2000's Pop Music

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

Tune in to The Drive weekday afternoons 3-7 on Sports Hub Triad. The NFL's tampering period has begun and things are crazy right now. Most notably, in the heart of Texas. One team trades away arguably the best wide receiver in the sport for maybe the worst contract in the NFL. While the other finally made a decision that we've all been waiting for on its star quarterback. And let's start with the Dallas Cowboys giving Dak Prescott the franchise tag today. When I think about brand names in sports, you're not going to find a bigger one than the Dallas Cowboys, at least in the NFL. In America, it's the New York Yankees, it's the Boston Red Sox, it's the Los Angeles Lakers.

Those are the ones that stick out. And when you are one of those name franchises that players are always going to go out of their ways to try and play for, flexibility is always key. And with Dallas, this franchise tag, it makes sense for both them and I also think for Dak Prescott as well.

And I'll explain in just a second. First for Dallas, it leaves them with options. Signing Dak to a long term extension that would have him making between 31 and 35 billion dollars a year. Doing that would limit what the Cowboys can do because it's a salary cap sport. It's going to limit Dallas' ability over the next five years to bring in the big ticket free agent. You know you're going to have to pay Dak a certain amount each year.

Brand teams should always try to be flexible. Look what happened with the Los Angeles Lakers when they brought in LeBron James. Everybody remembers that day.

It was huge. That's the biggest news in sports. But equally as important as the Lakers bringing in LeBron was the decision by the Lakers to give JaVale McGee a one year contract. And to give Contavious Caldwell Pope a one year deal.

And to give one to Ray Sean Rondo. And to spend all of the salary cap on guys who were not stars. It limited their flexibility. They couldn't make a trade for Anthony Davis last February where it potentially could have helped the Lakers as they tried to make a push for the postseason. They had to wait until the offseason when those deals got off the books.

They had limited flexibility and it hurt them. It's okay if you're not flexible just as long as you know you're bringing in stars. One of the best players in your sport or at the position you're talking about. I don't think anybody is convinced Dak Prescott is a top five quarterback or a top ten quarterback in the NFL right now. So I'm completely cool with Dallas saying yeah we're going to continue to try and play this out. We're not going to give you the five year contract. We're going to give you the franchise tag. Looking at other options, what would happen if Tom Brady said I want to be a Cowboy? Right now there is nothing stopping a team from negotiating with the greatest quarterback ever. Jerry Jones right now could say to Brady we want you to be the guy.

In terms of places that are fits, of course New England is the number one choice because of the familiarity and all the titles that they've won in Foxboro. But aside from that, branding? Check. Weapons? Check.

Offensive line? Check. Roster? Check.

Stability? Check. Cash? Check. Everything's a check with Dallas. So if they wanted to give Brady a two year contract and move on from Dak, somebody would trade for Dak Prescott.

You're just leaving your options open to you. Robert Walsh is the producer of this show. You can tweet us at sportsubtriad. Ryan McGee of ESPN, one of our favorite guests, will join us in 25 minutes. Robert's going crazy. This is his favorite time of year. Not just because usually in the month of March we're talking about brackets and college basketball. But for Robert, he loves offseason transactions in the NFL. He loves the draft, which is a month away. But Robert, what would your reaction be if in the next month or two Andrew Luck says, You know what?

I've been missing football a lot this year and I want to get back in it. Do you think Dallas would be more interested in pursuing that long term than, let's say, committing to Dak Prescott today on March the 16th? I don't know. I would be a little hesitant about that just because the guy did just give up football really quickly and wants to say he would do that again. But can you agree having your options open allows for other opportunities?

Yeah, for sure. So that's the point I'm making here, whether it's Brady or Andrew Luck or who knows. Maybe Cam Newton plays for the Panthers this year or somebody else, says he wants to test free agency.

Like, hypothetical situation. Carolina trades away Cam. Cam plays for somebody and he's awesome. Says he wants to test the free agent market. If Cam's great at 31, 32 years old, I want that over Dak Prescott over the next four or five years.

But if you've already extended Dak, you're tied to Dak. So this gives Dallas a lot of flexibility. They're not convinced he's a Super Bowl winning quarterback yet or else they make that decision today. If they're convinced this is a guy you win a Super Bowl with, there's no question Jerry Jones is giving him big money. But he's won one playoff game. And we just watched a Super Bowl where one team was better in almost every single facet of the game. San Francisco a lot better on Super Sunday, a lot better on paper than the Kansas City Chiefs, but the one area they were not better in was quarterback and they ended up losing that game. So Jerry probably watches that and thinks, okay, if I'm in a similar spot as Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers, am I convinced Dak can get me where I want to go?

Your thoughts welcome on the subject, 336-777-1600 is the phone number. It's also in Dak's best interest to play. I already see some saying, oh, just hold out like Zeke Elliott did. Zeke Elliott's a different case. Running back, the lifespan for a running back is a lot different than the lifespan for a quarterback.

The quarterbacks, they're coddled, they're protected more than they've ever been before. Unlike Dak Prescott, Zeke Elliott was a top 10 pick, which means he made tens of millions of dollars on his rookie deal. Dak, meanwhile, he made less than $5 million so far as a Dallas Cowboy quarterback. You look at combined his first four seasons, he's made less than $5 million just from the Cowboys alone.

There are incentives and you have sponsorship deals, endorsements that probably bulk up that number. But just from the Cowboys, less than $5 million. With this franchise tag, he's set to make between $31 to $33 million. So I think Dak's going to want to play with that contract. He's been relatively healthy. In fact, he's been perfectly healthy. His entire career as a Cowboy so far, win this year, you're not going to find a team that's more equipped to win than the team you're currently on, Dak Prescott.

So it's best for the Cowboys that he's on a franchise tag and it's best for Dak that he is on the Cowboys. All right. Since today is a day we'd normally be talking about brackets and filling one out ahead of Thursday and Friday in Greensboro, which was set to host NCAA tournament games. I figured it's just fitting this week we do five brackets and five days for things that are completely unrelated to basketball. This is our way to keep March Madness alive in addition to speaking to Ryan McGee and Jay Billis on today's show. And today's topic that's getting a lot of attention on social media at Josh Graham Radio at Sports Hub Triad is our 2010's music bracket.

It's 2010's pop music. It's just like a regular bracket, seeded 1 through 64, four different regions. We're going to break down a region in four different segments, then get to our final four. Robert, what's the first region we're doing?

Yes, it's the Jayonce region, Robert. And let's start with the number one overall seed in this 2010's pop music bracket. It is Beyonce featuring Jay-Z, Crazy in Love, going up against Khaleesi's milkshake.

And while her milkshake does bring all the boys to the yard, it's not going to bring Khaleesi to the round of 32. Beyonce gets an easy win there. In the 8-9, the Foo Fighters, Best of You faces Johnny Cash's final hit, Hurt. I think it's just too much Foo Fighters here. That song has stood the test of time more than Hurt has.

Give me Best of You in the 8-9. Beyonce, Single Ladies. Very trendy song in the late 2000's, goes up against Hips Don't Lie by Shakira. If this was 2019 rather than 2020, it might be Beyonce, but since Shakira was in a Super Bowl halftime show, just last month, I'm going Shakira into the round of 32. Ooh, big upset there. In the 5-12, it's Eves, Let Me Blow Your Mind, going up against Bootylicious by Destiny's Child.

This is the Jayonce region, so a little bit of home court here. I think Destiny's Child will take out Let Me Blow Your Mind. Jay-Z, 99 Problems. One of those issues, not R. Kelly's Trapped in a Closet, which is an 11 seed. Tough break for R. Kelly. We can't have R. Kelly advance at all in this bracket, so 99 Problems is through. Rihanna's Umbrella, goes up against Nickelback's Photograph. Oh, a tough draw for Nickelback.

Umbrella, through to the second round. Britney Spears's Oops I Did It Again has Nelly's Hot in Here. That's a good matchup.

It is. One of the first CDs I ever bought was Oops I Did It Again, so I'm gonna have to favor Britney here. And the 215, gosh, Jason Mraz's I'm Yours, Unseeded, or lowly seeded here. Under-seeded in a great way against Jay-Z's Empire State of Mind, but that song's still a banger, so I'm going Jay-Z and Alicia Keys.

Second round matchup. It is a 1 versus an 8, Crazy in Love versus Best of You, Foo Fighters. Crazy in Love, just too much strength here. I like going to the Power Conferences and the Power Songs, those are the ones that generally advance far in the tournament. Beyonce and Jay-Z through to the Sweet 16, Bootylicious versus Hips Don't Lie. I still am riding the Shakira train here. I think it's gonna take out all of Destiny's Child. Yeah, you have one star in Beyonce, but I really think that Kelly and company and Michelle really holding back Destiny's Child, Robert. The cool thing here is she's gonna get to see Beyonce again next round, but I don't know if she's gonna be able to take out the number 1 seeded, Crazy in Love this time. Oh no, Bootylicious is out, Robert. Hips Don't Lie is gonna take out Bootylicious. That's what I'm saying, Shakira will get to see Beyonce next round.

That's right, real drama here. 99 Problems versus Umbrella. I think Umbrella is just a tremendous song. This is a really tough round of 32 matchup.

I like Umbrella to get through. Oops, I did it again versus Empire State of Mind. Empire State of Mind, the 2 seed gets through. Here are your Sweet 16 matchups. Crazy in Love versus Hips Don't Lie. Good run, Shakira, to the Sweet 16 as a 13 seed.

Not enough to take out the 1, though. Crazy in Love to the Elite 8. Umbrella versus Empire State of Mind. Really conflicted about this, but Rihanna, this is still her strongest hit.

Umbrella to the Elite 8. I just had a debate about a month ago with somebody. Who is the stronger artist, who has the stronger resume as a solo artist? Rihanna or Beyonce? You could argue these are the best songs, respectively, by these two.

Crazy in Love and Umbrella by Rihanna. Jay-Z is featured on both songs. I think the tiebreaker is who Jay is better on in what song. Or what song Jay-Z is better on. I think it's Umbrella, so I like Umbrella to get to the Final Four out of the Jayonce region. There you have it.

Out of the Jayonce region, it is Umbrella by Rihanna and Jay-Z. Ryan McGeager to join us in a little over 15 minutes. Perhaps the worst NFL trade in the last decade just happened, though.

We'll explore just how bad it was next on The Drive. Tyler Murray, just now on Twitter, says this. All caps, it's 50 outside and we ride him with the top down. What a beautiful day. He just got a new wide receiver to throw the ball to. And he might be the best wide receiver in football.

DeAndre Hopkins is now a Cardinal. Arizona traded away the worst contract in the NFL, arguably. And David Johnson to the Texans in addition to a second round pick this year, a fourth rounder next year.

They also get the Cardinals from the Texans a fourth rounder this year. My theory on dysfunctional organizations is this. When a team is dysfunctional, it can produce disastrous results. What's funny about this is that you have two of the most dysfunctional teams, not just in the NFL, but in all of American sports doing this deal.

So the question I have right now is this. What's more surprising about this headline? That the Texans were able to justify a reason trading DeAndre Hopkins in exchange for that David Johnson contract. Or that the team fleecing the Texans has a general manager that traded up for a top 10 quarterback. A quarterback in the top 10 only to trade away that quarterback a year later after firing a head coach he had just hired. And draft another quarterback, number one, who's now tweeting about his window being down and it being 50 degrees. What is crazier about this? That it's Hopkins being traded by the Texans or that the Cardinals are the ones fleecing them? 336-777.

1-600 is the number. Now, let me be perfectly clear here. Just because this is a bad trade that I wouldn't do doesn't mean the Texans got a lot worse today. Like, Houston was a playoff team last year, a team that almost went to the AFC championship game, and I still think the Texans are a playoff team without Hopkins on the roster. If you think I'm crazy, go through the list of teams that have elite wide receivers and count how many playoff wins that team has. When you boil down what the most important things in the NFL are, quarterback's number one. And Robert, how many left tackles in the NFL, or just tackles in general, would you say are great? Truly elite tackles. If you're including right tackle as well, probably 15. Right, but if you're talking left tackle...

Probably 7-8, 10 maybe. And the Texans have one of them. So the Texans have a quarterback, who we can all agree is an elite quarterback, and they have Laramie Tunsell. They gave away a ton to get Tunsell, and they traded up to get to Sean Watson. There's dysfunction all around the Houston Texans organization. They have a head coach who's acting as a general manager right now. It's as dysfunctional as it can get. However, today, who do you say is a better team?

Houston? Or say, in the same division, one of the more well-run organizations in all of football, the Indianapolis Colts. Right, the Colts, they do everything right. They draft well, like they were dealing with an awful situation, Andrew Luck leaving, and they were still competitive with Jacoby Percetic quarterback because they're good at evaluating quarterbacks and talent. They have a good GM, they have a great offensive line, they have a good defense. This is a team that does everything the right way.

It is the definition in that division of organizationally sound. The Texans are the exact opposite, yet today, I would take the Texans 9 times out of 10 over the Colts. Why? Because they have the quarterback, and they have the left tackle.

Those things are going to cost you. Watson's contract, everybody's talking about Pat Mahomes' contract. How much do you think Watson's worth? A ton! Whatever his rookie deal was.

A ton! Watson's going to be worth a ton when that time comes. It's going to cost you something. Which means, Houston probably could not afford to re-sign Tunsell, Watson, and DeAndre Hopkins. So, I don't necessarily disagree much with trading away Hopkins knowing that you have Will Fuller and knowing you have Kenny Stills on the roster who you acquired last year. I have less issue with that decision singularly than I do, okay, you're bringing back David Johnson and you're restoring a second pick, a second round pick, that you don't have because you traded for Duke Johnson's average ass.

That's the reason that I have an issue with this. The Texans, they are not well run, but don't go to the next step and say the Texans are no longer a playoff team because I don't believe that to be true. We're on Twitter, it's sportsubtriad. Ryan McGee of ESPN is going to join us in 15 minutes.

Gosh, this is just crazy. David Johnson, he's only rushed for 1,000 yards in a season one time in his five years. He's only played 16 games twice out of three or five seasons.

Last year, he played nine games and rushed for 345 yards. It's just a mess. Do you have that sound of Bill O'Brien going at Texans fans that TMZ dug up last year? Like, Bill O'Brien had to apologize for this.

This is how I had imagined, if a Texans fan got close to Bill O'Brien today, how the exchange would sound. You suck too! You suck too! You suck too! You suck too! Fuck you!

Yeah, you suck too, mother bleeper. Bill O'Brien's message to Texans fans today in all likelihood. Robert, another piece of sound to cheer people up. Sound that I think people need to hear.

Sound that I think everybody wants to hear. It is Ed Orgeron doing a PSA, trying to give us good information in a time where we all need it. For every winning team, a key to success is learning the playbook. That's true in football, and it's also true as we take on the coronavirus. The spread of coronavirus is a serious matter, but there's a game plan for keeping residents as safe as possible.

Everyone has a role to play as we face these channels together. Cover your cough with your elbow like this. Wash your hands thoroughly, a full 20 seconds. If you're sick, stay home.

If you think you should be tested, phone your health provider first. Avoid close contact with anyone who's sick. Protect your at-risk family members, including the elderly. If you're not at risk, take care as you go about your daily business.

Get the facts now from coronavirus.gov and your state health department. We're all in this together. Let's team up to protect our health.

Go Tigers. Sounds like you added something to the end of that video there. Yeah, I was a little upset we didn't get there anyway.

Right. Come on, Coach O. We're all waiting for it.

I watched all the way till the end of that video. One, because Coach O's voice is delightful. And two, I just wanted to hear a Go Tigers at the end, so Robert threw it in there.

Go Tigers. Yeah. Makes me happy. Just hearing that man's voice.

Like, if that could be the voice of Siri for me, I'd do it. Oh, yeah. 100 percent. You're gonna have to take a left on North Main Street in Connersville. This is what I found on the web close to your question.

Like, it just said looking up things for you. What's open to eat right now? Here's a list of restaurants near you that you might want to try to eat at. Jason's Deli. It's quite good. I don't know if you would say quite.

It's pretty good. Speaking of people that just make me happy. Ryan McGee of ESPN. We've got some more hillbilly sayings for him.

He, I think, has another minor league baseball story to share with us. ESPN's Ryan McGee will join the show next on The Drive. We're back on the air. It's The Drive. You suck.

And yet you keep returning. Sports Talk. It's offensive and people can get hurt. The Drive with Josh Graham.

It's round. On Sports Hub Triad. I think we all need to laugh more, have some fun. Ryan McGee of ESPN is the perfect person to turn to in times of good humor and lighthearted stuff here. It's good to have you with us, Ryan. And we were just talking about during the entire commercial break what it would sound like if Ed Orgeron was Siri on our iPhones telling us when to take turns and such because he really soothed the nation with his PSA in the wake of everything going on. How much more assured were you hearing Coach O's PSA?

Oh, no. Coach O, I'm more reassured by anything that Coach O says. And what's interesting is because of Marty McGee and the SEC Network, you know, we've gotten to know Coach O pretty well. And he's actually kind of mad at us, me and Marty, because we had these television commercials we did with Will Muschamp. And here Coach O was on the eve of the National Championship game. And he sees me and Marty in New Orleans and he's like, hey. And we walk over there and he's like, how come Will Muschamp got a commercial?

I don't have no commercial. And we're like, well, Coach, you know, Will Muschamp was like an hour from us in Columbia and he came up for it. And so Coach O immediately says he wants to fly us to Baton Rouge to do like one of these pickup truck promo commercials. And I'll tell you something about Coach O. So we all have received notice to kind of quit making fun of Coach O's accent.

Of course. And we still don't know where that came from. But Coach O came to us and wanted to know why we weren't doing his accent anymore on Marty McGee. And we told him it's because we had been told not to do it anymore.

And he gave us permission to do it. So, no, anything Coach O says makes me feel better about the world. How would you suggest to sports fans they spend the next two months?

Like, what's your advice? Well, so I'm a little spoiled because, I mean, you know this, my dad was a college football official in the ACC and the Big East and the ACC again for 40 years. And so we have this massive library of games. I'm actually, I've just finished a book with Dad that's going to come out in September about his officiating and my brother and I and how we kind of lived this life of listening to Dad getting screamed at when he was refereeing games. And so my advice would be get on YouTube, get on ESPN Plus, and you'll be shocked at what you can find.

Because, you know, sports in the end are about memories. And if we're all stuck in our houses with our families and it sounds like we're going to be stuck a little longer than we probably thought, then, you know, go find the game that is your best memory. And watch it with, if they're still around, watch it with the people that you experienced it with when it happened the first time.

And if your parents and grandparents aren't around, then show it to your kids. Is there a game that you use as an example of doing this? Say again? Is there a game you've used as an example this weekend? Yeah, no, listen to, so my dad's last game was the 2009 BCS Championship game, Florida, Oklahoma.

Not a great game. It was Tim Tebow and Sam Bradford, and Dad was in that game. My dad, my brother, and I watched that game together on YouTube just a couple nights ago. And not only that, we went back and watched, like, we didn't just watch the great games that Dad had. My brother and I also subjected Dad to the game, the calls that he missed. They're like two calls that still bug him like crazy. And so we found him on YouTube and showed it to him again just to torture him. Why are you doing that? That's not nice, McGee.

I'm researching a buck, man. I wanted to see how Dad reacted when he watched, like, the two plays. And my brother and I still contend he got this call right, but he says that he did not. So yeah, but that's what I say. I say, and I think some of the programming is going to be coming on ESPN in the coming weeks. You know, SEC Network's already, like, right now showing a marathon of the Saturdays in the South documentaries. And I'm telling you, I'm not just shilling. The ESPN Plus, between Peyton's places, and the 30 for 30 library, and all that stuff, I mean, you can...

I mean, I have not gotten work done before, prior to any virus lockdown, because I was watching all that stuff. And in the wake of the news two months ago, I had a chance this weekend to watch all the details by Kobe Bryant. Yeah. Hearing this guy break down basketball for hours is, it's amazing what he does.

And Peyton Manning, too, on ESPN Plus. Okay, the last time we brought you in here, McGee, we had hillbilly sayings for you as a way to train you for a segment that's taking over the world on Marty and McGee, which is, of course, hillbilly headlines. So, Robert, he is a hillbilly.

Like, he grew up Clemons, right? Look, I prefer Rube, okay? Let's not be throwing hillbilly around. Hey, years ago, I heard Jeff Foxworthy was asked, some TV guy was trying to corner him on rednecks and racism and all this. And Jeff Foxworthy said, listen, he goes, I don't care what the terminology is. He said, redneck, hillbilly, Rube, whatever you want to come up with, he said, any human who has a very distinguished lack of sophistication, he said, that's all they are.

And so, yeah, we take whatever term you want. What I learned when I lived in Connecticut for two years was, they got way more rednecks up there than we do in Charlotte. Robert is a Rube, to use the term that he is more comfortable with, and he gave me three hillbilly sayings for you to try and break down here, to analyze with your analyst hat.

It's ESPN Ryan McGee with us here on the show. Okay, first one, I gotta hit the bushes. I gotta hit the bushes? Yeah, I gotta hit the bushes.

Okay, you got me on that one. Robert, I batted a thousand on the last round. I gotta hit the bushes. Robert, what's that mean? No, no, no, wait a minute.

Let me think about this. You got it, dude. You can figure it out. So if I gotta hit the bushes, that means that I've been at a party, and I've had too many beers, and y'all stay at the party, I gotta hit the bushes. You're close. What is something that you would do if you drink a lot of beers at a party? You go to the bushes and use the bathroom.

Dang! I was trying to not talk about doing anything on your show, but you wouldn't let me out. Slicker than snot on a doorknob. Yeah, I mean, slicker than snot on a doorknob, that's just, you can't get ahold of it and do whatever you gotta do because something's just too slick, it's too wet. I couldn't jump over a nickel to save a dime.

That's just, that's a cheap, that's a dude that can't keep his money. Excellent work. Do you have a minor league story to share with us? If you don't, I will easily accept an ACC-related story from your book regarding your dad. Well, you know, well, okay, well, you know what? We get close to September 15th, sidelines and bloodlines, that's the working title of the book.

I just noticed this morning, it's already on pre-order for Amazon, even though the book hasn't been edited and there's no cover yet, but they're getting ahead of us and that's good. But have I told you about Richie Rich at the Asheville Tourists? You have not told us about Richie Rich. Okay, what I worry about now is we've been doing this so long in front of a lot of stories.

Repeat. All right, so the summer that I worked for the Asheville Tourists was the summer that they were shooting the film Richie Rich with Macaulay Culkin, who was coming off of Home Alone and was arguably the biggest movie star in the world. And they were shooting it at the Biltmore House, which was Richie Rich's house. And it was cool because Eddie, what's his name, the old pitcher from Major League, he was like the smarmy security guard and Edward Herman.

Of course. Yeah, Edward Herman played Richie Rich's dad. He was on the Dodge commercials and, you know, Lost Boys and all that stuff. Those guys would come to the ballpark every night and just hang out and they would kind of hide, you know, on the top of the ballpark. Well, Macaulay Culkin, we only saw him once because they called over to the office looking for a couple of baseball players to audition for a part in the film. Well, the team was on the road for like a week and a half. So we lied and said, yeah, we'll send over a few ballplayers. And it was just us. It was like the four interns and one of the sales guys.

And we showed up and they took us out behind the Holiday Inn where apparently the crew was staying. And Chris Columbus, director of the film, like had us all us pitch. And we all were acting like we were actual minor league pitchers.

And Macaulay Culkin was sitting on the bench watching us from like 100 yards away. Well, the guy that got the part, his name was R.J. Martino, if you ever see the film, Richie Rich and Reggie Jackson are on the grounds at the Biltmore house. And the deal is Richie Rich is playing baseball with like the New York Yankees. And it's this super slow-mo, it's like the opening shot of the film of this pitcher for the New York Yankees. That is not a major league pitcher or a minor league pitcher.

That is R.J. Martino, who I think is in sales now for like Tampa Bay Devil Rays or something. And the funny thing was was that I don't think he ever got paid. And so the boss of the team always said, well the good news is R.J., you're in the film, Richie Rich. The bad news is they paid us more for the pitching screen that they used in the film than they did for you.

But yeah, we totally lied. To this day, the director of the film thinks he got some young up and coming minor league star to be a pitcher in the film. And the reality was it was our number two sales guy. Why wasn't it you?

I don't know. They didn't pick me. How did you pitch? I tell you why they picked R.J. R.J. Martino, as you can tell, is like an Italian New York guy. And there he was wearing a Yankees hat, and he was a huge Yankees fan.

And so he looked like a New York Yankee. Speaking of roofs and hillbillies, the skinny guy from Rockingham who threw it 48 miles an hour, I don't think I was fooling anyone that I was a minor league pitcher. You're the absolute best, Ryan. Stay safe. It's good to hear your voice. Yeah.

Hang in there, everybody. You got it. That's Ryan McGee.

He's on Twitter at ESPN McGee. Coming up, why the biggest, most interesting NFL headline didn't involve a star player in the league. That's next on the drive. And then there were four. Every day this week, we are going to be filling out a bracket.

Today is 2000s pop music. Robert, should we reveal what we're doing tomorrow, or should we wait to tell people on tomorrow's show? Maybe they should have to hang on to hear that. Maybe we do that at the take it to the house section.

Potentially. We will tell you what tomorrow's topic is in 10 to 15 minutes, but we're down to our final four. Appreciate the time from Jay Bilas today and also Ryan McGee of ESPN. If you missed any of the show, the best of podcasts you can find on SoundCloud, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Google Play.

Also, the Jay Bilas interview going to be up shortly. But let's get to the final four of the 2000s pop music bracket. The madness continues on Sports Hub Triad. Your final four out of the Jayonce region, the number three seed Umbrella by Rihanna and Jay-Z featuring Jay-Z. Out of the B-Rabbit region, it is 10th seeded, the Cinderella of this tournament, Fall Out Boyz Sugar, we're going down.

In the top right region of our 2000s pop music bracket that you can find on Twitter at Josh Graham Radio at Sports Hub Triad. It is number one seed out of the Little Monsters region, Lady Gaga's Poker Face. And in the bottom right, Coffee Black region, it is number two seed, Kanye West's Gold Digger that made it to the final four. So we got a one seed, a two seed, a 10 seed and a three seed. Robert, let's tackle the matchup of Umbrella versus Sugar.

We're going down. This is tough here. I mean, I know it's a final four and that's what it's supposed to be.

But like this is really hard. But knowing Rihanna is going up against Fall Out Boy, I mean, it's a clash of styles. It's honestly a class of generations almost of two completely different artists.

And I don't know who I think is going to come out on top. I think Umbrella would have been a one seed if the best version of this song was represented. Remember, the first version was Rihanna featuring Jay-Z. Then there was a Rihanna featuring Jay-Z and Chris Brown that just fundamentally, objectively great song.

That's what it is. However, shortly after that, you have the Chris Brown incident in L.A. with Rihanna. I don't mean to sidestep the violence. Yes, you probably know about the incident and the violence of Chris Brown and Rihanna. I'm going to quickly steer away from that. But the song that they put out, it was the best version of this.

I think the best way to maybe judge this is how well has it aged? And on top of that, what song do you hear and are more likely to stay on a dial, sing along or hang out where you are upon hearing that song? In terms of singing along, it's definitely Sugar We're Going Down. However, when I first hear the beginning of Sugar Going Down, it's not quite as powerful as the very beginning of Umbrella where you have Jay-Z right from the jump. What a way to start that song. I think this song has had more influence. This song is, I think, a better song.

That's why it's a higher seed. I think Umbrella has just enough to get through in the final four against a team that I think is just happy to be there, Sugar We're Going Down. That song is just happy to be in the big dance and playing in the final four. So Umbrella is on to the championship game. If you have thoughts on this, 336-777-1600, hot takes are welcome where you have Umbrella facing Sugar We're Going Down, Pokerface facing Gold Digger.

On the other side, this is the toughest matchup of the field. Like, a one facing a two, both these songs expected to be here. Gold Digger had an easy path while Pokerface had to go through Coldplay, John Mayer, and Yeah by Usher. I just think Lady Gaga, that year in 2009, is better than any year Kanye had in the 2000s. I think across the 2000s, Kanye was better. Across the 2000s, Kanye was better, and I love Kanye West. But, I'm gonna go with P-P-P-P-Pokerface-P-P-Pokerface into the championship game.

It's March, man! Things are unpredictable, sometimes you think that Kanye has it in the bag, and then he lets you down. Like, Kanye, he's the type of person, we can agree, right, that goes 8 for 9 from the field and then just puts up 16 shots going 3 of 16. Like, I can see that happening to Kanye. Lady Gaga, very efficient, and you don't have to worry about the consistency.

The consistency is always good. Lady Gaga, I don't know if she's done anything that's bad. Kanye, there's always... Hold on.

Pulled up anything that's bad. What was that last album she put out that was like her folk stuff? I love that album. Oh my god, there's one good song about it.

She got a Super Bowl halftime show out of it. I think it's a good album. Meanwhile, do you want to start with the Kanye albums that were absolute train wrecks the last 10 years? Okay, aside from the Christian music, what is it?

There isn't one. Jesus is King. How about Life of Pablo? That was a great album. Jesus. That was a great album. I can listen to all of those.

I don't know if great's the word I would use. I'm taking Lady Gaga. I hope they get it.

It's tough, man. Tough decisions that have to be made. Umbrella vs Poker Face in the championship. How mad would you be if Poker Face ends up winning this entire deal? I'm mad already that it lasted this long.

I don't know. I'm checked out of this NCAA. My bracket is busted. I think it's gonna be too much Rihanna, too much Jay-Z. The champion of the 2000s pop music bracket, Umbrella by Rihanna and Jay-Z. It is your champion from the Jayonce region going all the way through as a three seed taking down Nickelback, taking down Photograph. Next round, taking down 99 Problems and then Empire State of Mind, Crazy in Love.

Quite a path to get here. Sugar We're Going Down is going down and then Poker Face staring down the eyes of a champion, Rihanna and Jay-Z. You have to wonder if Jay-Z did not take it as hard on Rihanna in the first two rounds as he had to.

I think we made a right choice here. What were you saying about Jay-Z? I don't think he went as hard on Rihanna knowing that he was also a part of her song and that if she won, he won.

Great point. Excellent analysis. Right now, early returns on the poll that you can vote on at Josh Graham Radio, what 2000s pop song is the best of this group, 33% say it's Umbrella by Rihanna. So I think we made the right decision here. You have issue with Lady Gaga over Gold Digger, but we arrived at the right place, right? Do you have any objection where this tournament ended up? I think if Gold Digger goes through, it beats Umbrella. Currently it's tied in your draft or whatever it's called, your voting apparatus. It's 31% for Rihanna, 31% for Kanye.

I don't know, man. I think he got robbed. Brent tweets in Mark Emmert's salary was 2.9 million in 2017. Probably as a way to say Jay Billis could be paid more as the basketball commissioner. Do you honestly think he's going to make more than Emmert? And that guy's everywhere for college basketball. That's the one analyst you can't lose. So I think I'm not going to go out and say what Jay Billis makes because I don't know, but I would say it's probably close to that ballpark.

I'd probably say that's the case. Before we get to take it to the house, I just want to say we're all going to be okay here. On this show, we are tasked with entertaining you, informing you if there's something out there that you need to know, like Kirk Cousins getting a massive contract from the Washington Redskins.

In all seriousness, from the information that you need to know standpoint with the virus and such, we will pass that stuff along to you. But we're otherwise going to do a show that isn't centered around the virus because that's not why you listen to sports talk. You usually listen to sports talk as an escape. So my promise to you over these next few months, we're going to make this fun.

Maybe not 100% of the time where we need to get some information in there and there are going to be darker points, I guarantee you. But this and sports radio is not something that we're not equipped to handle. We're accustomed to two-month lulls every year. Like in July and August, we're not really talking much Major League Baseball and preseason football on this show.

That's generally not something we do. So there will always be something for us to talk about. You never will hear from me that there's nothing going on because I don't believe that that's ever the case. There will always be something and this place, I can promise you, I can guarantee you, is going to be a spot where you're going to get sports talk, you're going to get some fun, we're going to be okay with the content that we have. I see media members saying, oh, what are we going to do? What's going to happen? On this show, we're going to be fine. No issue with it whatsoever. We have a special edition of Take it to the House, which includes what we're going to do on tomorrow's show in the way of a bracket. And that's coming your way next on The Drive.