Stay Current (6-2-22)

He's amused Cam Newton. He's been insulted by Charles Barkley. When some idiot in the press asked him, if you know what you know now, would you schedule this game?

He's interviewed Matthew McConaughey. I do say go Tar Heel. And he's taken on Big Blue Nation. He's just completely taking the wind out of my city. It's time for The Drive with Josh Grant. You are on a Thursday Drive and let's count it down. We are six hours away from tip-off of the NBA Finals. As for who I think's going to win, I'm not gonna overthink it. I've watched both these teams play a dozen times a piece.

Probably a lot more than that since October. And I'm gonna trust my eyes here. The Celtics are the better team this season. So I'm picking them. And I think they're gonna win in six games. But don't just take it from me. Listen to the experts.

Listen to the math. The basketball community seems pretty aligned on this. The people that I talked to, I was reading an NBA anonymous story in the athletic which had scouts, head coaches, executives giving their predictions anonymously on what they thought would happen. And here's a quote from that athletic story from an active NBA head coach. Boston's defense is good enough to be able to limit the easy buckets that Golden State generates.

That's what I'm considering. Boston could play big with Robert Williams, maybe Horford. They can play small with Grant Williams. They could switch a lot.

They're physical. He has Boston in six games. So that's the basketball community. They all seem to be aligned on Boston. The analytics nerds are even more overwhelming. They think Boston is gonna win.

And there's really not much dispute about it. Take ESPN's BPI. This is math. You crunch all the numbers, going back to October and in the postseason.

And this is what came out. ESPN's BPI gives Boston an 86% chance of winning the finals. Eighty-six percent. That's just one company though, Josh. You're just gonna rely on BPI?

Okay, how about 538? Eighty percent chance that the Boston Celtics win the finals. I don't always trust the experts. I don't always trust the math.

But when both those things are aligned together telling you the same thing, and it's also in line with what my eyes say, you bet I'm gonna buy into that. It's also important to stay current too. All the greats stay current. I've always told myself, as long as I do this, I'm not gonna be the guy that says, back when I was in high school and college, that's when sports were at their best.

Back in my day, that's when things were really good. And just draw on the past. Stay current. Why listen to new music? The greats stay current.

It's not just what was great back in the day, it's what's great now. At the Chris Rock Show last night, which I enjoyed. Chris Rock's 57 years old. But when he's talking about music, when he's making jokes and using examples, he's not drawing back on the Gap Band or going back to the 90s.

Hey, yo, when I was together with the fat boys. No. He's making jokes about Doja Cat and Lil Nas X from a 57 year old man. Why? Because Chris Rock stays current.

That's a big part of the reason Chris Rock is great. Stay current. When I hear, it's why Golden State is a favorite in Las Vegas. Las Vegas has Golden State as a favorite while all the nerds say they're gonna win and the basketball community says Boston's gonna win because they're reacting to the public. I was walking through Charlotte Airport and I ran into a listener on the way back to Boston.

Way back from Boston, my bachelor party last weekend. Guy comes up to me and says, Josh, Golden State, if they play Boston, Golden State's gonna win in a sweep. What?

Yeah, Will Dalton, executive producer of the show, by the way. The W and D. I mean, he says that and then I talk to him. I ask how much basketball he watches. Now, you know, I usually pay attention when the playoffs get here and when the playoffs come around. That's when I pay attention.

And you got to remember this. Most people are not diehards. A lot of people consume sports and politics the same way.

And here's what I mean by that. You have the diehards, but then you got to realize most people probably just thinking, OK, when's the next election? Then I'll turn on Fox or MSNBC or CNN. When's the next election? I'm not watching it day to day.

I'm not watching Bill Maher every weekend. Then you got in sports, the folks who are I'm not watching NBA basketball in November or in January. Tell me when the playoffs get here.

Then I'll start paying attention. And if that's your mindset, the casual NBA fan, you're probably thinking still Steph Curry. I watched them win the finals just a handful of years ago. And that's still Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. These Boston guys, I haven't watched a lot of them. Haven't seen them in the finals before. This series reminds me a lot of the 2014 finals Spurs Heat. That's not the one where Ray Allen hit the shot.

It's the year after that. And the reason why this series reminds me of that. Miami was a favorite in the series going in, even though San Antonio had the best record in the regular season. They had a lot of younger guys on the team. They had more guys in their prime. Miami was falling apart. So while it was some of the same faces, LeBron and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, it wasn't the same LeBron, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. They got beaten by Kawhi Leonard, who became a mainstay and Danny Green and some of these other guys that were just coming into their prime.

That's what this series reminds me a lot of. The blown leads with Boston, it concerns me. But the mismatches that Golden State's dealing with concerns me a lot more. Boston has more depth. They have a better bench.

I look at the size problem that we've been talking about a bit this week. Golden State, they've gotten favorable matchups up to this point in the finals. Boston hasn't.

They ran through the defending champ. Sure, they didn't have Chris Middleton, but that was a battle. Conference finals, Miami, they were in the finals just a couple of years ago. Who has Golden State gone through? Memphis and John Morant was out for half the series and you didn't play Phoenix, but instead you go up against the Mavericks who have one All-Star and one All-Star only. Okay, give me the Celtics. Golden State has the name power, but stay current.

Listen to the math. Listen to the experts who are telling you and telling you pretty clearly, it's Boston. They are the better team.

Don't overthink this. I don't know if they win the night on the road in San Francisco, but over the long span of a series, I'm trusting the math. I'm trusting the better team is going to win out.

I think it's Boston and I got them in six. On Twitter at WSJS Sports if you want in on today's show. We've got two more pairs of Doobie Brother tickets that we're going to be giving away, but this is for not Charlotte next week, but Raleigh next Saturday. So if you want to see the Doobie Brothers next Saturday, nine days from now in Raleigh, this is what you're listening for to win. Save the number 336-777-1600.

The same one that you call if you want to talk to the WD or potentially get in on today's show. So, well, Sarah Bradford and I, we had a terrific night in Greensboro at the Chris Rock show. Oh, he was so good. Wish you were there.

I do too. Oh yeah, we didn't have any extra tickets. We didn't have any extra tickets because B Dot was asking, he's like, you're going out there.

I don't think we have any more tickets. Yeah, B Dot was there. He had a great time hanging out with the folks from Beamer Tire, Doug Beamer and Company. Had a really nice night in Greensboro.

But do you know who didn't have a good night? Duke Basketball. They lost Trevor Keels, which it was 50-50 whether or not he was going to come back all the way through. Everything I was told, 50-50.

We don't know if he's staying in the draft or he's going to come back to Duke. And it came down to the 11th hour, literally. See, this isn't like the teenager using the word literally improperly. No, no, no. This is literally the 11th hour. He had to 11-59 to make a decision.

We get the Jeff Goodman report at around 11 something. It was 50-50. And he decided he was going to stay in the draft. Duke started preparing for life without him during the week at the combine. They put together a plan B. That plan B was Northern Iowa's A.J. Green, who shoots over 40% from three. They felt really awesome about him. Hey, if Keels doesn't come back, we got this guy we could plug in to be a starting shooting guard for us.

But it became a really bad night for Duke when, surprisingly to a lot of people, A.J. Green kept his name in the draft too. Yikes. So there goes plan A. which is Keels.

There goes plan B, which is Green. Now Duke's in search of a starting shooting guard. Joey Baker's transferred out. They have a freshman named Jaden Shutt coming in. And that's not one of those five stars that they're bringing in.

They got a lot of those. Jaden Shutt's not one of them. Jalen Blake's last year probably, you know, going to be a guy who maybe plays a role in a few years.

Allah Jordan Goldwire, one of those guys who develops. But he's not ready to step into a starting role yet for a team that might be top five in the country. So they need to find somebody. Fortunately, you're Duke. And Duke is Duke, as we all know.

But you got to find somebody in the transfer market who's going to be a fit. According to Steve Wiseman of the News & Observer, they have expressed interest in Texas. Texas's Courtney Ramey. And I hear people saying good things about Ramey, but I've watched a lot of Texas basketball too. Fun team to watch with Chris Beard this past year. They overachieved, I felt, in his first season.

But never really did Ramey jump out too much to me. Averaged around 9, 10 points a game the year before that, 12 points. He's been around a little while. Not a proven scorer. OK three-point shooter.

36, 36 points. He's been around 3. Not as good as the alternative of AJ Green or getting Trevor Keels back. So that one-two punch of losing out on Keels and losing out on AJ Green, that's a really tough blow for Duke. Connor O'Neal hanging out in studio with us. Covers Wake.

Covers the Blue Devils as well. Had a chance to catch up with both Sean Shire and Coach K yesterday at the K Academy. We'll learn more about that momentarily.

We need to get to the important stuff though. Will Dalton watched a few good men for the first time last night. What do you got next week again? 7. Ah. Yeah. Your heart's gonna be full after watching that. I see.

Gonna make you feel real good inside. But we're not talking about 7 yet. We're not. We're talking about a few good men. Do you want the truth? Can you handle the truth? I don't think you can handle the truth. Alright, let's go to the movies.

Unless you're talking about Star Wars, we'll be one. Movies aren't exactly Will's thing. I don't get it.

But that's about to change because Josh can't stand it anymore. This is At The Movies with Will Dalton. Will?

Yeah. Here's what I need from you. I need you to tell me what you liked, what you didn't like, your favorite quote, and give me a Rotten Tomatoes score for me for it. 0 to 100. But before you give me that, Connor O'Neill, how high up on the cruise meter is a few good men? The cruise? What do you mean by that?

I need a definition on the cruise meter. I guess. Like best work to worst work. His best movie to worst movie, the worst movie. How high up is a few good men?

I would put it... So I haven't seen the Top Gun sequel, so I'm a little incomplete here. I haven't seen many of the Mission Impossible sequels either.

A Few Good Men is right there under Top Gun for me in the Tom Cruise. Did you watch the new Top Gun? No. I hear great things about it. I wasn't a big fan of the original, so that's... Really?

Yeah. I'm not a big action movie guy and I thought it was cheesy. It depends on when you watch it. See, I've watched it in the last 10 years, so the music and all that didn't have a great effect on me. But I hear great things about the new one, so I'm definitely going to give that a look. A Few Good Men is my favorite Tom Cruise movie.

I think it's his best one. What did you like most about Top Gun... Not Top Gun. A Few Good Men, Will Dalton. I really enjoyed Jack Nicholson in this.

Yeah. I could go very cliche and say... Which Tom Cruise was obviously great too, but I really liked Jack Nicholson in this and he had some very good dialogues. And I always appreciate good dialogues. That's part of the reason why I love Game of Thrones so much is because just the dialogue, it's just...

They're nice to listen to. I don't know how to explain it better than that. Yes. He was Colonel Nathan Jessup. That's right. In this movie. If you don't think you can get him, back down.

If you don't think you can get him, back down. Okay. So you like Jack Nicholson. Of course you have that sequence at the end that might be the most iconic sequence in any movie. We've got to put in the nod to Aaron Sorkin here for the dialogue. Yes. That's the key here. First movie he's ever written.

Yeah. Here's the key of Aaron Sorkin. Aaron Sorkin's very good at adding a bunch of jargon, lingo, and making it sound cool and like something he knows things about. And writing it in such a way that you feel like you know what it's about too.

Even though I have no idea any of this law lingo that they're describing. Great stuff. So I actually thought Cruise out acted Nicholson in that final scene.

I did too. That part. Not hard to do.

Or it's very hard to do I should say. That part where he says you're under arrest you son of a bleep. Yeah. I lost it. You lost it?

I thought it was funny just the way you said it. Okay. Okay. I also like courtroom dramas. That's another little nugget in there.

Well this might be as good as you find in that category. What didn't you like? Because there's only one answer to this. I hope I got it right. I didn't care for Demi Moore's character. That's the correct answer.

Is that correct? Demi Moore. Great actress. Not good in this movie at all. No.

I rewatched it a couple days ago because I knew he was watching it and I hadn't seen it in a while. Oh yeah. Demi Moore. Didn't care for her. Yeah.

I mean also not a good not a good lawyer at all. No. I'm trying to remember what the line is. It's uh.

Strenuously objecting? No no no. We've already said that one.

It's uh I'm sorry I lost your set of steak knives. That's right. Right. And it's like they tried to explore.

No no butchered it with like a steak knife. There's there's they they went a little bit out there to make it seem like there was an interest and like she asked him out on a date but then they never revisited at all. And she was kind of cold to him. Yeah. I didn't like that.

I don't like that. She pushed him along. She motivated him but she has a lot better movies in her arsenal than I think her performance in A Few Good Men.

That's the best way. That's the kindest way I can put it for Demi Moore. I don't know. Do you have a favorite Demi Moore movie? G.I. Jane? Ghost? Never seen G.I.

Jane or Ghost. Honestly the first Demi Moore movie that comes to mind is that awful Charlie's Angels sequel. Yeah. Awful.

What are you talking about? That movie gets it done. Watch it about a couple times a year.

Okay so you didn't like Demi Moore's character. I'm impressed. I'm glad I got that one right. You nailed it. I feel good about that. What's the best quote? There's a lot to choose from. What's the second best quote I guess is probably the better question. That's right. I specifically like that scene where Jack Nicholson's character says there's nothing sexy or there's nothing on this earth sexier believe me gentlemen than a woman you have to salute in the morning.

Promote them all I say. I don't think we could talk about more of the quotes of Jack Nicholson in that scene. If you want to talk about things that don't age well that one probably doesn't age the greatest. I'm sorry I stepped out for a second. What were you guys talking about?

Uh I will tell you one thing I appreciated. Tom Cruise what was he slugging for most of the movie? Say what? What was Tom Cruise drinking for most of the movie? One item that he drank three times in the movie. Yoo-Hoos. He was drinking Yoo-Hoos. Yoo-Hoos. Love it. That's great product placement or it might just be Cruise because he's a strange guy saying I'll do this movie but I'm only gonna drink Yoo-Hoos.

Love it. And also how do we think Cruise is as a baseball player? Not good.

All those scenes where he's hitting rounders. Not good. Small strike zone. Yeah. Yeah.

That was another notable thing right? Not a good ball player. He was hacking. Yeah Tom Cruise taking some swings. He's so strange when he tries to do human type activity like run or kiss. Yeah Josh seems to think he's an alien. He is.

I think he is an alien. Runs funny. Kisses funny. Drinks from a bottle funny. Drinks funny things from said bottle. Hits rounders funny. Jumps on Oprah's couch funny. Yes. Laughs funny. He does nothing like a normal human being. Tom Cruise.

Okay here's the moment of truth though. Zero to 100. A few good men.

I don't think we've had a score from Will at this point lower than 90. No. Well because they're all like I feel like you give me like very very good movies.

I gave you The Other Guys last week. And I thought it was a great comedy. It's a fantastic movie. See. Yeah but it's not an Oscar winner. But in the comedy world like. Yeah. Okay. Comedies never do well.

Don't win comedy. Yeah. So you need to give me a movie that's like questionable. People are on the fence about it. Maybe seven is that.

The rom coms don't do well either. See us next week. Okay.

You know what. Let me go 92 on this. A 92.

Go a 92. Demi. Demi knocked off about eight percent on this. Wow.

That might be the meanest thing that you've ever said on this show. Yeah. I appreciate it. I respect it. Eighty nine percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

You know you want to hear something funny. I almost was going to give it an 89. But I gave it a 92 though. Yeah it was the who's that's what did it.

I hope you're keeping tabs of what you're scoring all these so we can go back the way that I don't know when you were a kid if your mom or dad like marked your height on a wall somewhere. They didn't. But I saw people who did. My mom did. Connor they do that.

You get that treatment for you. One year. I think we I think we had a post like you know.

The crown mold with not crown molding but like the post between the kitchen and the hallway was had some marks on it for my height. That's what I want this to be like. I want Will to see his progression of the movies that he's watched. I'm trying to come up with like I'm trying to resource here on my phone and look up the on the fence movie. Yeah we see that's what I think I need.

I'm down away from the class. I'm down for Will or for Connor throwing a movie at Will that he could see. I was thinking maybe in the spirit of the Elvis movie coming out in a couple of weeks. Is there a music biopic movie? Dewey Cox, Walk the Line.

Yeah I mean Walk the Line is great though. Is it? I thought so. Okay I mean hell I could just go watch Elvis and do that. Yeah. No well the point of this is these are movies that you haven't seen.

That's true she was great as June Carter Cash. Let's do let's type in music biopics just to see what comes up. See if anything noteworthy. I already said that the movies. Well is there a music biopic that's shameful that he hasn't seen before? The point also has to be wait a minute you haven't seen that movie? Okay.

Huh we could think on this for a second. I got a lot of movies here on my IMDB list. All right what do you got just throw just throw some movies out. I'm like I'm I'm coming across all of them you know.

I'm searching things too. It's not it's not on the fence but Pretty Woman. Wow Pretty Woman. It's not on the fence it's not on anybody's fence of whether it's a good or bad movie but. Have you ever seen School of Rock? Uh I think so who's in that?

Jack Black. Yeah I've seen that. Pitch Perfect. I think I might what's that about? It's like acapella like an acapella movie Anna Kendrick Rebel Wilson. I don't remember it enough if I did see it. Almost Famous have you seen it? No. West Side Story. I don't think so. I'm just thinking of movies that are music related. If anybody is on the fence about Almost Famous come to the studio and I will fight you.

That's right that movie's too good we can't do that movie that movie's too good it's gonna be another 92 if we did that movie. Yep. Well I tried to dig up some for your perusing. Tell us how Coach K is doing. You visited with him. Did anyone ask about his new puppy?

That was the only substantial thing that I was there to get information on. I mean. Coach K looks like somebody who has not been a Division 1 basketball coach for two months. He looks refreshed. We were talking in between you know we had five or ten minutes between talking to Coach K and talking to John Shire and the consensus among media there was wow he looks refreshed. He no longer looks like he's been sleep deprived for the last six months like we saw him in New Orleans. I thought Wright Thompson laid that out beautifully in his in his long form feature about Coach K in that you know the hours get long even for a person in their mid 70s.

It's it's a grind of a season. And so removed from that now it was interesting like Josh I don't know if you remember last year at the beginning of the year we talked about we talked to Coach K and then we talked to his staff. He didn't want to use the word last. He wanted nobody saying that four letter L word and it wasn't loss it was that last.

Or love. Right. So now he doesn't he seems to bristle at the word retirement like he is not retired. He just stopped coaching. So because because he's still doing stuff at the school he's obviously he's involved with the K Academy. John Shire made a joke about you know it's not the S Academy it's the K Academy.

It's the 19th year of it. And so and like Coach K has a I think he has a speaking engagement in Vegas on Monday. He's doing stuff he's just not coaching basketball. So that was really interesting to hear his separation of I'm not retired I'm just not coaching basketball anymore. How did Shire sidestep the question about Trevor Keels? He basically didn't. I mean I that was that was my question was when is the last time you talked to Trevor and this was you know going down to the minute this was at about 338 yesterday and he said he had talked to him earlier that day. His message about Trevor was the same that it was about a month before when we talked to the coaching staff that they wanted Trevor to feel supported.

They wanted him to feel like he was making the most informed decision possible. There was you know at least that John Shire is going to tell us there was no you know getting a hundred text messages telling him how much of a mistake he'd be making if he left early and what what he would be leaving on the table if he if he left to go to the NBA and left Duke. There's none of that that goes on anymore.

If there is it's it's a lot less than it would have been 10 to 15 years ago. I got seven slash eight movies here. That I'm pretty confident will hasn't seen that you let me know if this checks the box of what we're looking for here. La La Land. See I haven't seen it. I haven't seen it. Dirty Dancing. Another one I haven't seen.

Okay. I haven't seen it. I feel like a lot of people like Dirty Dancing though right?

Yeah well I mean if it's a movie that you have to see I don't think people do that for bad movies so to speak but like if we're talking about ones that should be ranked in the 90 percentile that's different and also I see some mixed opinions the further you go back with movies. We could do Footloose. Heard Good Things. Blue Brothers Blues Brothers.

Now that's that's interesting. Drumline. Oh have you seen Drumline?

I actually think I have. Really? Who's in it? Well I don't remember but I'm pretty sure I remember watching this movie. Nick Cannon.

Yeah I have seen that. Wayne's World. No. Yeah I'm not a big Mike Myers fan. John Cusack High Fidelity.

Nope. Whiplash. Oh I think that one has probably aged terribly for even as as new of a movie as it is. You haven't seen Whiplash have you? Okay so or we could just do Top Gun.

Call it a day. I mean. How we feel about Whiplash? So you like the idea of Dirty Dancing. You like the idea of Blues Brothers and Whiplash.

Facing it off your reaction. Which movie is Will gonna watch in a few weeks? All I know I have not seen Whiplash. I just it's one of those that I've seen enough clips. I've seen enough references. I've seen enough you know. Sure. Honest trailer breakdowns of it that I get what it's about. I'd lean Blues Brothers. Okay.

Because that's kind of a cultural phenomenon. He was also an intern on the David Glenn show Once Upon a Time. So you've got to see the Blues Brothers. That's it. Blues Brothers is the movie.

You're gonna watch that two weeks from now. It is insane. Everybody is insane. What's going on in there? You're on the drive with Josh Graham on WSJS Sports.

How cool was this? Rick Riley. National Sports Media Association Hall of Famer.

And also I'd say maybe the best MC of the event. I don't know. Ryan McGee or Wes Durham might get mad at me suggesting that. Rick Riley how would you feel if I say that you are NSMA MC extraordinaire in Salisbury slash Winston-Salem?

I feel like I wish you'd say it louder. God I remember all those years coming to Salisbury then Winston-Salem then I quit and no one has asked me about me since. They just forgot me completely. Well I don't think they've forgotten about your books though.

There are a lot of really good ones and this new one so help me golf. We were talking and I love the concept of this book. A few weeks ago we were talking with Bob Ryan another guy associated with the NSMA and one of the best writers out there. He has a new book out that is a really creative deal about score books and how personal they can be and some of the things that have come out of all the games he scored dating back to the 70s. It's a great and the book fair they have at the NSMA is great next month or actually later this month that we're excited about.

Tell me about So Help Me Golf the concept of it. 30 second version. We're sitting here at a bar. I want to get this book. What is it about? Well it's a story a book I've been collecting string on for 40 years ever since I fell in love with golf at 11 years old and so it's funny true emotional real stories all about remember I used to do that column at SI. Yeah all about that length and there's a lot of human interest ones and I'll just give you one this is the kind of stories in there at LaHinchin Ireland one day there's a on the fifth hole which is a blind par three. I don't know if you've ever played a blind I don't think there are any in America but occasionally in Ireland you'll find one you got to hit it over a hill you don't even know if there's a green over there and in one day four guys all Americans made holes in one in the space of an hour and a half it was the craziest confluence of luck of all time so in the bar that night in LaHinch everybody's going crazy and everybody's buying each other drinks and people are members are in there by getting free drinks and the caddies are in there getting free drinks and like the townspeople are in there and it's the greatest night in the bartender's history until his wife walks in and she's got she's got their six-year-old boy by the ear and then and then she marches in behind the bar and he's trying to make kinnises and shamasons you know and she says you tell your dad what you've been doing this fine day you little rascal and the kid goes I've been putting balls in the hole the kid was the kid was hiding behind this tree running out putting the ball in the hole so he could just so he could watch him go crazy and and that's how four people made a hole in one in one day that's that's outstanding four aces in one day that's not that's not bad Rick Riley is joining us here we were talking about this around about 15 minutes ago or so the the match happened again yesterday what's your level of interest in watching four non-golfers play golf on television not much but my favorite person in sports though is Charles Barkley oh no no so whatever he's a like he he could do like you know fish fishing and I would watch it because he's so funny but I love when he when he tries to give other golfers crap because I've played a lot of golf with Charles and really it gets so bad you can't even watch so one time we were playing in that Tahoe celebrity thing you know and at that thing once you get to double bogey you got to pick up the ball and put it in your pocket so by the time we got to the fifth hole I finally said there must have been 500 people around the green waiting for Charles and I said ladies and gentlemen if you want to watch Charles Barkley play golf you got to come to the tee box he's never getting to a green today and Charles came up and just towered over me and he goes it's not nice to make fun of fat people Charles see I bet you he has this fun teddy bear like persona on tv but people forget that this guy was such the ultimate competitor when he played so when you are playing golf with Charles Barkley oh by the way we're being joined by Rick Riley the book so help me golf why we love the game is the book that you need to be picking up from the New York Times best-selling author when you're playing with Charles what's the balance of him not taking himself so seriously versus being competitive well first of all the night before he likes to stand on the bar and pour people shots of Patron all free and so one night we did that at Tahoe and I think his bar bill was ten thousand dollars so then he comes to the tee box and he's hung over but he's still in a great mood and the there's no seriousness to it all and it's and then so you're on I was on tv a couple times and every time he noticed the red light came on he would stand over me as I was about to hit and he'd go and he whispered to me hit it you I'm like damn it how am I supposed to hit it and I hit it in the lake once I hit it out of bounds once the guy's huge Rick Riley with us here uh so if you're not that interested in watching those four guys play golf you're talking about NFL players playing golf out there uh probably do need some golf majors to make the things more and uh to make the event more interesting what is um what is the best non-golfer golfer that you've seen on the golf course from a professional sports standpoint so professional athlete that's not a golfer that you've seen out there stroking it I guess Steph Curry I played with him once and it's a beautiful thing to watch and you know he's just everything he does is so graceful he helped us go to he went to Africa with us to hang nets for my foundation nothing but nets we hang bed nets over family so they don't get malaria he actually came with us and so he's a wonderful kid he's a great guy of course the great greatest shooter ever live I think but I mean I'm telling you if that kid had taken up golf and forgotten basketball this kid would be on tour he's unbelievable Rick Riley with this here you wrote a book about a former president's ability or inability to golf uh what how many have you ever golfed with the president yes uh and I don't assert that we get 10 bucks from the other guy it was just me and him and he took seven mulligans well he took he tossed them by that and then one time I'm in there for like par for like a six inches and he says well that's good Rick and then he picks up his chip I'm like Donald did you just take a gimme chip in oh yeah yeah I never miss those I'm like you chip like Edward Scissorhands who are you kidding and then but you know he's a lot of fun and he's you know buys you a bunch of stuff afterwards but he he goes you know you know I've won 12 club championships and you know he's not a bad player he's a nine or ten even though his handicap the official handicap is 2.8 which is if he's a 2.8 then Queen Elizabeth can pole vault yeah whatever that's Trump but anyway I said so how did you win 12 I don't believe it you're talking about the club championship against the best guy he goes yeah whenever I buy a new course I just play the club championship by myself and then I'm the club champion which is fine and kind of hilarious until you start running for president and telling people you're the club champion 18 times because you're a winner and you should vote for me because I'm a winner like wait a minute you're not exactly a winner so when's the latest you caught up with Tiger Woods you know I don't cover pro golf anymore since I guess two years ago and Tiger see people like why are you a Phil guy you always you always defend Phil and you're always ripping on Tiger I'm like I love Tiger's game I just wish someone had raised him better he doesn't tip he doesn't you have dinner with him he doesn't throw in he's he doesn't he doesn't have much fun playing golf it's all kind of joyless whereas I mean if you watch the matches you know you're going to have to watch the matches Phil won with Charles Barkley I mean he he wants everybody to score well Phil is great with the fans Phil tips 500 bucks to caddies and then carries his own bag so you know you can say yeah okay Phil's an idiot sometimes he is Phil's an idiot this Saudi thing is proof he can be an idiot but he he also let you into his life he's I've seen him stop the car in a rain storm and see a bum on the side of the road get out give the bum his his golf umbrella and give him 500 bucks you know so so it's for that reason I I wish he would come back I don't know why he's holding off but um for that for that reason I'm a Phil guy not a Tiger guy so help me golf is the book Rick Riley is with us he's in the he's in the state of North Carolina right now and this is a book that you need to read if you love golf and you love Rick Riley like I know a lot of people do the NSMA Hall of Famer you're spending time with us I'm signing the tomorrow night at Quail Books in Raleigh you know where that is yeah Quail Books seven o'clock and I hope to get up and be funny for 20 minutes and then sign and I don't it doesn't have to be my book if you got a Stephen King book I don't care I'll sign anybody's book I just want people to come Rick Riley I'm sure you're not going to have a problem with people showing up to a thing like this uh on the way out uh you talked about Phil a little bit the I've always been told for years Rick somebody's got to write the Phil Mickelson book like there's a lot here with Phil that we don't know about and we hear the good stuff but the idiot stuff is are the things that we don't ever really see published that often what has bothered you about the way that Phil Mickelson's been portrayed the last few months well you know I read the book and it's it's not all rips you know it's kind of a standard biography of a great player who's a fascinating guy but there are some rips in there a couple things that bother me okay apparently there's you know he saw a document that Phil lost 40 million dollars over five years he was making 45 million a year in in purses and endorsements so it's not like he's broke um yeah Phil Phil does say too much I remember for a while he was telling people I'm not fat this is subcutaneous fat I'm like Phil everybody's got subcutaneous fat that's what fat is you know so you know the you know the cat the cat is called Karnak because he got all the answers um so so the book is fair the book is well reported um I just wish he'd come out and say look I'm sorry in no way is can you compare the Saudi government that beheads gay people and and kills American journalists to the PGA tour that's just 10 ways from stupid so he needs to apologize that was dumb I noticed he didn't uh apply or enter the the first Saudi tour now there's one spot left and it could be Phil's gonna do it but if he does it I would just be really I think that would be really sad because I don't see how you wake up in the morning no matter how much they give you and support a government that that beheads its people Rick Riley the book again is so help me golf tomorrow he's going to be in Raleigh signing that book and whatever book you you you show up with he's going to be signing it at Quail Ridge Bookstore at seven o'clock in North Hills over there in Raleigh Rick um hope to see you sometime in the triad again soon and appreciate the time where should I play tomorrow morning say it again where should I play golf tomorrow morning if you could get into Sedgefield you should go there or wake Wakefield Country Club open course right yeah yeah yeah yeah Wakefield Country Club in Raleigh that's that's one that you'll have some success at too oh yeah no chance to get in there yeah nah nah nah you can talk your way into anything Rick thank you guys yeah no doubt that's Rick Riley joining us here and now to drive with Josh Graham on WSJS sports I didn't have a chance to work this into the show and there's not a natural place for me to work this into the show but in our studio I've got college softball on Oklahoma softball is 55 and 2 they have won 39 of those games by the mercy rule 55 and 2 you find me a team in sports that's more dominant than that team right now and while we were talking about guys who are not coming back to college like Darion Seabron, Jake LaRavia, Trevor Keels, Drew Timmy another example will of literally not like the high school team way of describing the word literally literally in the 11th hour yesterday decided he's going back to Gonzaga so if you're a Carolina fan and you're like well for sure we're going to be the number one team preseason Carolina's right there in a mix of UCLA and Gonzaga with Timmy back where you might be able to slot those teams one two three in whatever order you please and Kentucky's pretty darn good with a lot of guys they have returned too another guy who's pretty darn good is our guy Darin Vaught who you know from USA baseball and high point play-by-play and now this weekend doing some high school play-by-play and this is what's interesting about this Darin you've done so much baseball called a lot of great baseball at the collegiate level and you've never called high school baseball before never once wow like I mean think about it I did triple-a baseball for the Durham Bulls beginning last summer I called the U.S. Olympic squad last summer in their exhibition games I've done as good of college baseball as there's ever you you'll find um have never once in my life called high school baseball Burlington right but I'm going to be in Burlington at the the home of the sock puppets Burlington Athletic Stadium the 2a and 4a state championships are taking place there too so I'm going to be in Burlington at the home of the sock puppets are taking place there tomorrow and Saturday and I'm your guy on those broadcasts where can we find it uh the NFHS network they do as you might know a lot of high school games um nationwide and they'll have a link for that I'm sure I'll push it out on on my Twitter and and social so um it's it's out there just search North Carolina you should be able to find a streamable link at Darren Vaught doing that on Friday and Saturday that's where you can follow him on Twitter you spelled out your credentials of what you've covered baseball wise I don't think anybody that we have on regularly knows as much about college baseball as you do or cares about it as much as you do so tomorrow must be like in addition to doing state championship baseball it must be like Christmas to you which in-state host do you think has a better draw the North Carolina Tar Heels or my East Carolina Pirates I the Pirates have maybe the toughest two seed there is in the Virginia Cavaliers yes something about this ECU team though man I it's we you and I have talked about it they lost their ace a week before the season started their opening day shortstop is now a pitcher in the rotation hadn't thrown since high school um it's it's to me the best job Cliff Godwin's ever done I I just can't imagine them not being in Omaha it just it's so it it's not even that it's the least talented team he's ever had to have a chance at it but it would be the most unconventional would just that just makes it feel like okay well this is going to be the one that does it right um it's a win-win for me man I see the College World Series starts the day before my wedding so I'm not going and I've always said that you know if ECU goes to the College World Series I'm going to be the first time I'm going to be there the first time that it happens well I'm not going to go if it happens this year so if it happens I'll be happier than anybody but if it doesn't I won't feel guilty about the fact that I'm not able to make it yeah and you know you you mentioned the others um hosting in our state in Chapel Hill you know North Carolina's got Georgia as a number two VCU is a really really really good mid-major team at that as a number three there they might be my favorite number three in the entire field um I like Grand Canyon as well they're playing in the Stillwater Regional but dude North Carolina's on a tier two and Josh it wouldn't surprise me at all to see both North Carolina and ECU in Omaha I don't I don't I don't know that I would put money on both of them making it but it it wouldn't surprise me they're both capable the Pirates have won 18 straight games North Carolina fresh off winning the ACC Baseball Championship Wake Forest is in the College Park Regional they've got UConn and Jim Pender's team that's pretty darn good been pretty good for a while it almost seems like every year they make the tournament uh what do you give the Deeks of Punchers chance at getting out of that regional yeah I do it's not a bad draw for them um UConn is tough I would be a little more worried about UConn than I would the host Maryland actually um but look this is a good Wake Forest team it got to 40 wins the pitching has been unreal as of late Rhett Louder their ace is a big part of that he won the ACC pitcher of the year gotta go deep on Friday gotta go deep tomorrow at one I would yeah I would I would think that that's a requirement but we know these guys can hit so you know what if it happens he gets touched up a little bit I mean this it's a capable lineup they don't refer to them as Rake Forest for nothing um they can put runs on the board the last time the Deeks made the tournament they got out of the regional round with uh a nice group on that team Gavin Sheets and company in 2017 Darren Vaught with us here we're talking baseball before we get to unusual questions if you want to send them in at wsjsradio you could send it in 336-777-1600 we'll answer those in just a second really just an opportunity for you to ask whatever you'd like sports or otherwise otherwise it's usually more fun Tommy Tanks he entered the transfer portal today where on the scale of shocked were you that this happened and does that level of shock exceed the level of shock many felt on Monday that state didn't make it into the field I it's a fair question I'm less surprised at this today than I was when when state didn't make the field now that comes with a caveat I was made aware that this was a possibility by some people when I was in Charlotte at the ACC tournament last week and sort of poked around a little bit including with Elliot Avent um when I saw him sort of gave him a hey uh what's what's the deal with Tommy um mainly I wanted to see if if Tommy was going to play with the collegiate national team this summer which I think as far as I know is a possibility and uh that sort of thing all indications are it's been rumored for several weeks that he wants to be closer to home he's from Florida um I knowing what I know about Elliot Avent and the coaching staff if that was the only reason they would be really really upset that this is something that Tommy wants to do because whether it be Florida State or the Gators those programs didn't want to take the chance on Tommy that NC State did initially right so I think it would be fair for any coaching staff to be perturbed and annoyed at the idea that Tommy was going to come to Raleigh and and do what he did for a season be maybe the the best freshman season ever in college baseball it's definitely up there in the ACC um and then jump ship just to potentially even go to a conference rival in Florida State but there's there's the issue of his his positioning and you know he hurt his shoulder which led him to mainly be a designated hitter for NC State but he's a corner infielder I think next year he was mainly going to play first base for NC State Tommy seems to be dead set as being it's being reported by David Hale um of ESPN that this is this is a bigger factor than was initially thought Tommy is apparently dead set on he's a third baseman now I think if you were going to get a couple more years at NC State unless he's trying to become a draft eligible sophomore next year I don't know if that's possible with him um so if he is sure but if not you were going to get a couple more years and typically like you can get into the position that you want to get during a three-year career um I don't know that years one and two especially when you break home run records in the batter's box really matter that much in in terms of your in terms of your your prospect status which is again rumored to be what he is focused on here and he wants to be able to play third base every day because it helps his MLB draft status Darren Vaught with us here let's get weird answer some unusual questions last week guys everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference that's not right I thought it was an unusual question and it's okay it's time for unusual questions with Josh Graham on twitter at wsjsradio 336-777-1600. Will Dalton you had one queued up on the way in what was that question so in light of you going to Chris Rock last night I was curious for you guys whether it's for just nostalgic reasons or sentimental or the place is just electric what is like the greatest event sports concert or otherwise that you have ever been to I think it might be recency bias but I think maybe the top three have happened for me in the last five months you've had a lot where I was at Coach K's last game at Cameron and I was at Coach K's last game that's that's number one New Orleans 70,000 people I cried at the under four time out when it was tied because it was so cool it was overwhelming I knew how it felt when you see those videos of you know like teenagers crying when the Beatles started playing in the 60s that's that's how I felt watching Duke and Carolina in the final four so that's that's number one probably but going to see the Abett brothers at Red Rocks going to Fenway Park and watching the Orioles win last weekend pretty darn cool watching Paul McCartney and Winston Salem the previous weekend uh yeah a lot of really cool stuff but number one has to be that Duke Carolina game in the world yeah this is going to take some some sifting through we've got categories here um okay recent recently I've got a pretty good sports one because I got to go with High Point to Rupp Arena at Kentucky when they put Tubby Smith's name up in the rafters that that was even like aside from that was even like aside from have being able to call the game that like that that was just such a cool couple of days and uh I mean an unreal environment because Kentucky fans love that guy yeah you were sitting next to me for the 2019 Duke Carolina game in Charlotte that's for sure I mean if you want to talk best game yeah um the only time Zion really played against Carolina yeah nothing's going to top that I mean they like I mean you know when our friend Ed Harden who's covered everything there is to cover walks away from that game and says it's the best game I've ever covered you just you just know you were there for a really big moment um concert is hard to narrow down I'm gonna you you give me hell for Jimmy Eat World all the time and the fact that I like Jimmy Eat World I don't you give me hell because I claim to know Jimmy Eat World and I can only name two of their songs right right right I don't give you hell like a Jimmy Eat World no you don't it's a good correction it's a good correction uh I saw them it was a it's a 10-year anniversary tour of their album Futures and they played the record from front to back in sequence pain good song off that record yeah uh they played it at the Orange Peel in Asheville which is one of the best venues there is I wish that would impress I thought I would impress you with that some Jimmy Eat World knowledge you knew one song off of one album but the other one I knew was pain from the Futures album yes yes not to mention the title track Futures which is oh I didn't know there was a title track anyways they played it top they played it front to back at the Orange Peel it was it was spiritual for me well Dalton how would you answer this question this one's pretty easy for me this was uh the Carolina Duke game in Chapel Hill in I guess 2020 when I was a dg show intern um you know David Glenn had asked me you know have you ever been to a Carolina Duke game before I'm like no he let me go cover it for the show and it was only my second time ever going to the Smith Center I hadn't been since like fourth grade um and you know going down on the court and being like me to this chair beside me me to this chair beside me to Cole Anthony and all the other heels like it just oh and it was the double OT game that's correct the game was unbelievable yeah so getting this one written in if I open the refrigerator what's the strangest thing in there I like this one you open the fridge Darren Vaught strangest thing in your fridge right now I might have thrown them out I had beets in there recently yeah and I was putting those in um like a blended blended smoothie type thing superfood beets uh-huh I think those went bad what I had left of them I was not great about consistently using it was a lot of beets um yeah that's probably the weirdest weirdest thing in your fridge do you have any answer off the top of your head cuz I don't right now I might need to think about it um is it weird to have like the new like having chick-fil-a sauce from chick-fil-a in a bottle is that strange if by weird you mean you know like uncommon no I don't think that's uncommon like a lot of people a lot of people keep chick-fil-a sauce now how about onions in the fridge do you keep those in the fridge or do you have like a separate section that you put onions oh like a bin my parents used to have this wooden bin yeah yeah yeah it sat next to the refrigerator and it was always confused me I'm like okay if you've already like sliced onions they go in the fridge let me ask this question I went to Chris Rock last night top comics usually have you lock up your phone during the show I'm about it I wish more places would do it how would you feel about like a team saying you know what if you go to our games you can't be on your phone we're gonna lock it up no chance no chance social media is too important for them well I'm asking you how would you feel about it well I I would I think it's too important I think I think the experience you want families taking photos together you want all of that like you you just want you want people to be able to use their phones you could do that at the parking lot outside yeah that's not as aesthetically pleasing it's not the same I mean yeah I mean you're not showing off Camden Yards adequately online if all of the photos at Camden Yards are out in the parking lot I saw people posted pictures from outside the venue saying I'm gonna go see Chris Rock and there's a sign and all that stuff it's just what's because they had to otherwise they would post them from inside oh but everybody guess what what I'm saying is everybody turned out okay we all turned out fine I I I don't like the pictures when we look at like us open champs and in the background now every single every single great shot is everybody with their phone up but when you turn up the Masters nobody's on the phone because you you can't have your phone in there so guess what everybody's free hands are free for a good old clap hey good job it's great and I'm plugged into this event a little bit more I know Cameron did it Cameron did it for example that'd be great like oh it'd be awesome it's already small we could do it I could totally see Cameron into her stadium doing that'd be great I don't I don't know they'd still sell that play they would sell that place out like of course they would that's what like it wouldn't matter it's kind of like the Masters like you could do it and you know I wish they would experiment with it so you know what you're you know we're just gonna I think I think you you're on to something in that there are certain venues that could pull it off yes yeah I don't think it's in every venue thing every sporting event thing but certain venues for sure could pull it off and it would we would I you know I wouldn't scoff at the idea that Cameron indoor spectators couldn't take photos or whatever I mean you know what's your unusual question what's the best second wind a song has ever had oh in light of stranger things yes which I'm a huge fan of I don't know if you guys have seen the new season the song running up that hill by Kate Bush which was released in August 1985 because it's prominently featured in the show in the new season of the show has like surged up Apple's charts it's like it's the most successful digitally Kate Bush has ever been it's gotta be are we counting Whitney Houston's cover of I will always love you Dolly Parton are we counting that no see I don't think the covers don't count I think you know what I mean like it would have to be like never gonna give you up by Rick Astley great example because of the Rick role X on a second life it that's a great example the running man similar way yeah I like I like where your head's at yeah I think Rick Astley might be the right answer to that I think it has still it's still funny still is every time it happens I don't know if I've been Rick rolled in a long time but if I were Rick rolled today I think it would be great Darren Vaught I think yours really even know enough of what a Rick roll is to Rick roll us right now he has no idea we're talking about what's a Rick roll and then we're in Australia will you it was such an opportunity for you just to to blare some Rick Astley never gonna give you up let you down turn around Darren search you yeah yeah great stuff appreciate you bro and I'll talk to you next week enjoy the high school baseball and also the baseball of college baseball variety at the regional stage nice well said a lot of baseball can I say baseball again baseball baseball baseball baseball