David Ayers

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on Sports Hub Triad. I was incapacitated with a cold all weekend long, so all I've had to do is watch games, read stories, and prepare for today's show.

And I think it's gonna be killer all day today. And we have to talk about the Hurricanes emergency backup goaltender David Ayers. His helping the Canes to a win in Toronto. It is the perfect sports story. It has all the ingredients to transcend sports and the conversation and the news cycle.

And that's why I think you see him on Dan Patrick, on Fox & Friends, on CNN. He's transcended this market. He's transcended sports. And it's because, I think in large part, he's very relatable.

We are drawn to relatability. LeBron James. We probably can't relate to having ability like he has. A God-given basketball playing ability, athletic prowess, just beyond anything we know. But we can relate to a place like Akron, Ohio.

I think we all know a town that's similar to that. How about Steph Curry? I don't think we can relate to having a dad who was an All-Star in the NBA, but we've all been in the gym and saw a guy who looks like Steph Curry. There's relatability in that. Tom Brady at Scouting Combine Week. I could look at Tom Brady's draft profile every day during a year and it still won't get old to me.

Tom Brady looking flabby, running the 40-yard dash very slowly, picked 199. There's relatability in that, we find. That's why we like the underdog stories. We can relate to them better. Even Michael Jordan. Laney High School in Wilmington. He didn't make his high school basketball team his freshman year. Those are the things that we are drawn to.

And with David Ayers, 42-year-old kidney transplant from 15 years ago, never had an opportunity to play professional hockey, at least at the top level, and here he is winning a game for the Carolina Hurricanes. Secondly, it's an easy story to understand. This can't be stressed enough. The stories, the plots that do well are the simplest ones. That's why they're often mimicked and repeated across all of movies we've seen decade to decade to decade to decade. Stuff works, stuff gets mimicked, stuff gets copied, and I think the same applies when it comes to what stories resonate more. I could tell you the entire David Ayers story in one sentence. I can make you understand why this story is incredible by just saying it in one sentence.

42-year-old Zamboni driver beats the Toronto Maple Leafs. The best action movies. You can say the plot in one sentence. I don't know about you, Robert, but when I want to see an action movie, I want it to be thoughtless. I don't need to learn something with all the explosions, with all the fight sequences.

I don't need that at all. I view fighting and action movies like a McDonald's Big Mac, right? Like, I'm not going to get anything thoughtful out of this.

I'm not going to get anything good from a health perspective out of this. But, you know, sometimes I just need a Big Mac. Sometimes you just need an action movie.

The good ones you can explain in one sentence. Taken. Liam Neeson's daughter gets kidnapped.

Speed. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are trapped on a bus that can't stop. I watched Kill Bill this weekend.

Bride wants revenge on assassins who killed her family. Easy to understand. You're in from the beginning. That's why I think this story hits so hard because it's so easy to understand and it's less believable. It's more unbelievable as you start exploring the details, which is the last piece of this. Why it's a tremendous, perfect sports story.

There's no letdown. It's almost fitting that it happens on the 40-year anniversary of the Miracle on Ice, the USA, beating the Soviets. That is a perfect sports story that's just unbelievable. The Soviets, they beat the Americans by a ton before the tournament.

I think six days before that tournament begins. And then this team of teenagers beats arguably the best team ever in hockey. A hockey team that just months before the tournament beat the NHL All-Stars six to nothing. That is amazing. That is unbelievable. The details, they don't let you down. But sometimes to fill the sports gap, you create movies and you have to embellish things a bit. Some stories aren't as great when you look at the details. Some stories that become movies aren't so great.

Invincible. I didn't think it was that great of a movie with Vince Pappale making the Philadelphia Eagles because, okay, what did he do with the Eagles? I don't think he really contributed much. He hit a guy on special teams. Rudy, they had to embellish that. But even with the embellished version, what did Rudy do with Notre Dame? Played a meaningless snap at the end of the game and got to a quarterback?

Okay. Michael Sam, he gets into the NFL. What a story. He's the first gay player to be drafted, openly gay. What did Michael Sam do in the NFL? He never hit the field.

So when you explore the details of most stories that become movies, that become big headlines, there's often some letdown there. Not here. He's wearing maple leaf pads. He's employed by the organization.

He drives to Zamboni for their minor league affiliate. The Hurricanes, they needed points. They needed to win. Rod Brind'Amour was asked what he was thinking when this goalie's coming into the game.

He's saying to reporters, he thought he was being punked. He gives up two goals in the first three shots, then shuts out one of the best offensive teams in the league in the third period. Now the Hurricanes were great. They only got seven shots on goal, but he stopped them. He's the oldest goalie to win in a debut ever, and he hasn't played a competitive hockey game, any level of hockey game, in over five years. You have to go back to February 15th of 2015, the last time David Ayers played competitive hockey in goal. It is a perfect sports story. You can tweet the show at sportsubtryit.

336-777-1600 is the phone number if you care to chime in that way. Could the David Ayers story happen in another sport? I don't think so. I think hockey goalie's one of those positions that are so important, that are so impactful, that you have to have emergency backup sitting in the stands because it's also a sport that's dangerous enough where you can have both James Reimer and Peter Morozek go down in the same game. Over the weekend, NC State spoiled a real opportunity, I thought. They played FSU. If they beat FSU, they're into the NCAA tournament, I think, as an at-large bid. If you have wins against two top-ten ranked teams, I think that's a done deal this time of year.

But let me preface this on the front end because I think it needs to be said and I need to be understood. I have profound respect for NC State fans. I don't think there's a fan base in America, in the college sense, that has taken as many gut punches as Pac fans have. Haven't won an ACC championship in football, basketball, both women's and men's, and baseball since 1991, yet their fans are still just as passionate, still just as involved, still just as hopeful. So I will always respect NC State fans, but there is something with NC State specifically that bothers me.

And I've talked about this a handful of times and it was a case-in-point example Saturday. You gotta stop blaming the officiating every time you lose. And it's not even just the fans.

Like, if it's just the loudest people on Twitter, that's one thing. But NC State fans I know and respect are constantly bringing up the refs. In a way, North Carolina fans aren't even doing, even though they're going through a seven-game losing streak.

And if they lose to the Pac tomorrow, it'll be tied with the longest losing streak in the history of North Carolina basketball. When they lose, they're not blaming officials. NC State loses, Kevin Keats is pointing to foul disparity.

Like, how is that helping your team? Pointing to foul disparity. It wasn't a good technical foul to take for Keats in the final ten minutes of that game.

You're down 53-48. You didn't like that Markel Johnson didn't get a foul call, but you look at the replay, he didn't get fouled. You get so charged up about it, you get a tee and all of a sudden, a five-point lead becomes a seven-point lead.

And then minutes later, you're down ten. It was the wrong time for a technical. After the game, he's pointing to foul disparity.

PSA for everybody out there. A disparity in fouls. One team being called for a certain number of penalties and or fouls versus another does not indicate officiating bias.

But I see it so often. Hey, they got called for this many fouls, we got called for this many. Clearly there's something to be interpreted from that.

My interpretation? You fouled more than they did. Roger Ayers. It's amazing that the David Ayers story is more prominent the day that what we're talking about than Roger Ayers. A real upset considering the NC State game was a lot earlier that day. Roger Ayers is one of the best officials the ACC has. If you're looking at a conspiracy theory, oh everyone's out to get NC State, the ACC, they benefit most if NC State wins. If NC State gets into the tournament, then they make a ton more money.

They make, they get another team into the field. Florida State's already locked to get in. Louisville is as well. Duke too. So they wanted NC State to win that game.

They'll never admit it, but they wanted NC State to win that game. Blaming officiating, it's lazy. It's like the guy you know who gets drunk all the time and blames all of his issues on the government. Ah, listen here man.

Things are going rough for me and I'll tell you why. It's the government. Thinks a lot Obama or Trump, whoever it might be, you know.

We all know that person who gets liquored up and starts blaming the government for everything. That's what it sounds like to me when it's constantly officiating. It's lazy. It's embarrassing. NC State is better than that. I love their fan base. I love their passion. It's amazing how passionate they are without having much winning to justify them being there. But come on now.

Come on with the officiating stuff. Let's go to Aaron in Greensboro who wants in. He has a comparison, a movie comparison here for the efforts of Dave Ayers Saturday night. What do you got for me Aaron?

The rookie with Dennis Quaid where he portrayed Jim Morris. It's pretty good right? Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you for the phone call. And let's not forget Jim Morris played for the Durham Bulls on his way to becoming Tampa Bay Devil Ray at that time. The best comparison I have, if we're going to do movie examples here Robert, Dave Ayers is essentially Ricky Bobby. If Ricky Bobby was a real story, how much crazier would it be than what we actually saw on Saturday? Like if a driver decided to get out of his car and grab burgers and they relied on someone in the pit crew to drive the car and he ended up winning, how much crazier is that story than Dave Ayers, 42 year old who 15 years ago had a kidney transplant, had it played in a competitive game in over 5 years beating the Toronto Maple Leafs while wearing Maple Leaf Pat? It's close but I do believe that the laughing malt liquor clown or whatever that car was, I think they were in last place and he came back and won.

If you went first you're laughing. He came back and he didn't win that race. He got second didn't he? I need to watch Talladega Nights again. Did he win the race or did he finish second? I don't think he wins that initial race. I need you to fact check me on this.

I have the actual sports stuff, I have that down pad. You need to correct me on my sports movie accuracy. I know Jim Morris, he was a Durham Bull before he became a Tampa Bay Devil Ray. I don't know for sure if Ricky Bobby won his first race but I do remember his first interview.

What am I supposed to do with my hands? And he starts lifting them up. Aaron can you fact check me very quickly the accuracy of the statement Ricky Bobby won his first race? No I don't think he won his first race if I remember correctly. Alright.

So yeah the Dave Ayer story is crazier than the Will Ferrell Ricky Bobby first race story. You are listening to WSJS Winston-Salem, WCOG Greensboro, WPCM Burlington, WMFR High Point. Those signals making up sports hub triad. Let's get to the 5 things at 5. There's this sound that we need to hear from the Kobe Bryant Memorial from Michael Jordan that I want to play for you in just a little bit. 5 Things at 5 brought to you by our friends at Jason's Deli.

Find them. Haynes Mall Boulevard in Winston-Salem, Friendly Center in Greensboro, a tremendous sponsor of the program. We just learned Robert doing a little bit of fact checking. Ricky Bobby finished third in that race. Was it the Daytona 500? I don't know for sure. It doesn't really matter.

But Ricky Bobby finished third in his first race. That's the type of sports coverage you're getting here. Only at the sports hub.

5. Tyson Fury. He's been compared to Muhammad Ali. Do we have Tyson Fury singing after the match? He's done this a couple other fights. He sings songs. He took away the microphone from the guy interviewing him. I generally have a problem with that, but nobody cares.

That's just me being a journalistic TV snob. But Tyson Fury sang this after he knocked out Deontay Wilder. 5. Tyson Fury. Is he a good singer?

Wrong question. Does Tyson Fury think he's a great singer? He probably thinks he's adequate. Like, he reminds me of Vin Diesel, who thinks he's actually a great singer. Does Vin Diesel think he's a good singer? Yeah.

You can find Instagram posts after Instagram posts. In fact, Robert will revisit this a little bit later on. See if you can find any of Vin Diesel singing by the end of this segment. In the meantime, Tyson Fury is being compared to Muhammad Ali, not by some gas bag radio host like myself or Aaron, who's a big boxing snob. He was compared by Teddy Atlas earlier today. This is what Teddy had to say comparing Tyson Fury to the great Muhammad Ali. So that was Teddy Atlas, and I don't think it's a crazy comparison, thinking that Tyson Fury has the same charisma and lack of fear old school boxers like Ali had.

He's a throwback. He wants to fight Klitschko. He wants to fight Wilder not once, but twice.

He's a showman. He's licking the blood off the neck of Wilder at the end of that match. He's singing in the ring.

He's wearing Apollo Creed trunks in his previous fight before things get started. Now, he's said some awful things in the past, but when somebody's in the spotlight, particularly in a barbaric sport such as boxing, you're going to have some issues with every single fighter. Muhammad Ali even had some issues with the way he referred to Frazier ahead of some of those bouts. And Fury, he's had some homophobic comments. He's had some things that I'm sure he would like to have back. He's apologized for those. I think growth matters.

I think separating the art and the artist is something that needs to be done in instances as well. But a big win for Tyson Fury, and I'm fascinated to see what's next for him. The Carolina Hurricanes. They're going to be missing the two goaltenders they lost on Saturday and Brett Pesce for a significant amount of time. I don't know for sure how long that's going to be, but Sarah Sivian reports that the Hurricanes are not going to have both Peter Mrazek and James Reimer for tomorrow night's game at home, where they're going to be honoring David Ayers and his efforts. Brett Pesce, one of their best defenseman. He got hurt in the game as well. So the Hurricanes started pulling up goaltenders.

We'll see what happens. Is it going to be Ndalkovic, the great goaltender from the AHL champion, Charlotte Checkers, getting the start? Is it going to be Forsberg who's pulled up as well?

There's always a Forsberg running around in the National Hockey League. The Hurricanes made a couple of deals at the deadline as well, highlighted by Vincent Trochak, the top six forward. They brought it in exchange for three players.

So the Carolina Hurricanes, they seem to have gotten better today, but not great news on the front when it comes to the two goaltenders and Brett Pesce's help. The Lakers hold a beautiful, all-encompassing Kobe Bryant Memorial today on 2-24. They had everybody from Gino Auriemma, who was recruiting Gigi Bryant and built a relationship with Kobe, to Sabrina Inescu, the great player from Oregon, who had a chance to speak, build a relationship with Kobe. You had Vanessa Bryant speaking, Rob Palenka speaking, and right when we were starting to go on the air, we see Michael Jeffrey Jordan stepping to the microphone, and he is in tears. And here's a piece of what MJ had to say. Now he's got me, I'll have to look at another crime meme for the next...

I told my wife I wasn't going to do this because I didn't want to see that for the next three or four years. That's pretty cool. MJ, he also said that a piece of him died the day that helicopter crashed. He referred to Kobe as his little brother. You had an emotional Shaquille O'Neal, you had Deonna Taurasi speaking of this, Jimmy Kimmel. He was guiding the proceedings.

Beyonce opened things up singing Halo. So it was emotional. And the reason I'm talking like this isn't because I moved to emotions right now. It's because my throat is just sore.

Robert, what do you believe? Am I just being emotional talking about Kobe or is it because my throat's been sore this entire show? You're going to tell me those tears aren't real? Yeah. Aaron.

I don't buy it. Lean into your emotion, Josh. Use it. Channel it. Let it fuel you. Young men expressing themselves. Joy of winning.

Joy of winning. Robert has no idea what we're doing every time we do that. Gosh, we need to make that a drop. We need to find Don Cherry. Is that why you were drunk Don Cherry or you were drunk Don Lemon? It was Don Lemon who was drunk. He's always drunk on CNN on New Year's.

I love drunk Don Lemon. Yeah, I love big top 10 matchups in the ACC. And that's what we have later on tonight.

Nice transition. We have Florida State facing Louisville. But apparently Louisville still ranked 11. So I guess it's not a top 10 matchup. Louisville's 11th. Florida State is 8th.

It's a massive game. I think Florida State's going to win it. They have more depth.

They're at home. And I think it's a matchup problem. I don't think the Cardinals match up well with this FSU team. When they met the first time at the Yum Center, it was all FSU, even though Jordan Wara had a big game. Louisville, they look shaky at home against the Tar Heels, even though they ended up winning by double digits. I like the Knowles to win tonight in a massive ACC game.

But I still think Duke, when you consider the schedule, they're going to win the ACC regular season outright, something they haven't done since 2010. And the number one story on the five things at five today. Thousands of bees attack police, firefighters, and onlookers in California.

This is terrifying. Not the bees! Not the bees! Have you ever been stung by a bee?

Yes. Where? Multiple places. Actually, on my butt once even. I've been stung everywhere. Bees, wasps, yellow jackets, everything. I've been stung by everything. This swarm of bees estimated to have 3,000 or make it 30,000 to 40,000 bees out.

Yeah. What kind of bees are these? That's a good question.

And most importantly, what do their knees look like? I don't know if they know the type of bee yet. Okay, it's not a honeybee.

I don't think it is. So, they called a beekeeper to the scene who's trying to extinguish things. Good luck with that. Yeah, what's he going to do?

Just set up his smoke case? Yeah, they got firefighters, a police officer, they had two civilians go to the hospital. Man, bees, just terrifying. I can't imagine if you see a swarm of 30 to 40,000 bees coming at you and what exactly you do.

But California problems, right? Right. All right. Robert, do you have sound of Vin Diesel singing? Tyson Fury, I believe, thinks in his heart of hearts he is a good singer. That's why he sings in the ring.

I believe that. He's not a great singer. Vin Diesel, he posts videos of himself singing in his car, he's on stage at points. There's a lot of videos you can find out there of Vin Diesel singing.

And I think you don't do this unless you think, in your heart of hearts, you're a good singer. Let's find out together if Vin Diesel is. On this stage, I was with my brother Pablo. It's been a long day without you, my friend. And I tell you all about it when I see you again.

I love you guys! Here with Mr. Vin Diesel, who moments ago, I wasn't in there, but I understand a little singing happened? What? That doesn't sound like me.

That doesn't sound like Vin Diesel. I'm good on it. I can't even.

After that one little clip, that's all I need to know. He's not terrible. He's not great either. He's not somebody I'm picking to be the lounge singer for my wedding.

That's the thing. I have no issue singing karaoke songs. But I don't think I'm a good singer whatsoever. Aaron, he's the type of guy who wears shades indoors, like he's doing right now. He's the frontman of a band. So, Aaron, he has confidence. He'll say, yeah, I'm a good singer and I can sing.

No, I just look nice and the girls like me. There's that, though. I really don't have any music ability at all, Josh, friend. Respect. I'll tell you why the Cincinnati Bengals are the best situation for a number one pick in years. Next on the drive. Josh Graham loves to talk sports. He also loves to daydream about sports, mostly about being the locker room towel boy. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. Does Tyson Fury think he's a good singer?

On Twitter at sports, I'm try at three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one, six hundred. Also, him choosing American pie means he might be the worst karaoke singer out there. Not because he's the worst singer in terms of talent, singing ability, but song selection. Nobody likes the guy who chooses the nine minute song.

Me and Robert, we were discussing this just before the show. What is the longest song that you're not going to press skip on? You're not going to turn the channel. You're not going to change it from your iPod. I almost said something incredibly old. Is that already archaic and old saying that you have an iPod and you're trying to change it? Yeah. Like I had like an R an orange iPod Nano. Oh, wow. It was one of my favorite things. And yeah, you could shake it up and it would shuffle.

I forgot that it was the worst when you're running. Right. So what is the longest song that you're not pressing skip on? Because I'd venture to say American pie might be my selection. Like I'm skipping Freebird.

Yeah, that's. I'm skipping The Doors. You need to be in the right mood for The Doors to come on. Yeah, I'm not like L.A. woman.

If L.A. woman comes on, you need to be in the right state of mind. And I'm not talking about the Pink Floyd ballads like Echoes or something that's 20 minutes long. Of course you're going to skip that. I don't know. There are some Pink Floyd songs that are pretty long. Like Time. Yeah. Are you skipping Time? No.

I mean, I'm skipping Echoes, not Time. American Pie comes in at 837. Freebird is 910. So you're saying no to Freebird. You're skipping Freebird.

I'm skipping Freebird. But I don't like the person who chooses American Pie at karaoke. Aaron is a massive boxing snob. I bet he was like a pig in mud Saturday night watching Wilder Fury 2. Tyson Fury, he has all the charisma and lack of fear that boxing needs.

He's a throwback. He wants to fight the very best. It doesn't matter if it's the good Klitschko.

Or if it's Deontay Wilder two different times. That was a real problem for boxing this last 15 years. Where you have Floyd Mayweather dodging Manny Pacquiao for about a decade in that fight.

We finally watched it five years too late in 2015. It was a real problem. People only cared about having a zero in the loss column. But Fury doesn't seem too concerned with that. He's so confident he doesn't mind fighting the same way they did in the 70s. Where Frazier wasn't scared of Ali and Ali wasn't scared of Foreman and so on and so forth.

He had all those great fights. But I'm not as big of a boxing snob as Aaron is. And Aaron, as big of a boxing fan as we know him to be, doesn't have the boxing credibility that Teddy Atlas does. So us throwing around comparisons between Tyson Fury and Muhammad Ali, it doesn't really mean much.

But when it comes from Teddy Atlas, then you start to listen. And this was Teddy Atlas after the fight. He's doing what sometimes we forget we have short memories guys before we start knocking these guys and hating on them. He's doing what Muhammad Ali did. Maybe Ali did it with a little more class, a little more finesse, and had more talent.

But Ali had more talent than most people. But he's doing the same thing. He's trying to make himself bigger.

He's trying to make you talk about him. But it's not just the throwback of being able to fight people. What he's hinting at there is showmanship that we haven't seen at this stage as well. Most of the showmanship we see in the fight game nowadays is in UFC. It's jumping to WWE. Muhammad Ali and boxing was big before WWE became a thing. Before you see the UFC even coming into existence, mixed martial arts. Tyson Fury, he's a showman. So much so that he will sing in the ring after matches.

He will wear Apollo Creed trunks on his way into the ring. He's going to lick the blood of Deontay Wilder because he said so. That's wild. Have you ever seen anything like that, Aaron? Uh, I can't say that I have.

Unless you want to count somebody biting somebody else's ear off. Yeah, that's pretty wild. I don't think that was showmanship, though. Fury has actually done stuff with WWE. He's that big of a showman. Is that right?

Yeah, he had a match against Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam, I believe. But I could separate art from the artist. I was very close. I'll admit this. I was very close to pressing send on a tweet I regret. I would have regretted immediately Saturday night because five or six years ago, Tyson Fury, he said some pretty egregious things about homosexuals, about just the LGBTQ community.

He's compared them to like he compared it to bestiality for all things. Like, I can't even say some of the things he's said publicly, but I have to remind myself, separate the art from the artist. We're able to do that with Kobe Bryant as he's mourned today. And there's a reason why everybody jumped over, jumped on people who were trying to bring up 2003 in the moment we're mourning this man.

That meant so much to so many. Floyd Mayweather, even with him, somebody who hasn't even been apologetic about his actions. Floyd Mayweather, I can at least acknowledge that he's one of the most tactical fighters we've ever seen. Like just a tremendous tactical fighter.

Separate the art from the artist. And with Fury, one thing I didn't realize until doing more research was that in recent years, he has softened. Softened in the sense of welcoming more ideas, growing, learning. He's been apologetic publicly about some of the things he said in the past.

So I'm going to give him a bit of a pass on that. Tyson Fury, he has the charisma. He has the lack of fear that boxing needs. My question today, though, is what is the next fight that would draw the most amount of interest? What is that fight that you are most interested in seeing a guy like Tyson Fury take on next, Aaron? The obvious choice would be Anthony Joshua. But would Joshua take that fight? Yeah. After falling the way he did last year to a guy who looked a lot like the goalie for the Hurricanes on Saturday night.

Right. Who is that, Ortiz? Yeah, Andy Ruiz.

Or Andy Ruiz, excuse me. He avenged that loss. Anytime you got heavyweight championship gold up for grabs, which you definitely do now in Tyson Fury's case, you take that fight and that's a mega fight. Unless Deontay Wilder files for a rematch.

He has 30 days to declare for a rematch. Michael Jordan right now, as we speak, is mourning the loss of Kobe Bryant at the memorial that they have at Staples Center. And he's in tears, man. He's bawling. He said, I'm reading the quotes right here. We'll hear some of it in a second. He's called Kobe Bryant his little brother and said that a piece of him died when that helicopter crashed about a month ago. But he even referenced, as he began crying, the crying Jordan meme.

This is some of that sound. Now he's got meme. I'll have to look at another crying meme for the Knicks. LAUGHTER I told my wife I wasn't going to do this because I didn't want to see that for the next three or four years. LAUGHTER That is what Kobe Bryant does to me. That's fantastic.

And it's been a beautiful ceremony so far. You got Gino Oriema speaking. You got NSQ, the great women's basketball player, Oregon. So it's not just his Laker teammates. You got Rob Polinka, Vanessa Bryant, many of the greats on hand.

Bill Russell was at the Laker game yesterday wearing a Kobe Bryant 24 jersey. This is a moment in time. And you got Michael Jordan, the greatest ever, in tears. I don't know if we can hit topics like this today, Robert, because of my voice, the state of it. I'm not very emotional about this right now, even though it sounds like. Every topic I hit today is going to sound like I'm very emotional.

And I don't know if that's a good thing at all. What's the most unemotional topic we could talk about and make it seem like that I'm very emotional about? It's just the state of my voice right now.

It's not in a good place. Maybe I was going to say something with Cam, but even that would sound emotional with you. Then how about we get somebody else to talk about Cam? How plausible is it for the Carolina Panthers to trade up for another quarterback, Joe Burrow at number one?

Panthers beat writer Joe Person will join the show to discuss next. Now, I want you to be calm. Don't get too excited. This is The Drive. He likes to kiss and cuddle. Be warned, this is extremely graphic.

So if you have small children in the room, don't let them disturb you. Back to The Drive with Josh Graham. Now being joined by Joe Person of the athletic Carolinas, Panthers beat reporter, he has the story for the athletic today. If Joe Burrow shuns Cincinnati, the Panthers could trade up for the number one spot. And this is going to be the story that commands a nationally televised scouting combine this week. Remember, for the first time, the event is going to be a national event.

Remember, for the first time, the event is going to be held in prime time, and it starts with quarterbacks later in the week. Joe, what do you find to be more plausible today? The Bengals trading out of the first pick, or the Panthers being the team that trades up to number one?

That's a great question, and I kind of tried to address that in the column today. I mean, I'll tell you what. I mean, the noise seems to just keep getting louder and involving Joe Burrow potentially stiff-arming the Cincinnati Bengals.

I mean, a lot of these dots are starting to connect. You know, he is being trained leading up to the draft by Jordan Palmer, who's the brother of Carson Palmer, who, of course, came out. The former Bengals quarterback who came out Super Bowl week and said the Bengals aren't committed to winning a Super Bowl. Now, Joe Burrow has had platforms over the last month or so from which he could have shot this down, and he'll be offered that same opportunity tomorrow morning in Indianapolis. His media time is set for 9 a.m. bright and early on a Tuesday morning, and it'll be interesting to see. I mean, he's not going to say anything by accident.

I mean, he is represented by a very kind of who's who agents. And so if he comes out and he's lukewarm about the Bengals tomorrow again, then I think we've got a four-alarm fire, at least if you're Mike Brown and a Cincinnati Bengals fan. Now, will the Panthers do it? Talking to people around the league, they feel like Tepper is just enough of a wild card to go ahead and push all his chips forward and give it a shot. Doesn't mean Matt Rule won two, doesn't mean Marty Hurney will one two, but I don't think you can just dismiss it as out of hand.

This is the part I find interesting, though. If you're picking number one, Joe, there's probably a reason why, and I don't see why people think the Bengals are that much worse of a situation than some of the other teams that have picked quarterback number one. Like if you just look at the last three, the Browns are one in 31 before they drafted Baker Mayfield, and they haven't won a playoff game since 1994 when Bill Belichick was coaching the team. They haven't been to the playoffs since 02. The St. Louis Rams, a moving franchise with Jeff Fisher as their coach, they hadn't been to the playoffs before that since 2004. Tampa Bay's last playoff win when they drafted Jamis Winston was the Super Bowl. They haven't been to the playoffs since 2007. So I guess the question is, is Cincinnati's perception far worse than what the reality is?

Yeah, maybe so. I mean, I do remember all those years, and it felt like every year, where Marvin Lewis was getting them into the playoffs, they never would seem to manage to win a game in the playoffs, but it wasn't like they were a laughingstock under Marvin Lewis, who happens to be a pretty good coach. He sort of peaked in the regular season, and as I said, had one playoff failure after another. Yeah, Mike Brown's known as a guy that doesn't spend a lot of money, that never goes after big-time free agents for the most part. So there's a reason the Bengals have that reputation. Now, Joe Burrow is an Ohio kid, if that matters. Now, he kind of grew up all over the place with his father as a college coach, but he went to high school in Athens, Ohio, which is not necessarily a Bengals. It isn't a Cincinnati suburb, but it's going to be really interesting. Like I said, Paul Condon, who represented and still represents Ryan Kalil, he had Luke Kuechly, he's a big-time NFL agent, and I think I read this today, may have had Eli Manning.

So guess what? He's been through this before. So I'm fascinated with the Joe Burrow story. I'm also very excited to see the other quarterbacks in Indianapolis.

I'll tell you a guy just very quickly who I liked about four years ago in Athens, Georgia, and that was Jacob Eason. I thought that kid could spin it as a freshman in the SEC, kind of a gunslinger mentality. I know the reputation is sort of too much of a party guy.

He enjoyed the college life too much. I wouldn't be surprised to see him start making a climb up some draft boards. Wow. Do you think Carolina, if it's not Tua, Herbert, or I mean obviously Burrow's not going to fall to seven, do you think seven is too high for a Jacob Eason? It might be. I mean, we'll see. I mean, all it takes is one, right?

I mean, who knows? Daniel Jones. Two of them might go to Indy and not have a great medical. It does seem like the top three are pretty well set with Jordan Love and Jacob Eason, kind of that next tier. I'm just talking from me having eyeballed Jacob Eason over the years. I think he's a pretty good quarterback. Yeah, and I saw Jordan Love play in Winston-Salem last year with Utah State.

I mean, you could see some of the traits, and he's someone who picked up that team and led them to a lot of success. The last handful of years, we're chatting with Joe Person from the Athletic Carolinas. What do you make of this event being moved to prime time, the scouting combine? Well, it's sure going to cut into a lot of the kind of networking that's disguised as beer and alcohol drinking in Indianapolis.

It really is. I mean, you've seen over the years people do stories on that, that all the deals and all the real action takes place at a handful of bars and restaurants in Indianapolis when the sun goes down. But I think I am kind of curious how that's going to work. I was talking to a coach a couple of days ago, and the guy's been in the league a long time. I asked him that question because all joking aside about the drinking, it is sort of people kind of let their hair down, and maybe you'll see a head coach talking to an agent or a GM talking to an agent, that kind of thing. And for those who don't know, Joe, this is the place where reporters, they really build sources. This is the place where you get a lot, and it's not necessarily at the combine itself.

Do I have that right? Yeah, I appreciate you pointing that out. I don't know if our listeners care. And there have been years where I've gone, and Matt Rule's going to talk tomorrow afternoon. Ernie sometimes talks. I don't think he's talking this year. And so there have been years where about halfway through the combine, I'm like, I should probably write a story about one of these college kids that inevitably Bill Gettleman gets up on the podium in 2014 and makes a very weird comment about Steve Smith.

And so a month and a half later, Steve Smith gets released. And so there's news on your beat that you're kind of chasing it. It's an interesting subset in Indy. I like it. I've been to the Senior Bowl. I don't much care to go to Mobile again. I don't mind in the summertime.

I don't want to go into anywhere. But Indy's kind of cool. And just a little quick follow-up to your point about the prime time. I think we're going to very quickly, maybe within next year, start seeing the combine like we have with the draft start popping around to L.A. and walls and other places that have been shot into buildings. Yeah, but I just don't even know what the real substance is. It's kind of like the draft. It's strange about it as a spectacle, Joe. What exactly are all these people getting and watching the draft?

You see a guy in a suit. Announce another name for a guy in a suit to walk up and hold up a jersey. And there's not much of a spectator sport aspect to it. And then with the combine, I don't really know what's going to draw ratings other than the fact everything the NFL touches is gold. And even though we know who the opponents are, we still find a way to put the schedule release in prime time as well. I know. You're right.

I mean, it doesn't seem like it should be a thing that attracts eyeballs, but it does. And then it comes in at kind of a slow time of the year, which the XFL is trying to capitalize on. We're not yet to March Madness. We're at baseball spring training. I mean, unless you're a diehard NBA or NHL fan, and college basketball, but regular season, there's just not a lot on. And into that void steps NFL network, you know, beginning at 9 a.m. tomorrow, I'm showing Tua and Burroughs press conferences live.

I have every indication to believe. And then when the coaches go, they'll probably cut into Matt Rule at 2 p.m. And before you know it, you'll roll into prime time hours in a day or two and you can watch these guys, you know, run around in sweats. And, you know, the Underwear Olympics, as someone long ago tabbed it. So, you know, for the team, that's the fan standpoint. What do the teams get out of it?

More so than anything else, and I know you know this, Josh, is the beatings. You know, Jacob Eason, like I said, he's got this reputation of maybe football is not important to him. Well, Marty Hurney and Matt Rule and Joe Brady get him in a hotel room in Indy for an hour and they find out at least the best to their intuition.

Is that true or not? And they put guys at the board, have them watch some video. I mean, the team, those meetings and the medicals for the teams are kind of worth their weight and goal. Joe, thanks for the insight, man. Enjoy the madness. And I guess my guess would be that it would be extended into the night with the prime time, all the drinking and fun and stakes that Indianapolis brings. So thank you for squeezing in time for us this week. It's appreciated. Folks can cover or, excuse me, follow the madness on the Athletics Carolina.

Jordan, I'll be there. Boom. There you have it. That's Joe Persson from the Athletic Carolinas, one of the best covering the Panthers beat. Been doing it for a very long time with the Athletic Carolinas. He mentioned the XFL. You guys checked out the standings at all? You guys checked out what those look like, Aaron Gabriel?

All I know. Yeah? If there's a team down in Houston. Yeah?

Yeah? Might be undefeated. They are undefeated!

3-0! Hey! Hey! Hey! This is a roughneck radio show!

Woo! Might be undefeated. People think that the St. Louis Battle Hawks are better. Get out of here! I see you doing a reverse on the kickoff. Ah, Houston took them out last week. That's right! Keep this going.

Turn up the snare in my headphones. Coming up. Might be undefeated. A real-life rivalry between... a couple of things I did not expect to see happening.

And also, I think there's somebody that looks a lot like Ricky Bobby in today's real sports. This is The Drop.