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Yeah. Let's get this party started! It is a Thursday drive, even though for some reason it feels like a Friday. Not really sure why that is. Also, not really sure why Morgan, the producer of this show, is on the main camera right now and not me.
Get out of here! Ha ha ha ha. Oh, I'm really caffeinated if you can't tell already. Good to have you in. Love how that's synchronized perfectly.
It is the drive on WSJS Radio. News Talk Sports for the Triad here with Will Dalton? The W D? Got David Glenn going to join us in hour number two. Pretty fired up about that.
And also fired up for today's show because. Who body? It is NFL heavy. We got NFL rumors. I love rumors.
That's a bingo. I love it. Uh The schedule. It releases tonight. We already know all the opponents.
That's a t- That's not the fun part, though. The fun part is. One Watching how all the teams are going to reveal. The schedule. There's always a fun way to do that.
Um It's the Super Bowl, as I mentioned yesterday, for social media admins. They love this type of thing. And Not only that, it's like a little puzzle. You see everything start to come together because all throughout the day we get leaks, we get rumors, we get that. And the NFL is not going to be going through these reveals before to check and approve of any Diana Roussini Mike Rabel jokes that was also put out today by the NFL.
They're not doing that. They're not going to take a look, check it out. Jeez. But it is fun. It is fun to start to get little pieces of the puzzle.
And we've got quite a few of those pieces already on the Carolina Panthers. Let's have a look. Let's see what we got because... For the first time since 2022, When the Carolina Panthers hosted the Cleveland and lost to the Cleveland Browns. The Panthers are going to open up their season at home.
They've been on the road the last three years. Dan Morgan was talking about this the other day when he was on with Rich Eyes, and he was like, Yeah, we haven't started the year at home in like two or three years, and it's been three. They were at the Jags last year. They were at the Saints. Oh, don't even remind us of that.
The year before that. And at the Falcons. Oh, don't remind us of that one either. The year before that. It's going to be the Chicago Bears.
rolling into Bank of America Stadium. Morgan, why are you grimacing? Uh They finished the season so well. Yeah, and they're gonna start it up good. Gonna start it out right.
By the way, so the uh Jordan Schultz put this out. Joe Person of the Athletic. Had a league source confirm it. And It's going to be the Bears. This will not be a primetime game.
So, there's a couple things here, by the way, that we'll get to in terms of the Panthers, what we know about the Panthers schedule, a couple of notes to put out there, a couple of nuggets. on that. It's not going to be a primetime game. But this is A fun game between two teams that are linked.
So you get you know it, that trade that brought. Bryce Young to Charlotte with the number one pick in 2023. They're always going to be linked by that, at least. It in these days, in these times. And This is the start of the Bears having the toughest schedule in the NFL.
They do have that.
So The Panthers, the Bears. Fans on social media gotta be at each other's throats all day, all night. Yeah, Bryce is better than Caleb. Caleb. Eats price is lunch.
You're gonna get a lot of that. But It's definitely not it's not an easy Opener. For either side, really. And You know, this is. This is going to be a good test for the Carolina Panthers right out of the gate.
After all they've done in free agency, after how they finished the year last year, what they added to it. The draft went really well. There's a lot of good vibes around the Carolina Panthers right now. They are a very trendy team in the NFL.
So That's going to be a good test to open up their year. Also, I got this for you. The Panthers will have... Three primetime games this year. Three.
And with that. That's going to be the most primetime games that they have played since 2016, the year after they went to the Super Bowl with Cam Newton, when they had five. Had five prime time games 'cause you know, Cam Newton. Must see TV. Got to put that in prime time.
And the Panthers, they got one last year. That was that game at the Niners that they... did not win. They didn't have any primetime games of the year before that.
So They're stepping up in every possible way. It gets better in every way you look at it every year, and now they've been rewarded with three primetime games. I'm sitting here talking about three prom time games. I haven't even told you who they're against yet.
So Week four. It's going to be the Detroit Lions on Sunday night football. How about that? Panthers are going to host Detroit. Got Jared Goff in the crew coming to town.
needing to get some things done. The second of these you got The Packers At Lambo. on Thursday night football. Uh that is gonna be The week eight game. I've started to piece together the schedule here with all these leaks.
That is going to be the week eight game. And then the third that we know of It'd be crazy if there's more announced tonight that we don't know about, but The third will be week 12 Monday night football at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So three primetime games, Lions at home, Packers and Bucs. Both on the road. One other thing. That's out there. The Panthers will actually have a travel advantage.
over the entire league this year.
So I saw this put out where In terms of flyer miles, did you see this? In terms of flyer miles, The Carolina Panthers will have the least amount. in the entire NFL.
So, um This put out by Adam Schefter. Yesterday, the Niners, they're going to have the most flyer miles.
Now, you've got to factor in international travel with a lot of these teams, but. The Niners are going to travel 38,105 miles total. They're also going to Australia. My point. Texans.
They're the second 28,470 flyer miles. The Panthers are at the very bottom. They're the one team that doesn't crack. double-digit thousands Uh of flyer miles, they have eight thousand seven hundred and forty.
So Obviously, they do not have an international game this year.
So those are a couple of things that we're looking at. Couple of things we've learned today. And I'll just show, in terms of what I have on my. My board here. Week one, you got the Bears, as we just mentioned at home.
Week two, at Atlanta. Week three, at the Browns. Week four is that Sunday night football game against the Lions at home. Week seven, we know it's the Bucks at home. Week eight, at the Packers, prime time.
Week nine, home against the Broncos. Week 11, home against the Ravens. We know that you're at the Bucs Monday Night Football Week 12 and then The last four weeks of the year, we have all this confirmed. The Saints at home, the Bengals at home, the week 16, we don't know who it is, but we know it's away. Week 17, Falcons.
At home.
So that's what I have on my puzzle right now. We're going to be updating you all day on this. Not just with the Panthers, too, by the way, just NFL in general. We'll keep you posted on what. is going on out there because it is a busy day.
Busy day around the National Football League. Oh, that's 336-777-1600 is the number to call. Morgan Corson. Executive producer of the show. Have you been glued to the to the computer, to social media, trying to find out some of these rumors.
I'm going to be honest, I didn't know there was schedule leaks. I just kind of wait. I just kind of wait for the Chargers to put out their video and I'll watch theirs and a few other media teams and just look at ESPN for the list. If you don't know, now you know. Yeah, I'm just excited for tonight.
All the social media teams, this is like their Super Bowl. They've been working all year for this. They have. I'm curious what the Chargers have. They always have the best video, I feel like.
Yeah, I mean, that's the other piece of this. And we'll rank tomorrow some of the, we'll give you some of the best social media content from tonight at 8 o'clock when this all releases. But that's one of the best parts about it. I wonder if the Panthers have started to leak any hints at how they're going to do it. I know a lot of times they do that.
So we'll stay glued. Uh to that. And bring that your way. But let's shift over to the NBA right quick. The Calves.
Cleveland. Did not go into Detroit last night and steal a game. The Pistons gave it to him. Pistons gave it to him. Cavs lead 3-2, heading back to Cleveland.
It's all shaping up for the Cavs to get to the Eastern Conference final against the Knicks, after all. I'm somebody that has the Cavs going to the finals, so this made me very happy last night. Didn't make my bet very happy. Dalton's dollars a little later on. I got shafted last night.
All the way around. All the way. I had my my picks were good. But the teams let me down. It's what happened.
It was a hot three-point shooting start by Detroit in the first quarter. But then in the second quarter Turnover started to become a problem. Um For the calves. And then When it was all said and done. Detroit Ultimately, it ended up blowing a nine-point lead with under two minutes to play in regulation.
It went to OT. Cade Cunningham had some crucial turnovers in the second half. And he's just too good of a player to be doing that. Too good. I mean, he's been terrific in these playoffs.
I guess you're bound to have a stinker. you know, at some point along the way, but The turnovers, they really cost. Detroit, and that's a game at home. I mean that cli some people out there don't believe in momentum. I'm somebody that I was an athlete.
I played baseball all the way through college. And I do think there is something to riding momentum when you're hot, and even more so in basketball, more of a speed sport than baseball was. You know, when you're feeling it, you're feeling it. You know, we're going to hear Con Knipl. He went on Dale Jr.'s podcast the other day and talked about shooting and how, you know, because he had a bit of a tough.
shooting go of it late in the year and he was Talking about how, like, sometimes you just could come off a screen and just throw the ball up, and you just know it's going to go in, and sometimes you just don't have it. And that I do think momentum plays a little bit of a role there, but Cleveland, to get to my point, Cleveland is riding some momentum right now, taking two at home, and then another in Detroit, going back home. Who body? Detroit better buckle up. Tobias Harris had one of his worst games of the series last night.
So. Cade and Tobias. Had some not so great moments and James Harden, on the other end. Looked terrific last night. Did you see that?
It's about time. It is about time. James Harden, making things happen. Cleveland. Taking a 3-2 lead over Detroit.
In Detroit. A nice overtime win. James Harden thirty of them last night. Didn't shoot great from the three point line, but Finish with 30. 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. Things you didn't know you needed to know coming up in about 15 minutes. Have no idea what Morgan's got cooked up for that. No talent. But I know what we got cooked up right here, and that is.
Dale Junior A Charlotte native. A Charlotte legend, the son of the Intimidator, as we all know. And just a NASCAR legend in his own right, not just because he's Dale Earnhardt's son. He paved his own path. And of course, Khan Knipple.
Who is now Um Got his rookie year in the books with the Charlotte Hornets. Most three-pointers, like the dude was cooking. This year, way better than anybody thought he was going to be playing like an NBA veteran already in year number one. And so. I forget what the post was.
I saw it when it happened in real time. And Dale Junior, I guess In in the comments somewhere, on a maybe a Hornets post like he at Con Knipple. and said, Get come on, get on the podcast here. Come on. You know, he lives in Charlotte, that's where his racing shop is and studio for the pod is, Dale Junior Downloads, Dirty Mo Media.
And Khan delivered. He said, let's do it.
So, we're going to go through some of the highlights here. A few of these clips are a little lengthier, but I wanted to bring these to you. Starting with this.
So Dale Junior He talked about North Carolina sports. And You know, he talked about how We feel a little differently now about the Charlotte Hornets after the year that they just had, getting to the second game of the play in, losing obviously really bad loss to the Orlando Magic, but a thriller against the heat in the first one. And Dale Jr. spoke to Khan about North Carolina sports, and when the Hornets are playing well, and the Panthers are playing well, like they have been, and it makes you feel something around here. I like the Hornets.
I want them to do well. Any sports team in and around Charlotte, I want them to win because it's great for our community. A successful sports team here, Panthers. Uh the hornets, it don't matter. If they can win, it's great for everybody around.
It just really changes how we feel about ourselves. Even surrounding communities way up here, thirty minutes north of Charlotte, are affected by that. You see more jerseys, you see more people smiling. And so it's great to have some good positivity around the Hornets after this year. It's true.
People, this is the hoop state. In more ways than just college basketball. And we saw that. I mean, So, I forget how many sellout crowds the Spectrum Center ended up having this year, but you all saw that crowd against the Miami Heat that night in the first playing game. I mean, it was incredible, incredible energy in that building.
Getting to some of the highlights with Con Knipple though, of course. Was talking a little bit about the rookie grind, and Dale Jr. kind of started out talking about how his first season in NASCAR was a lot more than what he thought it was going to be. And here was that exchange. I remember when I went into my first season in the Cup Series in NASCAR.
I was really blown away by how grueling It was. I thought I knew what racing for a season, racing during a year was like, but I bet. that you learned quite a few things about mental toughness. health and and just uh you know how your body needs to be in a certain shape to to be able to go through the course of the season. What was the end of the year like trying to get it get it to the finish line?
I know you guys wanted to go further into the playoffs, but where are you at now mentally and physically? I'm in a pretty good spot. I think a rookie season is just one of those things. You just got to get through it. You know, you don't really know, like, you you kinda think You think 82 games is a lot?
Like, I played 39 at Duke. Yeah. And. You don't realize how many that really is. It's like that first.
The first three games of the season, we had a game, day off, and then a back-to-back. And it's like, okay, now we'll rest for like three days. It's like, nope, you have like. Maybe one or two days off, and then you're playing again. Yeah.
And so it just keeps going coming at you.
So I think you really just got to get through that first year, especially with all the draft prep you got to do, and you don't really have much of an offseason between college and then draft combine and then summer league basically. Like you're playing for a whole you know two years straight. It is a grind. Like, it's pretty incredible when you watch what these rookies do going from college to the draft, then right into the season. I mean, the WNBA does it even more in terms of like a quick turnaround.
Like they're playing the, you know, UCLA wins the national championship, and then before you know it, it's the draft, and they're seat, they're unlike the NBA. The WNBA season starts like two weeks after the draft. Like, it's incredible watching what they do. Um, Charles Lee As we know, got an extension last week. But Here was Con Kniple talking about.
Charles Lee's extension, and what the Hornets are building. We're super pumped to have C Lee back and extended. 'Cause we want to keep building. And I think what Jeff talks about a lot is he doesn't want to skip steps. And maybe put a lot of stuff together and go and go maybe try to get some guy that maybe that doesn't work out.
or maybe it's only for one or two years. And so we want to keep building together. And you know, I think I think it'll be really good that way, and you just keep adding guys through. Through the draft. We got a couple of first-round picks this year, and hopefully get two more studs and keep building this thing.
It is one thing about The Hornets organization. Whether it was Rick Schnall taking over as the owner, The main owner. Jeff Peterson is the GM. Charles Lee is the head coach. They have a very...
Disciplined approach. They have a very, we're not going to jump at the flashy thing to try and make some big splash. You know, we're going to. We're going to do this thing the right way and build this thing the right way. And even though it might take a little longer and had taken a little longer than maybe fans wanted, when it starts to hit, like we saw this year.
It's very satisfying. And Kun, he just exemplifies that type of mindset, that type of energy. He did have some shooting struggles, though. Towards the end of the year, The play-in games didn't shoot the ball very well at all. And That's off of a regular season where he finished with the most threes.
And he, again, played like a 10-year veteran already and was just being compared to Steph and Clay and with that quick trigger and that pure shot. But here he was talking about some of his shooting struggles. Yeah, towards the end of the season it just like Sometimes a shot just doesn't feel good. Yeah. And I think, you know, I got I got into that a little bit.
I had a really slow start at Duke. You know, when I didn't shoot it very good to start the season at all, I was thinking I was shooting like maybe high 20% from three. And I think There, for sure, I definitely like let it affect me mentally. You know, I was turning some down that I shouldn't have been. Oh, you some of that?
Really? Where this year, like. I wasn't shooting it good and I had like no Real thought about it, like other than like, man, I wanted to go in. But I thought I did better with. You know, I'm still taking it.
Mental side of it. Yeah. I think I did better with the mental side of it. And sometimes it just doesn't go in. But yeah, I would say that golf analogy, like just trying to find your swing, chasing your swing, I feel like that's.
That's good sometimes because when you feel good, like you can come off a screen and just throw it up there and you know it's going in. That is true. When you have it, when you have it. When you have it, you have it. But when you don't have it, it's like.
You got to find it, as he just mentioned there. And it's a good little insight to the mindset of how these things look. Last clip that we have here. is of course on the Orlando Magic loss. in the second play-in tournament game where The Hornets just got it handed to them.
They could not figure anything out. It just, their game. And their game plan just wasn't there. They couldn't get it figured out. And you could kind of see them press a little bit.
to try and Make something happen. And a lot of times, when you do that in sports, regardless of the sport, you just make it worse. And that's kind of what Khan. said right here. For the next game, I felt like we were prepared.
We knew what we wanted to do, and we just didn't execute. And that's tough. You know, Orlando came out, and also they were on fire right away, hit like five threes, and you know, that's not the team they had been for most of the season or all of the season. And so. You know, sometimes that happens and then you know you try to overcorrect a little bit.
and it becomes, you know, well, I'm gonna I'm going to try to do something, or you're start trying to get it all back at once, and then it just kind of snowballs. That's what happens, and that's what happened to the Hornets. That night. That was Con Kniple on the Dale Jr. download.
Here's our question of the day. And shout out to Jay Davis in our YouTube comments here. Not into racing, but love some Dale Jr. I'm a Jeff Gordon guy, but I I like Dale Jr. too.
Like they'll learn hard. Even being a Jeff Gordon fan. They did have a very heated rivalry. back in the day, if if our diehart NASCAR fans recall. Um We've got a chance for you to win Dave Matthews tickets.
All you have to do Is call in and answer this question that is our question of the day. If you could see any two people Sit down for a podcast because this was a nice little crossover here. NBA with Conkinible, NASCAR, and Dale Jr., and it's a very unlikely. You know. Crossover, but it happened.
It was pretty cool. Who would you like to see sit down for a podcast? 336-777-1600. You answer that question because it looks like we've already got the phone lines lighting up to win a pair of Dave Matthews tickets. They're going to be at True Lion Amphitheater in Charlotte.
may sixteenth. AKA this weekend.
So Want to hop on that? Give us a call as it looks like somebody already is getting to the PGA championship very quickly. Looking at this leaderboard here, Bryce and De Chambeau. After struggling and didn't make the cut. Double bogeying, or is there a double or a triple bogey on hole 18 at the Masters to miss the cut when he would have made it?
Tough day again today. Six over parr to finish his day. Looking at The leader board You've got a pretty Pretty lengthy. List of names here, tied. For the number one spot at three under par.
You got I'm probably going to butcher this name. Aldrich Pot Guider. Nailed it. And Stefan Jaeger. He's up there.
He's finished with his day. All those guys finished with their days mostly at the top.
So We'll keep you posted on that, but man, Bryson just. Just struggling with it. Also, somebody was late to their tea time today. Did everybody see this?
So Apparently this guy's tea time. was 7.18 a.m. Garrick Heigo. And he showed up at 7.19 a.m. And then that caused him to get a Two stroke penalty.
for that. And um Yeah, not a great look. Not a great look to be late to your tea time at the PGA Championship. And I mean No shade to this guy right here, even though What I'm about to say is 100% shade. He doesn't exactly look like he has all of his Business together here.
And You know, I mean, I heard once that There's been legendary golfers that literally drove all through the night to make sure they get on time for their tea time. I've heard that. And Yeah, it's just not a good look. Not a good look at all. Let's go to the phones, though.
We'll keep you updated on the PGA Championship. A little bit later on. Philly in Greensboro has an answer to the question: though, who would you like to sit down for a podcast? Oh, W D, thanks for having me on. Of course.
I would like to hear Jordan kind of off the cup, not rehearsed, kind of do a podcast. Right.
So they could kind of nuke it out. For a second there, I thought you were going to go Jordan Hudson and somebody, but no, you went Michael Jordan. You went Michael Jordan with that one. Yeah. Jordan and Pippin sitting down for a pod.
That'd be interesting. I'd like to see that. Um Are you a are you a Bulls fan or are you just an MJ fan? Yeah, big Carolina fan, and yeah, definitely Jordan, but you know, he always. he's always kind of rehearsed and, um, you know, um, not not doesn't really put himself out there.
Who do you want to see take Caleb Wilson up at the top of the draft? Oh, man. I I wish um Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. It's gonna be one of those bad teams.
So, um, I kinda Just hope he's Yeah, I don't know.
Well, he could go to the Bulls. They got the four-pick. A lot of mocks have him going there. You know, Utah's an option. But a lot of Chicago fans are excited about the possibility of getting him.
I will say that. Yeah, I want to see the Hornets get some big guys.
Well, a lot of mock drafts out there. Say Adamara out of Michigan.
So we'll. We'll keep an eye on that. Thank you so much for the call, Phil, and enjoy the tickets. Michael Jordan seems to be a hot topic on this when Jay Davis said he'd love to see MJ sit down with Isaiah Thomas. Why are you shaking?
That's what I say, you shook your head and then you were like, oh yeah. I just feel like Jordan's so rehearsed, and he already knows what he's going to say ten sentences ahead. That I don't think it'd be entertaining. But I feel like if you put Isaiah Thomas in there. You might get a few good things.
You might. You might. So you and I are going to actually have some names later on in the hour of of Candidates for this. Who we'd like to see sit down for a podcast together. By the way, Dale Jr.
needs to get Lamello on this pod, too. That'd be pretty terrific. Hey, he's going to be the pace car driver at the Coke 600. Make it happen. Make it happen.
We're going to be doing one thing and one thing only. Harker Supports. We make your commute worth it. Welcome to the drive. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Back at it on the drive right here on WSJS. It's that time. Where Morgan, the producer of this show, he compiles a list. It's very out there things that you didn't even know. But you you need to know it even though you didn't know you needed to know it.
Let's just get into it. 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?
I have a longer list today. I got six today. Hey now. Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry, one of the best pitchers ever, but was a horrible hitter. His manager told him One, a man will land on the moon before you ever hit a home run.
Gaylord Perry hit his first home run. On July 20th, 1969, The same day Apollo 11 landed on the moon. You know, sometimes those things work out that way.
Sometimes it's just. The stars align, it's just meant to be. Sticking with baseball, in 1920 with his first season with the Yankees, Babreuth hit 54 home runs. Goat. That was more than any other team in the AL hit that season.
The Philadelphia Athletics hit 50.
So he just outhit them all. All of them. This is Listen, I think Otani's gonna have the case and might already have it for being the goat. Over Babe Ruth, just because. I don't know that Babe, with all due respect to the Babe, I don't know that he was doing things that Otani is doing at this level.
As athletically, I don't. And in this era of baseball, too. Have you seen his diet? Babe Ruth. I know it ain't good.
I've seen Babe Ruth, and I know it ain't good. That's not great. There have been three Olympic game host sites. that no longer exist. Due to geopolitical changes, during and following the Cold War.
Hmm. West Germany in the 72 Olympics The Federai the Federal Republic of Germany. 1980 Summer Olympics in Soviet Union or the USSR. Still there, different name. and the 84 Olympics in Yugoslavia.
Oh wow.
So That oh okay, that's Yeah. I didn't know this. I didn't either. No, I didn't. Yeah, I didn't know that.
Because of the Cold War, you say. Yeah. Hmm. In nineteen fifty, George McCann led the Minneapolis Lakers. and scoring with 15 points.
The rest of his team scored three points. And they lost. Buy one point to the pistons eighteen to nineteen. The lowest scoring game in NBA history. I wonder if this was just See now I'm fast date.
Like how could it be that low? Like, were they just that inaccurate with their shots at that time? Or? I might be wrong, but there might not have been a backboard at this point.
Okay. I mean that could pose some problems. Chess boxing is a hybrid sport combining alternating rounds of blitz, chess, and boxing. Where competitors win by checkmate or knockout. Each round is three minutes and there's a one minute break in between each round.
So, are they fighting while playing chess?
So, they'll be like the first round is chess, and they'll be playing chess. and then they'll take a minute break and then they'll get into the boxing ring. Oh.
So, how do you win? Checkmate or knockout? Checkmate or knockout.
Okay, yeah, you just said that. Um.
Okay. I mean talk about like mental and physical. Stamina coming together, I guess. That's out there. And last but certainly not least, In the 2014 NFL regular season, The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback.
Andy Dalton. had more receiving touchdowns, than the entire Chiefs wide receiver corps. Andy Dalton had one receiving touchdown. The Chiefs' wide receiver core had zero. All the touchdowns came from Kelsey and the running backs through the air.
So the receivers didn't have any? Not a single one. You said 2014? Yes. Who are the receivers?
Do you know who the core receivers were on that team? I didn't recognize any of the names, but Travis Kelsey had 900 receiving yards and five touchdowns. The running back Charles had five touchdowns. Their quarterback had 18 passing touchdowns, just none of them to the receivers. Yeah.
Looking at some of these names here. Donnie Avery. Does that ring a bell? No, not De Anthony Thomas. Faintly.
Frankie Hammond. What a name. Dwayne Bowie. That's been the things you didn't know you needed to know. Jay Davis chimes in here.
He said there might not have been a shot clock back then. I don't think there was. I don't think there was. Yeah, that's what were they using like an hourglass just to flip it over for the shot clock? No, it's um Either they really couldn't hit a shot or they weren't shooting many of them, one of the two.
I think it's the latter. I think it is. I mean, if you recall Dean Smith and the Four Corners, I mean, that's. That was kind of the premise there. They didn't take any shots.
David Glenn is going to join us next hour. to talk about Some of the things that are happening at Amelia Island, the ACC Spring meetings, Jim Phillips spoke yesterday. Did a light bulb just go off? No, I was trying to see why. They did have backboards.
They got backboards in 1905, so I wasn't even close with that guess. Yeah, can't win them all. Nope. Can't do that. Curious what DG thinks about.
Jim Phillips' stance on the ACC being as healthy as it's ever been. Curious what he thinks about that. We'll talk to him at 5.15. In terms of I mean I just continue to look at the timeline here. And so much and almost all of the conversation.
is based around the college football playoff possibly expanding. There's been a little bit of conversation. about Duke's Amazon deal. And according to Jim Phillips yesterday. Because, I mean, this is a TV deal, and the ACC also has its deal with ESPN.
So it's like, okay, how is that going to work? Um And it turns out that ESPN was involved with the deal from the start. Jim Phillips said the deal ended up in a little bit different place than where it started, but. Um Duke did receive permission from ESPN to schedule those future non-conference games on Amazon. Apparently Michigan, however, did not get required approval from the big ten.
That's according to Brett McMurphy. Yeah. So He claims it's possible. possible Michigan could be replaced. as Duke's opponent.
I don't know that it will, but... Yeah. Unfortunately, Michigan tends to just do what they want to do because they know they can't get reprimanded 'cause they win at most sports. Yeah, they just win at everything. Yeah.
I mean, I'm not going to go that far, but we're pretty good at everything. Uh. Michigan fan Morgan over here. Shout out. Warning, listing may cause yelling at traffic.
The one doing This is a window. The Dry, the Triad's only live sports talk show. Back at it on the drive, right here on WSJS. Where We're four we started out four and oh And we started keeping record for Dalton's dollars, trying to keep myself accountable here. And I placed two.
One basketball, one hockey. And last night's action. Let's get into it. Stack it up, stack it, stack, gotta stack it up Get the money, get the money all the time, no. It's time to cash in.
Welcome to Dalton's Dollars. Yeah. Show me the money. Breaking down the board and building the bankroll. All right.
I placed Detroit Three and a half point favorites. I felt good about that. despite Cleveland having win uh or having won. They're two games in Cleveland. I like Detroit.
Three and a half point favorites. And they. Led by nine. With under two minutes to go. They led by nine.
Ah! They blew that. Went to overtime. James Harden, 30 points. They lost.
Unbeliev terrible beat. Then Minnesota Uh Minnesota Wild. Colorado Avalanche, it was in Colorado. And I thought I thought that Minnesota? Would be playing with some fire, with some urgency, down three to one.
On the road.
Okay. And you actually were watching this. What a game. Back and forth, right? No.
Because I actually did not watch full disclosure last night. The wild went up 3-0 in the first period. Oh, so I had to pull the goalie and switch. They switched goalies, and they're down one with about five minutes left in the game, or they're down two with five minutes left in the game. They score one with about a minute 30 left.
They pull the goalie. About 30 seconds later, they score the other. And then, about 10 minutes into overtime, Just a slapper right in. It It was a monumental collapse. I pulled a stat here.
That's the fourth time in Avalanche franchise history they've had a three-goal comeback to win the Stanley Cup playoffs. And it just so happened to come when I place a bet for Minnesota Moneyline. Just so happened to go that way. Not one, but two bad beats last night. I should be 6-0 right now.
I'm four and two instead.
So. Looking at tonight. Honestly, I'm looking at the baseball slate. I don't wanna get in on hockey tonight. I'm gonna keep this simple.
Um The Braves and the Cubs going at it. Yeah, that's gonna be a good one. Shoutout to Jay Davis, the Cubs fan. in our YouTube comments here. Chris Sale.
He's on the bump for Atlanta. And You know, just looking at some of his numbers here and his starts. Most recently, He had a seven strikeout outing against the Dodgers. That was last week. He had 11 punch outs against Colorado.
Before that. Nine before the nine. I mean, just incredible numbers here lately in the last month.
So I'm gonna take him. Let's see here. What's the best value? What's the best value for this? I think for his strikeouts, I'm gonna go.
Probably go over six and a half. STROVENA! I like that. Feels like a safe bet. I probably should.
Knocking on wood, everybody. Knocking on wood. Gonna keep it simple. One bet. One baseball bet, Chris Sale over six and a half strikeouts.
Sorry, Jay Davis, to your Cubs in advance. It's been Dalton's dollars.
So very quickly, we've been talking about podcast collabs that we would like to see happen. Morgan Do you have any? I just cooked up some heaters while you were talking about your bets. All right, let's hear it. Give me George Washington and King George III.
Wow. That's a good pull right there. That is, I was not ready for that. I was not ready for George Washington. Oh, wait, they get better.
Jeff, all right, let her rip. Michelangelo versus any modern abstract artist. It's not quite as good, but it's got a little something to it. Steve Jobs and Bill Gates talking about where their technology is going. That would have been awesome.
That's solid. And these two are a little more NASCAR related here. Daryl Waltrip and Dale Sr. had a very big rivalry in the 80s. But they became friends, didn't they?
Yeah, very later on. I love to hear them talk about that. And then Dale Jr. and Dale Sr., if they're able to sit down right now and talk about it. I feel like that'd just be an awesome one too.
I have three. I have three. First Michael Jackson and Prince. I like that. If you're watching on YouTube, I'm rocking a Michael Jackson shirt.
Ordered this off Amazon the other day. I'm very proud of it. Love this shirt. First time whipping it out. Michael Jackson and Prince had an all-time rivalry back in their day.
If you actually look into it, they did not like each other. They actually quite had a lot of respect for each other, but there was a rivalry there. The second one. Jordan Hudson and Pablo Torre. Jordan Hudson and Pablo Torre make that podcast happen.
Josh and Clemens, once in on. The podcast collab conversation. Josh, go right ahead. WD, how you doing, man? Terrific.
What you got for me? I got two interesting ones that just popped up off the top of my head. I know one of them is not possible, but Dale Earnhardt and Dale Dale Junior. Yeah. And the other one, this is a weird one, but Tim Duncan and Chris Paul.
Okay, because of the Wake Forest tie there. Yeah, you know I love White Forest. Love that. Josh and Clemens. Thanks so much for the call.
Yeah, those are a couple of good ones. I like that. That's really good. The Dale Earnhardt Dale Jr. one, I I assume you You want it for this reason, just because if you really look into it, Dale Earnhardt and Dale Jr.
Like, Dale was. He was tough on Dale Jr. He was tough on him. you know, just in terms of How would you best describe their relationship? You're the NASCAR guy.
I know what I'm trying to say, but you might be able to put it better than I am. Complicated. It's complicated. It's very complicated. From what I saw from the documentary that was released last summer, it certainly seemed like Dale never gave Jr.
much attention or gratification. And it was always, you could do this better. Here, how about we change this? You need to do better at this. And Dale Jr.
was always striving to get that. Gratitude and condole, not condoles, but congratulatory message from his dad. Yeah, he was. He was always trying to, you know. It's like when you want to be good enough, or you want to prove because he knew who his dad was, and he just wanted to prove that he could also be good enough.
And A lot of times he didn't feel like he got the very Therapeutic conversation for probably them and fans of theirs as well. That's actually terrific. I love that one. David Clemens. Uh got about 30 seconds.
Go right ahead. WD, I got one for you. I want President Donald Trump and Tiger and Tiger Woods. I want to know why the hell Tiger flipped his car upside down. And said he was on the phone with the President.
And he's calling the president. They must be boys, so I gotta know what this bro hood looks like.
Well full disclosure, I think... Tiger dates. One of Uh was it one of his nieces or daughters or something?
Something like that. Ex-wife, maybe? Yes, ex-daughter, or daughter-in-law. That's correct. Um Tiger and and Don.
That's yeah, solid. I want that Jordan Hudson Pablo Torre pod. What are you talking about? What's he talking about? I'm talking about the one and only.
Will Dalton has your afternoon sports fix. You're on the drive. Back at it on the drive right here on WSJS where we're ready to get smarter. We're ready to get some insights because we welcome in now David Glenn. of the NC Sports Network.
DG, how we doing? I'm doing great, Will. Always fun to be with you, my friend. Good to be with you as well.
So I saw. Um, you had just put out a piece earlier today, um, or yesterday, on chapelborough.com talking about some of the Early ACC contenders that we can see right now with the rosters kind of taking shape, coming together. I encourage our audience to go take a look at that. It's really interesting stuff. What are some of the interesting nuggets that they will find when they take a look at that article?
Well, for starters, we're living in a world where, unlike five or 10 or 25 years ago, there are a lot of coaches that are still going to be recruiting all spring and summer.
So, in other words, on the one hand, you know, John Shire at Duke. Knows his team for next year. Under the modern rules, you have 15 roster slots. And he knows almost every slot. Brad Brown now at Clemson knows all 15 slots, and there are others.
But at the other end of the spectrum, I think at this point, Justin Gainey, the new coach at NC State. Has only nine of those 15 slots filled. I mean, that's 60%, right? That means 40%. You still got to figure out.
So there are pieces and dominoes that need to fall into place. But when I look at the landscape, I see Duke and Virginia, the top two teams last year, being very good again, in part because they have a bunch of really important returning players, three starters each, Duke and UVA. They're the only teams in the 18-squad ACC that have three returning starters, Duke and UVA. And they finished first and second last year. But Carolina is intriguing.
Miami is intriguing. Louisville is spending big money. and signed a couple of big dollar transfers. Those were the ones I put in those five slots, but a lot could change, obviously, between now. and say the ACC basketball tip-off event late this year.
David Glenn of the NC Sports Network with us here on WSJS.
So, ACC Spring meetings happening right now in Amelia Island. We heard from Jim Phillips yesterday. What were some of the things you heard him say that got your ears perked up the most, DG?
Well, there's a lot that he can't say because he knows that his league has fallen behind financially. And that gap is going to get bigger. And so any distraction from that reality, which is not Jim Phillips' creation, remember. Yeah. He inherited a lot of these issues.
He inherited the ACC's television deals, which don't expire until 2036. But he managed to keep the ACC together, right, through those Clemson and Florida state lawsuits. He just doesn't have a magic wand to close that financial gap. It was intriguing to see what he and others said about the unique Duke Amazon package that you and I discussed on one of your previous shows, because that's different. Right?
A lot of people complain that Duke has this advantage and that advantage and this advantage. And it required cooperation from the conference office. For Duke to be able to sort of buy back those games and then market them to. to Amazon and have that prominent platform against high Profile opponents as if Duke needed one more recruiting advantage in men's basketball. But I don't think there was anything wild and crazy.
Jim Phillips is like his predecessor, John Swofford. He's a thoughtful guy who is very measured in his comments.
So there wasn't anything that he said that really knocked my socks off.
So he did make a point to say that he believes that this is the healthiest. The ACC has ever been. What do you make of that?
Okay. I can't agree with that. I mean, I'm old enough to remember that the Atlantic Coast Conference in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s was the wealthiest conference in America. It was often, most of the time, the best men's basketball league in America. It might have never been the best football league in America, but it was competitive enough.
And started cranking out national champions in football, remember, soon after Florida State joined the ACC in the early 1990s.
So I do think it's an exaggeration to say that the ACC is in its healthiest place ever. Maybe he could argue that it's in the healthiest place of his tenure. But the ACC For reasons we've discussed many times, is light years behind the Big Ten and the Southeastern Conference financially. And that ends up impacting you on the football field, on the basketball court, as you build budgets, as you hire and retain head coaches and build coaching staffs in those high-revenue sports. No, the ACC has been in a precarious position to a degree.
Since Marilyn left for the Big Ten a little bit more than a decade ago. And it's in a good place. You'd rather be the ACC than anybody except the SEC and the Big Ten. But. Third best Is a pretty stark contrast to what I thought was the best conference in America for much of my first, let's say, 25 years covering it.
David Glenn with us here of the NC Sports Network. Getting to Duke very quickly to talk a little bit more about ACC basketball.
So they have scheduled. Uh this new home and home with Illinois. Which means, I mean, John Shire's done it again. I mean, in terms of. The scheduling.
Like, they're going to have. Three of last year's Final Four. On next year's schedule, when you see the way John Shire. schedules these Just tough non-conference opponents every single year. What impresses you the most about that?
What impresses me most is that he knows he has a really talented, really deep team. And because you're not always 100% sure what the ACC schedule. Is going to offer in terms of a challenge to that talented and deep Blue Devils team. He is going out of his way to make sure, again, that there are some non-conference challenges as well. Because he believes that the better competition kind of sharpens the iron, so to speak, so that you have a better chance of being at your best in March Madness.
And whereas, hey, let's put it bluntly: Duke has been the best program in the ACC since John Shire took over for Mike Shyzzewski, period. At the same time, It's been more than a decade since the Blue Devils won a national championship. And we haven't been able to say there was a decade plus drought. About Duke since I mean, you know, the 1980s was the last time they went a decade or more without a national championship.
Now, that's obviously bridging the end of the Coach K era and these early years of the John Shire era. But the goal is the NCAA title. And when you had an elite team this year, his record, believe it or not, is 70, the last two years, is 70 and 70. And in regular season ACC play, John Shire's record is 36-2.
Well, that means you're crushing your league. And that means In this case, because he knows, I mean, they lost Cameron Boozer, National Player of the Year. That hurts. But Pat Gongba is back as your starting center. Dome Sarr is back as an NBA, future NBA player on the wing.
Caleb Foster is another returning starter at guard. Caden Boozer didn't start all year, but he started those big games late. He's back at point guard. And then you have transfers, you have an international signee, and you have a great high school recruiting class as usual.
Well, if you're the most stacked roster in the ACC, but you're dominating your own league so much that you're not sure how much they're going to help you sharpen the iron. Go out and find big, tough, strong, well-coached opponents. I admire what John Shire is doing. It's not like he's played poorly, right? He's got three ACC titles in four years.
He's got two regular season titles. In four years. He's got three elite eights in four years and one final four. That's a heck of a resume for a 38-year-old head coach who's only four years into his tenure with the Blue Devils as the head coach. But Those disappointments sting.
And maybe going out of your way to have an even tougher non-conference schedule. Just maximizes your chance to be that much better come March Madness. You know, it won't be long before ACC kickoff gets here, and we were. We were talking about something last week on this show because Gio Lopez had some very interesting comments. about What it was like to play for Bill Belichick in Carolina last year.
He said, you know, being at Wake Now, he's like, it's fun again. Like, he said, there's just no, there's no air there, is the way he put it. And then ESPN put out a list of rankings for each Teams offseason and power for conferences, and Carolina was ranked 15 out of 17.
So, going into year two for Belichick, and he's got Petrino there. What do you make of what this season could look like for Bill Belichick? What are your early insights on that? I don't see how you could pick them to be in the top tier of the Atlantic Coast Conference. I mean, Clemson's going to bounce back.
Miami is a legit program under Mario Cristobal, as the Kanes proved not only this year, but to a degree. even the couple years before that. And there's some depth, and there's some fascinating new coaches like a James Franklin at Virginia Tech. That's a long-term power of the Hokies. They've been down for a while.
I would bet, given what James Franklin did at Penn State, that the hokies will be good. How good in year one, it's hard to say, but they're going to trend upward under James Franklin. That's what his track record suggests.
So. I mean, the bottom line is it's I don't think it's As alarming that Gio Lopez and others have made statements like that. In my experience, most of the time, if you lose enough, People are going to complain about something. And if you win enough, it's amazing how they don't care what music was being played or which coaches were nicer and which coaches were tougher and who was a jerk and who was you know the same guy who's Funny when you're winning. Is quirky and hard to deal with when you're losing.
Same guy, same personality. And that's a general statement, not just about UNC football.
So, Winning solves many ills. And it's up to Bill Belichick to make that happen. The Tar Heels must be better in year two. than they were in year one. And I don't see any guarantee that that's going to be the case.
Last thing for you here on the way out, David Glenn joining us from the NC Sports Network on WSJS. We had Mike Manascalco on this show earlier in the week and You know, we were talking about the production of Sebastian Ajo. Um Of Seth Jarvis, of Svetch, in terms of goal production, which has been a little bit lackluster in these playoffs. And Mike, you know. He didn't seem too worried about it in the sense of there's so many other weapons, there's so many other guys that get it done.
I guess my question to you would be. If they hope to win the Stanley Cup against an Avalanche or whoever it is, are they going to need those guys to go out and do what they're paying them to do? Absolutely, positively, no doubt about it, yes. And I say that with deep respect and appreciation for what that Logan Stankoven line has done. Jackson Blake, Taylor Hall, those guys have been fascinating and amazingly productive in this year's postseason.
But you know the deal. This is the fourth time in eight years under Rod Brandenemore that the Carolina Hurricanes are going to the Eastern Conference Finals. Not only did they lose the previous three Eastern Conference finals. They were swept twice and lost four games to one the other time. And the common thread is that they ran out of goal scoring.
So, what is the number one reason for hope this year that things will be different? And I just wrote about this at North Carolina Sports Network. If You're getting max production from a lower-tiered line. And guys like Aho, and remember, Aho and Ehlers, the highest scoring Kanes during the regular season were Seth Jarvis, Andrei Svechnikov, Sebastian Ajo, and Nikolai Ehlers. None of those four guys, your top scores has kind of exploded in the playoffs yet.
So, if you can get that other line to continue to just play well, usually against lesser opponents, right? Aho and those guys are dealing with the top line a lot of the time of the opponent. That's why their numbers are depressed. They're going against a higher caliber of competition. Stankoven and those guys get to go off and against the third line.
So, yeah, I mean, still credit for what they're doing, but they're not going against the first line most of the time.
So the ideal scenario, of course. Is for that Stankhoven line to keep cranking and Taylor Hall starting to look like, you know, continuing to look like the MVP of the NHL as he was eight years ago, but for those other high-powered scorers to deliver the goods. As the competition gets tougher in the Eastern Conference finals. And then, if it is the avalanche, frankly, that is the only team in the NHL. That was better than the Canes during the regular season.
The Canes would be underdogs against Colorado. They'll be favorites against either Buffalo or Montreal. But to win it all, you're darn right, they need those other guys to start putting the puck in the net. David Glenn, NC Sports Network. Go check out his stuff.
DG, we appreciate the time as always, and we'll do it again next week.
Sounds good, my friend. Keep up the good work. There he goes. David. Glenn.
I think this could be the year for the Kanes. I really do. But I agree with DG that I think those guys got to go out and perform. I mean, they're getting paid a lot of money, and that's why they're getting paid. to get in net like that.
