guy, so a good amount of comedies. Do you love the office? Do they're just talking about comedy sitcoms, Morgan? Yeah, comedy sitcoms, yeah.

Okay, when I first heard it, I was like, wait, does Peacock carry a bunch of comedy specials? Because that's kind of a Netflix thing. too. Or I mean, I guess Hulu has them as well. Um So comedy specials, maybe that's maybe that.

Okay. I feel like comedy specials is a Netflix thing. Yeah, maybe that needs to be Netflix a little bit. Maybe. I don't know.

It just depends. Depends what you're in the mood for.

So they're plentiful. What do you have out of left field very quickly, Darren Vought? I um So my brother's girlfriend has been playing Pocopia? Are you guys familiar with that game? It's like the Animal Crossing Minecraft, but it's got a.

Pokemon spin on it. Ooh, that sounds interesting. You just like live with all these Pokémon in your neighborhood as part of the game. And it's just got me thinking about Pokémon more than usual. And I'm an original 151 kind of guy, like first gen is the one that I'm about.

I don't even know that you are aware of many. No, no, no. Would you have a favorite Pokémon? The other thing is, there were recently MLB social media videos where they asked MLB players who their favorite Pokémon was. And some of them were super basic, but you could tell the guys who knew knew.

Charzard?

Okay, fair. Is that can I say that? Is PGP? That is one that... I think multiple MLB players in those videos have said Morgan.

What do you have? I like Dragonite and Doug Trio.

Okay, see Morgan nose ball. Morgan noseball. Dragonites. Dragonites goaded. Um I'm a big Snorlax fan.

I like Psyduck. Wow. I'm a nerd and I have no idea what's happening here. People sleep on the street. You got your own little corner of nerddom.

Star Wars. I'll have mine. It's fine. Darren Vought, that's been Atta Left Field. I know you got to run.

I know you got places to be. Appreciate you taking a little time for us as always, and we'll catch you next time. All right. Sounds good. Appreciate you guys.

There he goes. Darren Vought, ESPN, D1 Baseball. Uh Your one-stop shop for sports talk. Sports. Because somebody has to say what you're thinking.

Now, back to the drive. Right. It's the things you didn't know You needed to know Morgan compiles a list. And we bring it to you now. Things you want to know, you should know, but you don't know.

Right, what? What? Oh my. The game within the game. What do you mean by that?

Let me give you an example. Time for stuff you didn't know, you needed to know. Really? We got a good list here today. Um John Stockton.

Would still be the all-time assist leader. Even if he didn't play the last six seasons of his career, he has 15,806 assists. In second place is Chris Paul the GOAT with 12,552. Jeez, like imagine you're just that good that you don't even need to play. Like the record set is what it is.

Michael Jordan's entire career with the Chicago Bulls. Jordan only scored single digits one time. After he was coming off of a broken foot. Playing only 16 minutes.

So not even the flu game. Nope. Sticking with the NBA here, James Crawford holds the record for the most games played without fouling out in NBA history. 1327 games without fouling out.

So it is. I'd like to know some of the defensive numbers for him though. The blades in figure skating. were originally made out of animal bones. The skates?

You said the skates? Like the blades were originally animal bones instead of metal. Huh. I wonder when they switched to metal. That's a good question.

Yeah, I guess that's for next week's edition. A microwaved baseball. Will fly further than a frozen one due to increased elasticity. and reduced drag on the ball itself. Has somebody put a baseball in a microwave?

Yeah, this has 100% been done. I feel like Mythbusters might have done an episode on this. That seems right up their alley. I mean, that makes sense because... As a former baseball player, I can tell you.

Hitting in the cold. is not Much fun, quite frankly, it's just not. But when you get some nice warm weather, Man, that ball flies so much better. I mean that's just physics. And last but certainly not least, Baseball umpires are required by the rule book.

to wear black underwear. just in case they split their pants. Do we have like a. How many times has that occurred? Like at the professional level, do we know that?

It's terrific. Uh so my friend. One of my good friends, uh, his dad. Runs like an officiating company where they send officials out to different sporting events. I'd like to ask him if this is true.

It's like, do you have, like, are you mandated to wear black underwear all the time because of this?

So there's no specific rule, like, record number of people that have done it, but there's a notable incident where in 1999 at Shea Stadium, of course, an umpire Bo Ferroaming split his pants. Good for him. Oh, sorry, Bruce. We couldn't even get his name right. Plus he split his pants.

Sorry, Bruce. Mm. Mm-hmm. That's how we feel about that. That's been uh Things you didn't know.

You needed to know.

So I took a deep dive here. Because I'm sure all the... The MJ's the GOAT crowd wanted to know. how many single-digit games LeBron James has had. Can I take a guess?

Sure. Four. Nine. He scored single digits. In just nine regular season games across his 20 over 22-year career.

Now, To be clear, The bulk of those came In 03, his rookie year. There were a few his second year. Uh he had eight points. against the Bucs in 2007. He did not do it again until he scored eight points this past December against Toronto.

He had a streak of one thousand two hundred and ninety seven games. where he had scored double digit points.

So yeah, see, told you MJ was the goat. Yeah. Like, shut up. Shut up. By the way, very quickly on the way out It's your opportunity to win some tickets.

Wake Forest Louisville going to be playing out at the couch. Here pretty soon, was it this weekend, right? This weekend, out at the couch. Tomorrow. Tomorrow.

If you would like to go to the couch. 336-777-1600 is the number to call. We got a pair of tickets with your name on it. Also courtesy of Pancho Villa. Mexican restaurant?

Also got seafood as well. They are terrific. Poncho Via, shout out to them. Present these tickets to you: 336-777-1600. If you like a pair of tickets to go see Wake Force in Louisville, play tomorrow at the couch.

Another segment, another bad take you'll argue about all night. You're on the Triad's longest-running live sports talk show, The Drive. Back at it. On a Thursday drive, you're listening to WSJS.

So I was. What was it? 0 for 6? In my pics. Two nights ago.

And You know, listen, we We're resilient around here. We we battle back.

So I made some picks. Yesterday, for last night's action, to try and correct things, to get things back on track. Let's find out how they did together in Dalton's Dollars. Stack it up, stack it, stack, gotta stack it up. Get the money.

Get the money on the zombies. It's time to cash in. Welcome to Dalton's Dollars. Yeah. Show me the money.

All right, here was bet number one. I took Detroit. Six and a half point favorites. Against Orlando. Nope.

Didn't cash. Didn't cash. Couldn't get that one to work out. You know, I just. I thought.

You know what? Detroit I th they're gonna handle it enough. They're gonna they're gonna do it enough, but Couldn't get that one to fall. Couldn't do it. They only won by seven.

Got close, though. Donovan Mitchell. I didn't want to mess with Cleveland Raptors in terms of a money line pick, in terms of the spread. Didn't want to mess with it. Just give me Donovan Mitchell over 26 and a half points.

Yeah. I have the right idea. It's just it's not. Not quite enough. Lastly, only made three picks.

I took Lakers to cover. Four and a half point favorites. They lost the game by six. Yeah. Over three.

Yeah. You know, it's it's a shame too because I again... It's just this stretch of about a week and a half now that I've been over. I just can't get it. Before that, I was cooking.

I was cooking.

So we gotta change the approach a little bit here. You know what I mean? Like the definition of insanity, as they say. Doing the same thing over and over, whatever. Nick's Hawks.

Knicks Hawks tonight in Atlanta. New York leads that series 3-2. Here's what we're gonna do. I'm not gonna take the spread. I'm not gonna make a pick.

Money line. Nope. Nope. Defense always ramps up and things slow down a little bit, usually in the playoffs.

So I'm just going to go with the under here. Under 225 and a half points. Total. Strophy divided. I get that in mind as uh 112 odds.

Actually Correction on that minus 214.5. I was looking at the. Nuggets and T-Wolves under. That's my bad there. But let's actually get to that game.

I will mess with the spread on that one. I think I like Denver to win. But I don't know that it's gonna be as comfortable. For them. And who knows, who knows, Minnesota may win it outright.

So. That's why I'm going to go with Minnesota to cover as six and a half point dogs. STROVE DIVELIE! Get that at minus 114 odds.

Now we get to. The Celtics and the Sixers. I think Boston. handles their business tonight in a way that they could not do in the last game.

So I'm just gonna take the money line on this one, Boston money line minus 250. Drop me to fly!

So that's your your three NBA games tonight. Beyond that. Not going to mess with anything else. Just stick to the NBA. Let's do this in little chunks at a time.

Let's try to get back on track here. No need in having a massive card. to try and dig out of the hole to, you know. Just one step at a time. They say that's the way you eat an elephant.

One bite at a time.

Okay. That's what we're doing here. Spend Dalton's dollars. Uh very quickly. Let's talk a little Carolina football, and I'm not talking about the Panthers.

I'm talking about those tar heels. Bill Belichick's group. In year two.

So We actually got to hear. From Bobby Petrino? The new offensive coordinator. of the Torre Heels for the first time maybe about a week and a half ago. And The ultimate question that I have when it comes to Carolina is You know, like Who's the quarterback going to be?

They got some new ones in there, most notably Billy Edwards from Wisconsin. Maybe that's going to be your starter, but It doesn't sound like anybody's really separated themselves. When it comes to the work that they've done in the spring. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but here was Petrino on the quarterback situation, kind of echoing that. I think quarterback wise, we've had like basically four guys out there taking reps and working hard and improving and getting better.

Um but there hasn't really been the separation. Where we would say any thoughts of who's starting, who's not starting, who's that. And I don't think there should be. You know, we get through spring ball. A lot of times as a quarterback you see growth in the summer and who wants to take charge and who wants to be the leader and make sure everybody else is doing things right.

So that's a big, that plays into it a big part too, is how they go about their business in the summertime.

So that's again a long way of saying They don't know who it's gonna be just yet. At least We don't think so. I don't think this is Bobby Petrino going off of what Bill Belichick would do and tell you. He doesn't know when he does, but you just don't want to say anything. But you actually have a Western Carolina quarterback.

On the roster? Yes, Teron Tiger Dickens. Redshirt sophomore. He's phenomenal. Uh he is massively undersized.

I think he's five ten, one eighty.

So he's, but he's very, he makes up with it with his shiftiness. Very quick on his feet. He's not like your traditional quarterback, like in younger in college. They'll just get out of the pocket and scramble. He will continue looking down the field.

He's a spectacular talent. He only played in nine games this college football season due to a suspension at some point for something. And He still put up record numbers across the board and finished second in the FCS Heisman voting.

So you got yourselves a dog with him. Funny enough, Billy Edwards Jr. was on Maryland. I used to play with him as the quarterback in NCAA. Oh, did you?

Yeah, I had a Maryland dynasty. Shout out to Marilyn. ACC Legends, Maryland, that is. You also got Miles O'Neill, who's a redshirt sophomore out of Texas AM. Spent a couple of years there.

Atori Newkirk, who was on the roster last year, got in there at the end against NC State. We were all wondering why is Bryce Baker not getting in there at all? Yeah, I got a feeling he's gonna do really good things uh things for James Franklin over in uh Blacksburg. Got a feeling about that. I think he's going to make Bill Belichick look a little foolish on that one.

I forgot about it. He was there. Oh, yeah. They brought out. Yeah, they brought him out.

I was there. They brought him out at the Smith Center whenever. He Announced that he was going to keep his commit with Carolina after the Belichick hire because there was a question there. Is he going to go somewhere else or stay? Yeah, that was all for show.

Travis Burgess, a freshman. That they picked up at a Grayson, Georgia. Probably not as a freshman, though. Um But there does seem to be a slightly more positive vibe around the offense. going into this year as opposed to last.

simply because you got Petrino here. And At least there will be some type of. Optimism, I guess, at least more so than with Freddie Kitchens as your offensive coordinator, for whatever that's worth.

So that's the ultimate question that I have about Carolina football right now at a very early stage where we haven't really done a deep dive or anything on what they might have is who's the quarterback going to be? I do think they're going to run the ball a lot more. Under Petrino. I do think that.

So be ready for that. They're going to try to run it up the gut.