If you missed it live, don't worry, we say the best parts. This is the Drive Podcast. The workday is done.
Social media is heating up. Ding, ding, boys. School's in session. Welcome to Sports Talk with Personality. Woo-hoo!
Woo! Woo! Woo! You riding with us? Yes.
Great. Coming to argue? That's a given. That's a given. Even better.
Let's get the show going. Community life. Woo! Community! Hey!
Clock out, crank up. Here we got the park one and we're gonna show. The drive starts now on WSJS. Welcome in. Let's get this thing fired up on a Thursday.
It is the drive right here. On WSJS News Talk. Sports for the triad. I'm Will Dalton, also known as the W D. Rocking with you on a Thursday.
There's one more day till Friday, people. We're almost there. Almost there. Excellent show lined up for you today. Jam-packed, quite frankly.
We've been just bragging about what a great sports week this is all week long. And You had the NBA Finals last night. You had the Stanley Cup, game two of that tonight. NFL's happening. Panthers blueprint.
Drop this week. We're going to get to that here in just a little bit. And plus Josh Graham, the former host of this show, going to join us in hour number two in studio. And we have an opportunity. That's not all.
That's not it. We have an opportunity for you to win post-Malone tickets. In both hour number one and two. We'll explain how to win those here in just a little bit, but. Let's get to what we saw happen.
in San Antonio last night. Let's do that because The Knicks. And specifically Jalen Brunson. continue to just showcase A level of Connectedness as a team. Jalen Brunson continues to just show.
He has that blue collar New York toughness to him. Lunch pail, you know, six o'clock in the morning, the smoke coming up from the drains, the sewers of New York City. That's the type of energy he brings. You know, when he leaves the game with about a minute and a half to go in the first quarter last night on that right knee having an issue. Comes back and just takes the game over specifically, crucially, in the final two minutes of that game last night.
It was a tie ball game with just a couple of minutes to go, but To Jay Davis's point in our YouTube comments, and you know, you might be listening on WSJS, but you can watch as well. Hi, I'm waving to the camera right now. How are you? YouTube, search the drive with Will Dalton. On X, WSGS Radio, we stream there visually as well.
But Jay Davis writes in, told you you got to be physical with Wimby. Yeah. And physical they were. It also helped the fact that They just look tired, Wimby specifically, look tired. And listen, the players will never admit it, nor should they.
But that was an emotional, emotionally, mentally, and physically, the trifecta. Draining a fair that they had with the Oklahoma City Thunder. I mean they That was that was taxing. And they did feel a sense of accomplishment in beating them, I also believe.
Meanwhile. The Knicks, they've been resting. Just chilling. On a on an all-time playoff win streak. 11 double digit wins.
Just hanging out, getting ready, more rested, more healthy. And so, like, you put those two things together. That's why I thought the Knicks would take game one last night as they did. By the way, I thought it was pretty rich. The cartoon music.
Did you hear the cartoon music that they played? when the Knicks starting lineup was introduced. I did, yes. Apparently that's something that the S uh the Spurs always do for the visiting team. Still, though.
Like on the NBA Finals stage, ESPN, the whole. You know elaborate setup presentation they put on. And then, meanwhile, you got. Yeah, it was very interesting. It was, it was pretty good.
Um, Dylan Harper, by the way. You know, I remember. Back towards The end of the Original Spurs dynasty You know, with Tony Parker and Tim Duncan and Genoly and Coach Pop, of course. At the end of that run, winning five titles, the last one of that bunch was 2014 against The Miami Heatles, LeBron LeBron James. There was a number two.
There was a young player wearing number two running around, giving a lot of problems to LeBron in that series. His name was Kawhi Leonard. And now there's a new guy. I'm not comparing Dylan Harper to Kawhi Leonard, although I kind of am in this context. There's a new young number two cat running around in Dylan Harper.
He looked to be the only guy. Off that bench worth a dern last night for a large part of the game. hitting some of the shots he was at 20 years old. Just naughty. Just naughty.
And again, Wimby looked tired, but Jalen Brunson. God, he's such a stud. He represents that New York tough energy in fact Carl Anthony Towns after the game last night kind of Kind of spoke on that New York City grit. that this team plays with. It's something that's in the city.
You feel that energy in the city, the grit, the grind, the hard work you got to put in to make it in the city. I think we reflect all our fans and their lifestyles and what it takes to make it in New York City. when we step on that court with the Knicks jersey. The bright lights of Gotham. Batman.
All that stuff. Hanging around. But it is true. That is the way they play. I love the way their fans travel.
I mean in the l You guys can attest to this if you watch the game. Like the last minute or two where the Nick started to separate. With every big shot that was hit, with every, you know, dagger that Jalen Brunson hit. Like there was almost like a There was a little crowd pop. in the arena there, in San Antonio.
It was like, whoa, this is. This is different than another team. OKC doesn't travel like that. That's the mix. That's the Lakers.
That's the it's the that's the type of brands That do that, but specifically the Knicks, because they're just so starved for this. They're so hungry for this moment. It's been a tough time for the Knicks fans throughout the last couple of several decades, quite frankly. And now here they are really believing they have a shot to win this series, and they take game one last night. And they're playing with the s not only do they have the grittiness.
That we're talking about here that Jalen Brunson really spearheads. They play with a sense of unity. Like, yeah, we talk about the Nova Knicks, but it is a real thing and it spreads throughout the entire. team. Dante DiVincenzo's got to be kicking himself.
Well, I mean, it wasn't his fault. He got dealt. He got traded. But he's got to be sick to his stomach right now, watching the Nova Knicks tribute they did before the game and all that stuff. Like Minnesota's good, but You know, he'd probably like to be with these with his guys.
At the Knicks right now. But. Here was Carl Anthony Towns again. Talking about The unity that this team plays with. All um just you know this team has unity, it has camaraderie and Um It was special, something I thought we showed the world last year.
It got us far in the playoffs last year, and just kind of growing off of that from last year, having another year with each other, even more familiarity. You know, last year was a lot of change with me coming to the team. Um kale and just you know obviously so many moving parts.
So I think it was um You know, it's been something that has been building and it's been More trust has been built over time. And it's just something that has worked tremendously well for us. Yes, it has. Game one belongs to the Knicks. Uh in San Antonio.
I still like the Spurs in six, but That just felt like a ripe opportunity for the Knicks to go in there and take one in an opportune spot. And there, for a little while, didn't look like they were going to. I mean, the Spurs were controlling this game for a long time. I mean, I mean, down the stretch, the Knicks were down 13 in the third quarter, but. Jalen Brunson.
He just gets it going. And he had some big moments. By the way. Fast break points, a bit of an issue, also, at least in terms of the Spurs defense giving them up. Or the Knicks giving them up in transition early on.
That's why the Spurs kind of felt like they were in charge of this game in the first half. The Spurs They had 24 fast break points. Um in the first half. Nine in the second.
So the Knicks really tightened things up and closed things up defensively as well while they were doing it on the offensive side of the The floor. 336, 777-1600. What are your thoughts? On Nick Spurs, game one. Did last night make you believe?
Maybe the Knicks actually have a shot to take this thing home. Maybe they have a shot to win the whole thing. I want to hear from you. 336-777-1600. Jay Davis writes in on YouTube: none of this is possible if Brunson doesn't take that pay cut.
100% agree. We saw Tom Brady do this throughout. Patriots fan Morgan, you can attest to this. We saw Tom Brady do this throughout his career. You know, everybody wanted to talk about, oh, he's not taking as much money as he should.
Yeah, he's taking that extra money he could get, and they're spreading the wealth and they're winning rings. That's what they're doing. Yeah, winners take pay cuts because they realize money doesn't equal happiness, rings equal happiness. That's it, man. It's like you see these young entrepreneurs out here today.
You know, what do they do? They make their first good chunk of money and then they go buy some off-whites. They just go buy a fat whip, a nice car, the watch, a little Rolex, instead of taking that money and investing the majority of it back into the business. Like Mr. Beast.
Exactly like Mr. Beast. Investing it back in, you know, feed the machine. Continue to feed the thing that just got you the cash. That's what I say.
And Jalen Brunson, another prime example of that. 100% agree. Did you happen to see Morgan, the fan that uh That ran on the court last night. I tried to take a selfie. Yeah.
What's funny is if you really look at it from a certain angle, it looks like Wimby smiling at the camera very briefly. Yeah. He has been banned. He got arrested. And he's been banned from all NBA.
Arenas, that's via Tim Reynolds. uh of the associated press.
So like how do they enforce that? Is it just like trust that he won't? 'Cause I don't know. I, you know, I've always wondered that, like, when you get banned from an arena. Like I The hot I don't know.
I don't know how they enforce that. Like there's gotta be some type of... I don't know, some type of computer program that shows you everybody. I don't know. Facial recognition, recognition inventory database?
Like, I don't know. That, you know what? That would be a good question for out of left field next time we hang out with Darren Vaughn. That is a good question. Of VSPN.
Let's trans oh, by the way. Your opportunity to win.
Some post-Malone tickets. Later this hour, we're going to have multiple opportunities this show. We got two pairs of tickets that you could have the chance to win. Post Malone. Uh gonna be with Jellyroll.
It's the big ass stadium tour. It's what they call it. And They're going to be at the bank, Bank of America Stadium. June 9th? Very exciting.
I don't think I can make it to that show, but I wish I could. 'Cause I'm a big fan of. I'm not a big jelly roll guy, but I love Post Malone. Love me some posty. He's got range, man.
He's got some reach.
So here's what we're going to do. If you would like a chance to win post-Malone tickets, All you have to do is wait till you hear this sound sometime this hour.
Now they always say congratulations Work so hard for the home to vacation That's it.
So at some point this hour, you're gonna hear. I wanna make sure everybody got this. Don't want anybody to forget it. You're gonna hear this. You call the number 336-777-1600 for a chance to win Post Malone tickets.
When you hear that sound.
Okay. Before we get to the Carolina Panthers, Panthers blueprint dropped earlier this week. And You know, it was all about the draft. There were some good highlights from that. that we'll get to.
Let's talk about the Carolina Hurricanes. Game two. of the Stanley Cup. In Rollywood tonight and 336-777-1600, if you have thoughts on that game tonight, are you concerned about the hurricanes? We'll ask Josh Graham if he's concerned.
He was in the building for game one on Monday night, or whatever night. Was it Tuesday night? I don't know. Everything runs together. Two nights ago, whatever night that was, Tuesday.
We'll get his thoughts and how concerned he might have been for that. But 8 o'clock tonight. Game two. And the main storyline that came out of The Kanes game one loss. was the fact that They're top line.
And ye It has not been very good in these playoffs in terms of scoring the puck. Like that's what they're paying them the big bucks for. And you know, shout out to Logan Stankoven and Jordan Stahl and Nick Ehlers, who got in the net the first two of the game for the Kanes and has been great throughout these playoffs. But you need svetch. Aho.
Jarvie. You need those guys on that top line. To contribute offensively. I'm not saying they haven't done stuff because they have, but they haven't gotten into the net. And It's been noticeable throughout the playoffs.
But because of the way they're constructed, they've had other guys to be able to pick up the slack because they're a very good team, they're very deep. But once you get to I mean, the conference finals and the Stanley Cup, like, you need those guys to be those guys. And in game one, they weren't. Here was Taylor Hall. Yesterday speaking to the media about The top one.
We know how good they are, and we know how good they can be, and it's only a matter of time. You know, this league is weird. You grip your stick a little tight and you get into a weird matchup and It can look worse than it is, but things can change on a dime, especially this time of year. It really can. That's why it made me laugh.
Yesterday. when I saw Stephen A. Smith Talking hockey? Uh yeah, Morgan just gave me the side eye. Yeah.
On first take. And it was a YouTube clip and it was l it was captioned. Stephen A. says Carolina's done after dropping Game One. I like I get And it's funny, like, you read the comments on these videos too.
People just roll their eyes at it because they know. Stephen A. And first take. Have no business talking hockey unless they bring on PK Saban or somebody who talks hockey. Then it's fine.
But, like, what are we doing here? Nobody wants to, because the thing is. Anybody who knows hockey knows how quickly a series can change. Like, even if Vegas was.
Now, Vegas is really good and they'd be going back home. But even if the Kanes lost tonight and were down 2-0. The series the this series can still just change on a dime.
So it was like Taylor Hall's right, man. Like, things can change very quickly, but... To further drive the point home, and Rod Brindemore didn't name any names yesterday, but. You know, he said. At this point in the year, You need your top guys to be your top guys.
I mean everyone has to play well if you're going to win at this time of year. It's as simple as that. You know, your best guy's gotta eat on the score sheet, you know. That that's gonna have to happen if we wanna you know, get get uh well where we want to be. It's gotta happen.
Kane's Golden Knights tonight at 8 o'clock, Game 2. Sports Talk for People Who Yell at the T V. Oh, yeah. Good vibes. Good vibes in the studio.
Yankees beat the Guardians. That score went final 2-1. Needed that after dropping a game to them last night. I got a text from our boss, Mike Carbone. And he just sent me like a A bedazzled Uh Cleveland Indians logo over text.
like a really glit glittery Cleveland logo? He always does that when they beat us. That wasn't necessary. We handled that today. You're welcome.
Your chance to get post-Malone tickets here in just a little bit. All you have to do is listen. For this drop right here and call 336-777-1600. Not right now. But when you hear this, When you hear that next Give us a call to win those tickets.
Okay. Panthers blueprint dropped. Earlier in the week. And this was all about the draft. This was.
You know, they were giving us a A good look inside the war room. And um I always enjoy when these things Uh the Panthers know what they're doing. Like they have a great social team. And they know that Dan Morgan And his personality are the main attraction. And I just love some time within the first minute or so of the episode.
As they're setting it up, they're kind of showing you what's about to happen. You get a Dan Morgan moment that just makes you chuckle. And you know, we've gotten several iterations of this. Him talking about his boxed water. Him talking about being on the treadmill at 6 o'clock in the morning.
Apparently now he's been out on the golf course. I went golfing the other day. Yeah, it was nice to get outside. Relax a little bit. You think he's a good golfer?
Um Yeah.
Well, he said he was relaxing a little bit, so I would say context clues say yes. Yeah, I bet you. See, Dan's a big guy. I mean. You played a very physical sport, but that doesn't mean you can't be a good golfer too.
But You know what? After the draft that Dan Morgan just had. He deserves to be on the golf course a little bit right now for things really get going. He does. I'm glad he's out there golfing.
Hope he's hitting em good. But One thing is for sure. Free agency really set the Panthers up to have a good draft. I mean, when they address their their biggest need. An edge rusher by taking Jalen Phillips.
from the Philadelphia Eagles like that. That was a big move. It really was. And Between picking up Jalen Phillips from Philly Then getting Devin Lloyd. From Jacksonville.
Like they really like that I would not be surprised. If this defense, this should be a top 10 defense. It should be with the pieces that they've added. I mean, I would even say maybe five, six, seven before it's all said and done. They've got really good people.
Like, Jalen Phillips is going to be a really, really good player. Him and Devin Lloyd. Here was Brant Tillis. Talking about The additions of Phillips and Monroe Freeling. Monroe being available at 19 is really kinda like Jalen Phillips being available to us in free agency.
Is there a path? Yeah, and we can see the path. Is it likely? No, it wasn't particularly likely.
So that kind of gives you some insight to the way they were thinking about. Taking Jalen Phillips in free agency, drafting Monroe Freeling. They weren't sure if they were going to be able to pull it off. Like, that's how good of moves these were to kind of drive that point home. a little bit more.
And as you listen to this episode. It's pretty clear that Dane Morgan, Brant Tillis, they really wanted to get Monroe Freeling. The tackle out of Georgia. He was their guy. You know, they They felt like Tackle was going to be one of the best positions in this draft in terms of the amount of guys that you could get.
And Monroe was the one they wanted. And they really were not sure if he was, they weren't feeling like he was going to fall to him. They kind of thought that the Cleveland Browns might take him at six. And When the Browns did not do that, that was a big moment in the Panthers' war room. Here was Dan Morgan on the Browns.
I'm using T2. with the ninth pick in the 2026 Sennabelle draft. The Cleveland Browns select Spencer Bonneau. Tackle Utah. Yes!
Let's go! We didn't want a lot of tackles to come off the board, but when Fano went to the Browns, we thought that was the spot that Monroe was going to go. And when they picked Fano, we felt pretty excited. There's only so many teams that needed tackles.
So when they picked him, and there were still three tackles on the board that we felt good about at 19, we felt there was a good shot that Monroe was going to fall to. That was a big moment for them. That was a big moment when the Browns went Spencer Fano out of Utah.
So they got their guy Monroe Freely, and they do believe that he's a tackle for the future. There were a couple of different moments throughout. That Blueprint episode. Where they said he's the tackle of the future for us. Congratulations.
We're so off for now to vacation. 336-777-1600. That is the number to call. If you would like to win a pair of Post Malone tickets, Post Malone and Jelly Roll. They're coming to fittingly enough, Bank of America Stadium, the home of the Carolina Panthers.
Here in just a little bit, looks like the lines are already starting to light up. You can get it on that. We will have another opportunity for you to win tickets in our number two.
Now, getting back to where I was before I was so rudely interrupted. Although I don't need an excuse to listen to Pose Malone. I don't mind that at all. They They felt like they got a steal in Monroe Freeling, and they felt like he was going to be the, they feel that he's going to be the lineman. or the tackle rather of the future for them.
That might not spell great things for Iki Akwanu. Who? Is out right now. We don't even know if we'll see him this year. And he's, you know, in a contract year.
So Mm-hmm. It doesn't look or smell like Icky could be with the Carolina Panthers for the long haul. But we'll see how that all plays. plays out. Another move that they made, and listen, they had, they.
Crushed this draft. They crushed it across the board. There's a reason that Pro Football Focus gave him an A for the second year in a row, but I like this one better than even last year's draft. Although, shout out to T-Mac, who they got last year at number eight. They Loved.
Chris Brazzle. That's another thing that I took away from this blueprint episode. Chris Brazzle. Out of Tennessee. He was another guy.
In round three. They did not think they were going to get him. They didn't think he was going to fall to them. And the thing that is great about Chris Brazzle. Is he's fast?
He knows how to track the deep ball very well. And here's the thing. If you watch some of his tape, you watch some of his highlights. When he goes up to get the ball, You know, a lot of guys, what do they do? They go up and they might catch it, but they come down and they fall and then they're down.
They don't. They don't get any yak. They don't get any yards after the catch. Not Chris Brazil. When he goes up and he gets down the field, he comes down on his feet.
And that's one thing that Dave Canalis really, really liked about him. But the thing that was tricky. With Chris Brazzle. was one, they didn't think he was going to fall to him in the third round. 'Cause he's just that good of a player and a lot of people around the league like him.
They were also getting some interesting trade offers form, apparently. Like the Raiders called in, the Chiefs made a call. But To Dan Morgan's credit, he didn't take it. He stayed pat. They stuck with the prep that they had spent months and months doing.
And they stayed where they were at. They stayed patient and they knew what they wanted to do. And Chris Brazil did, in fact, fall to them in the third round, and Brant Tillis. Yeah. to give you kind of an indicator of just how much People around the NFL like this pick.
Here was Brant Tillis kind of driving that point home, followed by Dan Morgan's reaction to the pick, too. After We made the pick. It was just a flurry of texts from the teams that we were potentially trading with saying you you drafted the guy who we wanted. That's always a good feeling when you draft a player that he was wanted by a lot of other teams. And Morgan.
He couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe it. I mean, first team all SEC led the SEC in receiving yards. This is going to be a very interesting conversation this year, I believe. With him With Xavier Legette, with John Mechie, that receiver room for the third spot.
in that room. Gonna be very interesting. This is it. Are you ready? All right, hold on.
All right, do it, do it. All right, listen up. If it matters in sports, it's on the drive. Back at it on the drive, right here on WSJS, Josh Graham, former host of this show, now of Westwood One. Joins us in hour number two.
But right now. We gotta get a little smarter around here. We gotta get to some good things you can maybe take to a sports bar somewhere and quiz some people on. It's time to get to things you didn't know you needed to know. Things you want to know, you should know, but you don't know.
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?
Alright, this is a question for you. I didn't give you these things because I have a question for you here. It's a little trivial one here. What is the only city where all major sports teams have the same color? Ooh.
This is good. MOB, NHL, and NFL are the three teams at this city.
Okay, so there's not an NBA team here? No. MLB Can I gentlemen? Oh, I'm gonna be really upset when you say it. Oh, yeah.
If you need another hint, I have the colors. Yeah, give me the colors. You want both or just one of them? One of them. Yellow.
Yeah. Slash gold. Pittsburgh. There it is. The Pittsburgh Pirates.
Penguins, Steelers. Ha ha! Let's go! I was gonna say black, but that really won't have helped. That's good, that's a good one.
The Cleveland Indians slash Guardians now. Since they lost today, I figured we'd give them a little bit of love. The first big league team to have numbered team uniforms in 1916. I always wondered where that started. And I'm not giving any love to Cleveland.
Screw them. It's why we won. Go Yankees. Go New York. Go America.
The fastest red card. was by Lee Todd. In two seconds. Do we know what he did? It says he swear at the ref after he blew his whistle.
Oh, okay. Hell, Ref must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You know, sometimes they just come out and they make everything about them. Big me guy. I've been sitting on this one.
Since the playoffs started for the NHL. The last American team to win. The Canadian Football League was the Baltimore Stallions in 1995. Whereas the last Canadian team to win the NHL were the Canadiens in 93.
So the An American has won the Canadian Football League more recently. Then Canada has won their own sport of hockey. It's just a brutal time for Canada. In terms of Winning. Titles in hockey.
It's supposed to be your sport. It's what it's supposed to be, and yet here we sit: Carolina in Vegas. Yet again Tough time for America's hat. Canada. And a little bit of an odd one here.
Kite flying. is a highly organized Con professional. Ancient Sport in Thailand. Known as kite fighting. The country has celebrated and recognized competitive sport for centuries.
They have two different types of kites, the male kite and the female kite. One's like a diamond and one's like a six-sided Kite and the uh I didn't really understand the goal of it, but to my understanding, they bring down the other kites and try to get the female kite back to their base.
So the only reason I know about this is because of the Big Bang theory. The show? And um There was an episode where, like, at the start of the episode, they were coming up the stairs, and, like, they had just gotten back from kite fighting. That's the only reason I know what this is. Yeah, that's uh what we have today, but yeah, kite fighting was very surprising.
You need to take that Pittsburgh color question. Take that to a bar and like win some money on that one. Keep that one in your hat. That's gonna be useful one day. That's been Things you didn't know you needed to know.
So I see um Malika Andrews sat down with Jalen Brunson. Earlier. And uh He didn't want to talk about Larry. Larry O'Brien, he won he didn't want to talk about. She was asking, I don't know what the question was exactly because my sound's off here, but she asked him something about how cool would it be to win your version?
And he just said, no comment. He just didn't want to go there. He didn't want to play ball. I have heard he.
Some f Nick fans. New York fans. Try to say if he wins, he's gonna be like the new Jeter.
Okay. Settle down. Yeah, let's settle down here. Jeter, the captain. won many titles.
many, many titles. and some in a row. Settle down. And with respect to Jalen, hey, maybe one day he gets there. He won't.
But that's right. Because it's the captain we're talking about. Let him get his first title under his belt first. And Wimby might have something to say about that. Just.
Just saying. That video of the guy who ran onto the court last night, it's on the internet now. I know I saw it. It's super blurry. Can't see anything.
Brutal. I hope it was worth. Getting banned for life. He probably thinks it is. It wasn't.
No, I don't think it was either. From the stand to the studio. It's showtime. Put it on the line. Buckle up, we are fired.
This is The Drive, the Triad's longest-running live sports talk show. Your chance to win post-Malone tickets here this segment. You'll call 336-777-1600 when you hear the drop. I think you'll know when to call. You'll know it when you hear it.
But right now, before we get to that and Josh Graham. We gotta get to Caleb Wilson. Because Caleb Has been all week long the NBA Finals media correspondent out there. He's been making the rounds. Have you seen some of this?
How'd you get this position? I don't know. Jared McCain did it. The A few years back when he was going through the draft process. I don't know who did it last year.
Kayla Wilson's doing it, which is good on ESPN, heck of a personality. As somebody who actually got to cover Caroline up close last year, We can tell you for a fact, Caleb Wilson has an incredible personality and is built for this type of thing. But again, As I mentioned before, He's also got a chip on his shoulder that could... Propel him. He's not going to be the number one overall pick.
I think that's going to be A.J. DeBonsa. But... He might end up being the best player to come out of this lottery. He might when it's all said and done.
Maybe. I think A.J. DeBonsa is going to be maybe the best pure scorer to come out. But I just think Kalen Wilson is so raw and has so much untapped potential, but so much explosiveness and that chip on his shoulder, much like with Wimby. How he plays, Caleb has that.
Carolina fans, you know that all too well. And he was on ESPN set, and he was asked. if they thought he should be the number one overall pick. And of course, he said, absolutely. And he even went as far as to say I played all three of those guys, talking about DeBonsa, Peterson and Boozer, and I won and I was better than them.
I'm paraphrasing, but that's essentially what he said. Sure. He's coming. He's coming. But getting to the media correspondence stuff, here he was.
Having an exchange uh In Stefan Castle's media availability, asking him a pretty interesting question. I just wanted to ask, you know, I know you like Non-Vicious, I know you're all good that music. Give me your top three from Atlanta. Top three from Atlanta? Yeah.
Rappers. I'll put baby in there just out of respect. For sure. Um. I'll put powder in there because that's my man's bad.
Uh I'll put Glock in there. I listen to Glock before game, so Yeah, sure. It's a crazy question to ask. Got that question in there. Best Atlanta rappers.
And then He got some tips. They got some tips on how to do it. How to hold the microphone properly, 'cause you know that you know, it can get a little A little crazy in finals environments, Super Bowl environments. And as a reporter, you got to take command. You got to.
Gotta have command of the mic. And here it was, Caleb Wilson getting a little bit of a tutorial on this.
Well you got it, make sure don't n no one can ever grab that mic. Yes sir. You want to hold that thing like your life depended on it. It's a football.
So that's number one. And you want to keep it like, you know, keep it up here. I got you. Yeah. Getting some tips on that.
Shout out to Jorge Sedano of ESPN. But then. Mikael Bridges Who's a Villanova alum? He had to go there. He had to go there.
So I'm here with Mikael Bridges, you know. Villanova, Superstar, things like that. Uh what was your favorite memory in college? Should probably win our national championships. Winning the national championships for sure.
For sure. Unbelievable. Had to do it. Just had to. Thinking now might be a good opportunity to give some tickets away.
Let's just hit the ball. 336-777-1600. If you would like tickets to go and see Post Malone. With Jelly Roll. Coming to the bank, Bank of America Stadium, June 9th.
Going to be doing that. Looks like the lines are already lit, just like that concert's gonna be. Heck, I'd like to be there. I'd love me some post Malone. Not a big jelly roll guy.
But I do like some posty. I do like that.
Alright, I think all the levels are set. Showtime!
Now welcome to the drive, setting the sports agenda before dinner. Back at it on the drive, right here on WSJS, where This is uh this is fun. Welcome back to your old digs, Josh Graham. I like what you've done with the play. Do you like the beer skate?
Beerskade is in place. Yeah. That might be a good relic. Uh-huh. Four.
What will happen in just a few hours? Hello, Morgan. Hello, everybody. It's good to see what you've done here in that. You haven't wrecked the Porsche.
I haven't. You know, that's always what you told me not to do anytime I filled in. And now I drive this thing regularly. It's my everyday drive now. No pun intended.
There's an acronym. That Features a naughty word that you can't say on the air. That uh That I think is not as good as Don't Wreck the Porsche.
So, Don't Wreck the Porsche is better for. letter acronym we could use that doesn't It isn't for this family-friendly program. I see.
So you mentioned Kane's Golden Knights game two. You were at game one. We talked about this yesterday. Vibe seemed to be immaculate. out there with everything going on in and outside the arena.
However, Back and forth battle did not go the Kane's way. Tonight, game two. How concerned are you? Concerned. Because if you don't win tonight, you're not.
going to win this series. Honestly. It's I said to anybody who would listen. at Lenovo Center, probably to the point where I was becoming a nuisance. That this series, we know what this series is.
game two. Game two. Regardless of what happened in game one, it was going to be the operative game to circle because. A lot of weird stuff can happen in a game one. That You can explain away various different ways.
You can explain Vegas' slow start by having a long layoff. We saw that with Carolina in the last series against Montreal, the other game they lost in the playoffs. They were trailing 4-1, 14 minutes into the game. And you could kind of write that one away. And if Carolina were to pull away, you could say, oh, it's the atmosphere.
It was. Fill in whatever sort of blanks you want. Tonight All that is thrown by the wayside. And We're going to see who's able to get to their game quicker. And if Vegas plays the way it did over the last 40 minutes.
of game one. Then they're going to leave Raleigh up to zip. And this series is probably going to be a wrap. And we're going to point at that team as, oh, a team of destiny that pressed the right buttons and. Ejecting Bruce Cassidy out of the coaching chair with eight games to go in the regular season and replacing him with John Tordarella and then getting healthy at the right time.
This is just a team that's been there and kind of a lot like the Florida Panthers. Really difficult run-in in the playoffs for the Carolina Hurricanes that has you searching for questions, searching for answers, pardon. But it's If Carolina is able to get to its game and wins tonight, even the series it won. You immediately say, well, maybe. Game one's a bit of a write-off, like the last series, and they were still able to win it in five.
You're still feeling pretty good about yourself. I tend. to lean on the ladder. But I don't know that That that is based an objective reasoning or more trying to be optimistic and Wishful thank you. Josh Graham with us here on the drive, his former show on WSJS.
Now on Westwood One Sports Night, you can listen to 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. every night. Later tonight. Yeah.
Yeah. You and Lynelle Willingham, of course. It's just you tonight, right?
Okay, it is Thursday. It's me tonight, and you can. Yeah. So if you're looking for immediate reaction, whether it's just complete despondence or elation, you can find that later tonight. I think the Joes, they haven't made an appearance on the new show.
Joe Ovius and Joe Gilio, they're going to join us from the rink. Later tonight. So it's going to be if you are a Kanes fan and you're wanting immediate reaction. We're on WSJS. We're on YouTube as well.
You can find us pretty easily.
Now, one more thing on the Keynes game tonight.
Something that's been kind of lingering all playoffs has been. Svetch. Aho. Jarvis has gotten a few in, but That group has really just not been offensively what They should be considering what you're paying them to do. And I remember I asked Mike Manascalco, I asked Joe Gilio when they joined the show a couple of weeks ago, you know.
Do you need those guys to be that? To get to the finish line in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And Gillett. Maniscalco didn't seem as concerned about it because of like Stankoven and other Eelers and other people, but Jilliot was like, yeah, you need those guys to be that. And they were not that in game one.
Do you think we see that in game two? And how concerned are you about the performances of those guys? It's again, same answer. It's concerning because. This is not.
The second round of the playoffs. This is the Stanley Cup final. And that means the team that you're playing on the other side's pretty good, which means you got, you need everybody pulling on the rope.
So. It sounds like a bit of a cop-out answer to say. Yes, you're concerned, but also this team is constructed in a way that you can get past your top line not being. As strong as other top lines are because of how deep The team is. See, it works.
These things work in concert with each other. You can get away with that, and Carolina has to this point because the team rolls four lines, and those four lines, there's not a large gap between the production of that top line and then the fourth line with Kerry or Jankowski. And uh Eric Robinson. In terms of There aren't teams like that in the playoffs that roll four lines that produce the way that they're producing. That's why Carolina's gotten to this point.
But. I mean, to quote Sidney Lowe, who called that building home in the Novo Center for a handful of years. Your best players got to be your best players. And for Vegas, it was hard to shake the image. that it was Garbachev burying one to start the second period.
It was Mitch Marner with a fantastic pass. to Carlson wide open in front of the net. Like these are the best players on their team. And One thing I love about the way that Vegas approaches things is it's not one line that you have to worry about.
Now it's not for like Carolina, but they have Eichel. Separated from Uh, Mitch Marner, a lot of teams would just throw that line together like the way that Edmonton does, where you just have those top players, they're all compressed in one line, and oh my gosh, there's like a power play element to when they're on the ice. It's old school, and I like the way that Vegas kind of approaches separating those two at the top of their line. And their best players were their best players on. Uh Tuesday night.
Carolina had the opportunity with Svechnikov for checking a big hit, and then Ajo set up Jarvis for a chance. But. Hart, Carter Hart made the save. And then on the other end of the ice, Tomash Hurdle. Won the game for Vegas.
That was the difference, and we'll see if it's the difference tonight. Yeah, Sora Rod was wearing an NC State hat earlier today. I don't think he's going to wear a Sydney Lowe red jacket. At least, I don't think better be careful about doing stuff like that. I don't know about the vibes, the NC State vibes blending with the hurricanes.
Too much. I did have to correct some Canadian writers. I was sitting next to Johnny Lazarus, who's a great hockey. Uh podcaster. And they show John Shire on the screen Tuesday night, gets big booze.
And Lazarus tweets out. Man, there are a lot of Tarheel fans in here, said Johnny. There might be a good Vinatar Hill fans, but let me tell you a little bit about the Wolfpack. Let me tell you a little bit about this building and some of those names hanging in the rafters. Had to teach some Canadians a lesson there.
Canadian media as well. I told this story. This is true. Yes. So I'm on I'm just getting ready for the game, and I see.
Three guys in suits surrounding a cooler, a drink cooler in the media room. And one of them is holding a can of cheer wine. And I'm walking up to go get a drink. And I say. Do you guys know what tier wine is?
And as if I just asked something like, Hey, can I rescue you from this thing? Their reaction, the guy holding the cam was like, Yes, we've been all wondering, what is this? And I had to explain. I go, well, to your wine, it's a North Carolina delicacy. It's like cherry coke on steroids.
And then they pause. And two of the three then reached to grab cheer wines out of the cooler.
So my sales pitch led to some consumption of a North Carolina product. I hope it met expectations, but I'm going to add North Carolina Ambassador onto my bio in addition to Westwood One Sports Night and all those things. You really should. And Josh Graham with us here on WSJS. And I guess one thing that.
Can go along with that as talking about Russell Wilson, Wolfpack legend. Oh, Wisconsin, I thought. Yeah, that's my Wisconsin legend. Who really knows? What do we make of Russell?
What do we do with his NFL career? Because there was a decade where he was one of the guys, one of the main guys in the shield. By the way, anytime we talk NFL, we have this drop right here. Go ahead and let it rip. I'm back up.
Can you tell who hosts this show now? I I feel like you should know this, Morgan. I feel that me and Will. We're on inverse. like planes now where I long for talking more about the local teams, and Will longs more for talking about the NFL national teams that I have to talk about on a nightly basis in order to do my job.
So it's kind of like a norm. But yeah, since you played the sounder, we can do this. Yeah. And I mean, you talk about this for, you know, you talk about this stuff for a living now.
So who better? But what do we do with his career? Because then the last four. I feel like his Hall of Fame case took a little bit of a hit. I think he's going to be a Hall of Famer anyway.
I think he probably will. But I don't know how to place him. And I think he's ahead of Cam Newton. Because you won a Super Bowl? Mm-hmm.
Also, he had a little bit more longevity than Cam did in terms of. Excellence. 10 Bro Bowls. I put out the list. on my social media.
He's one of seven players, seven quarterbacks in NFL history to make 10 Pro Bowls. The names that. Also did that. Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre, Drew Brees. Tom Brady Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers.
That's the list.
So, will he eventually get in? I think so. And I think the part that's underrated that doesn't get talked about. Isn't getting talked about enough this week because of Broncos Nation, Let's Ride, Hey Seattle, all this stuff. Unlimited, how mockable it's spicy.
The Danger Witch Sandwich, all these things is how influential of a quarterback he was. Bryce Young. Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray, they all owe a debt to Russell Wilson because. prior to Russell. The idea of taking a quarterback that looks like Russell Wilson.
In the first round, completely unknown. But then he has the success. He does. And then let's just add the racial element to it too. Russell Wilson is just the second black quarterback to win the Super Bowl.
When he was starting in the NFL, Even though it was only 15 years ago, that was still a thing people talked about. Why aren't there enough black quarterbacks? Why aren't there? That's not a thing we talk about anymore. And I'm not saying Russell Wilson is the reason why that's no longer a thing.
But it helps when you win the Super Bowl. The second guy to do so behind Doug Williams. There's only one other black quarterback that is in the Hall of Fame. It's not Doug Williams, it's Warren Moon.
So The influence that Russell has in his style of play and doing so at his stature in the 10 Pro Bowls. I don't know how to place him between Russell, Eli Manning, Ben Rothlisberger that are right there down the line. But. Even Phillip Rivers, but I do think eventually Russell will get in. Not a first ballot guy, but eventually we'll get into the hall.
Okay. Last thing for you here on the way out. Josh Graham with us here on WSJS. Knicks take game one. You guys reacted to it live last night on Westwood One Sports Night.
We did. What did you make of that? Not surprised. I picked the Knicks. I was with you on Sunday.
I don't know if you remember. But I said no. Knicks win game one. I have the Spurs win in six. That's my prediction, too.
Look at that. I on a heater. I just felt the moment I saw Wimby crying on the floor after game seven and I see how young this team is, and I hear him talking about winning 15, 20. Right, that doesn't sound like a guy who feels like the urgency is right here. That sounds like a guy who feels like it's going to be given to him.
15. Oh, I've already beaten Oklahoma City. Everybody says we're going to crush the Knicks. This was the Thunder Series was the NBA Finals, the real NBA Finals.
Meanwhile, the Knicks are like. Um We haven't lost since April 23rd. We aren't thinking about 15, 20 years. We're thinking about Wednesday night. Wednesday night, that's what we're focused upon.
We're focused on Wednesday night. And they looked like a team that was more ready to play Wednesday night. It was, and we got to be reminded of things. Like LeBron James, as great as he is. He went to his first finals at 22, got swept by the San Antonio Spurs.
Now that's a great Spurs team.
Okay, handful of years later, LeBron's 27, first year with the Miami Heat. And He's losing a closeout game to the Mavs.
Well, JJ Berea is backing him down and he's scoring eight points and isn't attempting a shot in the fourth quarter. That's 27-year-old LeBron is pretty damn good. Victor Wemenyam is 22. He's still at 26 and 12. Yes, it's fair to nitpick.
Oh, you're playing too far from the basket. And why are you taking nine threes? And you're handling the ball too much. You have six turnovers. That's fine.
But he's 22. It's almost unheard of to see a point guard at 21. Who's in the NBA Finals, but that's Steph Castle. And your best two guard with respect to D'Aaron Fox, because Fox was awful last night. is uh your 20 year old Dylan Harper.
So Uh I'm not worried about the Spurs. I just felt last night was about lack of maturity, understandably so, for San Antonio. And a mature Knicks team took advantage to go up one zip. I still think the better team wins. That's why you play best of seven series.
That's what's different about the NBA versus college basketball. I think it's going to be a long series, and I think San Antonio wins at six. Same. Appreciate you being here. Were you on a Costco run?
Is that what you were doing? I have Zaxby's. Oh, that's right, you do. I'm a fan that sponsor this program. Yes.
They absolutely should. I do think, yeah. I mean, I'm a big fan of Wang's. Yeah. Love wangs.
And I don't think there's anywhere else you can get wangs in a drive-through.
So that should honestly Zach Spies, you should sponsor the program, but like that should be all your marketing. Like all your marketing should just be like, hey, you want wings in a drive-through that are good? Go there. That should just be it. and separate yourself from the rest of the chicken competitors, of which there are many in North Carolina.
I don't know why that was the punctuating. I don't either, but you know, just it happens how it happens. Thank you for that effect. This is payback for all the times. The drink's done.
Yeah, this is payback for all the times I punched the mic, which I still do on occasion, by the way, even as the host. I still do it. Josh Graham. You moved the trash can. I did.
It's over here now. There's two trash cans in here now. I get. We've grown. We've all grown around here.
That's. That's what we've done. Josh Graham, Westwood Westwood One Sports Night, 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. Tune in right here on WSJS.
Appreciate you being here. Glad to be here.
