The Drive with Josh Graham - Minshew Mania - 10/2/19

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

Tune in to The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on Sports Hub Triad. So Mention Mania is headed to Charlotte this weekend and there is one major thread that connects me and Gardner Minshew the second. We both own degrees in communication from East Carolina University. Yes I covered both of his seasons at ECU. I talked to him pretty regularly probably once a week during that time.

So since everybody is so interested in the mythology of this guy I'll get to a few Minshew experiences I've had in a bit. As for this weekend being billed a homecoming of sorts for Gardner I strongly doubt he looks fondly on his North Carolina playing days. For starters his teams went 3 and 9.

Hard to have much fun when combined in two years you go 6 and 18. But more so he was playing under Scotty Montgomery at the time who's since been replaced by Mike Houston. He was mishandled by the coaching staff when you look back on it. It was Gardner's second year he's in line to start and Scotty brings in a player that he coached at Duke Thomas Cirque who you might remember when Duke had a great year in 2014 it was the multi quarterback offense they ran Anthony Boom was more of the thrower Thomas Cirque was great in the red zone big build could run the ball so they brought Cirque in and college football fans it is a pet peeve I have with some of you that you get really excited about the graduate transfer when most times or not even if they're coming from a great program there's a reason why they're leaving that great program and it's likely because they didn't cut it there 95% of the time that's the case where the graduate transfers don't work out but pirate fans at that time I remember were very excited about Cirque they were down on Minshew understandably so you won three games the year before maybe just a little bit of something new will work here so going into camp everybody thought that Minshew was gonna get beat out Scotty it was clear wanted Cirque to play that's why you bring in the grad transfer he had success with in the ACC but Gardner wasn't having it he was better than Cirque in preseason camp the team really rallied around Gardner all the stuff we've heard about him and the way players swear by him think he's a great teammate that's all true and ECU's players they really got around rallied around Gardner Minshew and that's why probably much to the trend of the coaching staff he started game one against James Madison he couldn't justify playing Cirque when Minshew was better in camp at the team preferred Gardner but then they struggle a little bit in the first half of the first game so he gets benched at halftime in game one and I had sources back then linked with Minshew's family that told me he was not pleased about that Gardner wasn't and the family was ticked off they thought that Gardner was being mishandled and I completely understand that so when Cirque starts playing games from that point on less people start talking to Gardner Minshew and then when Cirque gets hurt here comes Gardner we want to talk to him as the starting quarterback he said no you didn't want to talk to me last week I'm not gonna talk to you guys right now he was always a straightforward free-spirited guy now I didn't see the personality of somebody who had Crown Royal in his waistband and was stretching practically naked with aviators on we didn't see that guy which might be a product of the culture that existed that was fostered by Scotty Montgomery it was more regiment military-based the way that Scotty led that ship which I imagine is a lot different than the way Mike Leach coaches things at Washington State I bet that had a lot to do it do with it but as cliche as it sounds Gardner's love of football fueled his journey which is a pretty impressive journey he signed to play at Troy out of high school that didn't work out so we went JUCO he's playing in Mississippi first time I heard about him hey this quarterback East Carolina's getting he was in last chance you oh did he play for that crazy coach in Mississippi no no no he was the quarterback on the the rival team oh so now I'm just pausing to see oh yeah that guy okay that guy is gonna be playing quarterback for the Pirates two years for three and nine ECU benched you have coaches you feel like let you down but you keep pushing on you're pursuing coaching by looking at Alabama you thought you were gonna go there and start your coaching career learning under Nick Saban because even Gardner Minshew isn't crazy enough to think he's playing over to a tug of viola and j1 hurts last year tragedy strikes and Pullman a quarterback commits suicide Mike Leach liked something in Gardner Minshew wants to bring him in and as the story goes ask him hey do you want to lead the nation in passing oh yeah Gardner comes in and that's exactly what he does picked in the fifth round first game first drive starting quarterback Nick Foles goes down with an injury the legend begins and now it's all Minshew mania as the Panthers get set to host Minshew and the Jaguars this weekend he was always opportunistic I remember his very first snap at East Carolina it was 2016 it was the year before UCF went unbeaten they were coming off a winless year so Scott Frost is in here and it's in Greenville the starting quarterback gets knocked out of the game because of a targeting call so he's down on the field and you see number five Minshew just warming up ECU had another guy who could have played quarterback who rolled up Virginia Tech the previous year but he had been moved to running back James Summers who was once a signee with North Carolina and NC State don't know why I'm giving you that much background detail but James Summers just know could have played quarterback they decided to play Minshew he comes into the game his first career pass 75 yard touchdown but he wasn't the starter there were seniors in front of him so he played a half and back then three years ago this rule didn't exist where you could play in four games and still retain your red shirt season so Gardner was concerned he was losing a full year of football because he played one half against UCF so what's he tried to do he tries to get a medical redshirt how does he try to do that well let's hear from Gardner himself I mean that was really the only way for me to get a get a red shirt you know at the time it's to get a medical so I had the bright idea to try to break my hand but it didn't work you know I guess fortunately I mean I was looking back it was pretty dumb believe it or not breaking your hands pretty dumb but yeah that was uh you know but that's just I always tell people you know what would you do to play more ball and that's damn near anything he didn't specify how he tried to break his hand with a hammer after that game in 2016 but he grabbed the bottle of Jack Daniels he grabbed a hammer and he's sitting there and he told his Washington State teammates this he says the only people that know he knew he tried to do this until now he took a swig of Jack Daniels and then bang bang bang hit himself in the hand three times with a hammer he didn't break his hand questionable arm strength right then he does it again still doesn't break his hand he's in pain but the pain threshold that these football players have it's pretty intense it's a lot more than ours he did it a third time bang bang bang didn't break his hand so we just gave up and he didn't get the medical redshirt sounds like he wasn't drunk enough because if you're not drunk enough and you're trying to break your own hand I would think there's a part of you that's not gonna swing as hard as you could possibly swing kind of a heady play though he would have got the medical redshirt how you gonna prove how's the NCAA gonna figure out you hit yourself with a hammer versus oh I threw one time and I accidentally hit the back of a helmet in practice I mean if your hand looks like a deflated tire when you're talking to him about it then there might be some suspicion but I don't know I don't know why he would think that this would be something that he could thank God that they changed the rules if they didn't and this story got out there's gonna be more players out there hitting themselves with hammers to try and get medical red shirts it does have me thinking this is the one instance where we heard the story has this ever happened before oh when did he get hurt in that game I don't remember when that happened did it happen at practice there have to be stories out there were guys to get another year and get the medical red shirt maybe not with a hammer did something else to injure themselves intentionally hopefully not considering this didn't work it's probably players who had other methods that were more effective would be a better better way to pull this off think on that and we'll go back to you in a second the two key ingredients to men shoe mania I think are this relatability and the underdog story this is what I want to ask Jim Zoki when he joins us in a few minutes from the Panthers radio network what makes Kyle Allen story different than Gardner men shoes Kyle Allen comes in unheralded for touchdown game back-to-back road wins I don't see Kyle Allen fever but I do see men shoe mania and I think the reasons are this relatability underdog story the relatability we all know a guy who has that body type and somebody who might have a sweet stash somebody who likes to party with Crown Royal and his waistband it's part of the reason why I think Steph Curry is so likable we we know guys who look that way and maybe we think internally that if we got a chance maybe we could rain threes because we look like Steph I also think his story is what puts him over the top it's the love of football it's the underdog deal Kyle Allen he was the number one player in 2014 coming into college football played at Texas A&M like he was above Pat Mahomes and Sean Watson now he didn't end up being that and he was an undrafted player but it's just a different story and I think Gardner men shoe he looks less the part than Allen does he's shorter than Allen Allen he's the prototypical quarterback build good-looking guy big arm Arizona quarterback of the year I think that stuff factors in before we get the Jim Zoki have you guys thought of a better way you can injure yourself to get a medical redshirt fall down a set of stadium stairs oh that's a good idea it's actually not that bad right I was working out I was training hard and I all bruised up both sides fall down the stairs make sure you fall on the right side though so if you're a quarterback it's your non throwing shoulder that you fall on that side everybody knows that Jim Zoki will tell us some Steve Smith and Jake the loan stories next come here to talk sports it is man at his most man and do it like you mean it hmm what you got biatch this is the drive with Josh Graham I was watching that NL wild-card game last night and thought as the Nats were winning at the end that's a game I'm used to seeing Washington DC teams loop whether it's the Redskins the caps until 2018 the Nats I'm used to seeing them lose in heartbreaking fashion it was kind of new to see them win I used to consider Washington DC and Cleveland Ohio as Sports Hell USA but they both have titles in the last five years so we have a pullout at sports up triad where is Sports Hell USA I think Minnesota Phoenix and Atlanta probably the three best options when you consider how long it's been for all three of those places since they've won a major sports title I do have some people saying that Oh Atlanta won an MLS championship recently some are even saying Charlotte and we're getting other options which we'll get to maybe a little bit we're now being joined by Jim Zoki who's been a Panthers radio commentator with the Panthers radio network since the inception of Panthers football the inaugural year in 1995 the team's gonna be inducting four new members into the Hall of Honor this weekend Jake the loam Jordan gross Wesley walls and Steve Smith you've been lucky enough Jim to work with two of those guys in the booth this year alongside Mick Mixon so what's it like not only to work in the booth with two soon-to-be Hall of Fame inductees and Deloam and gross but also two people that you covered their entire careers for well first of all you wouldn't know that they were about to be inducted into a Hall of Honor because they're so humble and and you know I talked to Jake today earlier about it they're coming in of course this weekend we had dinner and the event itself during the game on Sunday and you know they're just what they were as players what they are as announcers what they are being inducted into the hall is they were great players and great human beings and so we're really fortunate to have them both what's your favorite memory of Steve Smith is there a good story you can bring to us that maybe we didn't see on a Sunday at 1 for 8 o'clock in the thing about media just defines his career he had so many great athletic plays was just his physicality I mean just that he would just line up opposite a cornerback and the play might go to the other side of the field that might be a running play and he would just get about into a street ball with him out there and he would just set that tone early in the game with whoever was covering him and get inside their head and whether that would be they can't cover him as a pass receiver can't deal with him as a blocker I mean you talk about a guy who just wanted it more than anybody else he was just so tenacious and then off the field was just sometimes very engaging to talk to sometimes a little bit moody at times but just a fun character to be easily the best panther in the history of the franchise I would think any of those guys being inducted would say the same thing about Smitty what do you remember about the early days of Jake the loan your early interactions when did you know he was pretty good you know it's funny I just talked about this at the game last week in Houston well they said what did you know because he came in his first game of his first year halftime of the game against Jacksonville ironically we're playing Jacksonville this week coming up I said when did you know that Rodney Pete was gonna be bench that you were gonna see some playing time like I thought maybe coach Fox had prepared him like be ready we may make a sudden change like heading into the opener which is what that game was and he said as we were walking into the locker room at halftime so you 12 minutes and we get to realize that he was gonna be the Panthers toward starting quarterback he leads three touchdown drives in the second half and of course a fourth down conversion to Ricky parole very famous in your area up there for the touchdown to be Jackson on the opener and you know Jake had some rough moments and he had some off and on games that weren't great but we had a great defense so they won as a team you know Jake had a great record wins and losses in his career wasn't always the reason they won but he was just exactly what you needed a leader at that position and again that tenacity of never wanting to lose or he would just somehow in most cases make those plays that needed to happen to try to win a game it's Jim Zoe key from the Panthers radio network on Twitter at Jim Zoe key I don't want to be the radio show that just reminisces on the old days because we got football to talk about this weekend Jags Panthers and it is a homecoming of sorts for Gardner Minshew even though gardeners best days in college were in Pullman with Washington State last year he was on an East Carolina football team that went three and nine back-to-back seasons what's your favorite part of this Minshew story you know it's just it's very similar I talked to Marty hurting about this after practice today well kind of what the Panthers are fighting and Kyle Allen so I like the matchup both teams started owing to both had a turn to unproven young quarterback both are not only winning but there's an energy and excitement that's building with us now Minshew's got more of a label it's a Minshew mania mustache it is kind of this celebrity that's coming with it where Kyle Allen is more just kind of doing a job and showing up without much fanfare with it but there is a similarity of what they both bring in he'd go Minshew moves really well in the pocket you can work back it's also the highlights of last week on those touchdown throws I mean he can run he's a second leading rusher obviously a big gap between Leonard and him he's a second leading rusher really athletic and you know Marty was laughing as we talked about he's a six-round pick and he's just out there playing and I coach Morone on the conference call today saying he doesn't say much to him he's kind of joking we said I'm his coach he barely says anything to me so he doesn't really have a feel personally of what he's like very much so I think it's we have fun matchup see how these teams do you know why isn't there a Kyle Allen mania versus a Minshew mania type thing that we've seen the last couple of weeks what do you think separates the two yeah I think we probably have had so much spotlight on the quarterback for the last nine years that this is more the guy showing up who's doing the job and it's kind of been like a week-to-week proposition with Kyle Allen like you know let's see what he could do this week let's see what he can do with a third consecutive start it's kind of all finding out together so I mean he he really obviously overachieved and impressed with those four touchdown passes in Arizona last week statistically probably is more what we thought the Arizona game would be like but it happened against Houston but you know what when you're winning you know that's where you know and going back to last year when he's a starter you don't mess with that you got a winning streak going on so you just kind of want to keep it going for as long as you can KK short on injured reserve with the partially torn rotator cuff now the Panthers need to find a way to replace him or to try and do it by committee if it's not just one guy whose role changes more you think moving forward Gerald McCoy's or Vernon Butler's you know the good thing is I think it's it's hard to lose a pro bowl guy and say you've got depth but they do so we saw Vernon Butler step up and make that quarterback sad strip sack in that game last week you know Joe McCoy's gonna be on the field probably the same amount as they always would use them and they'll line him up as a and then the defensive tackle but you know Vernon Butler plays a little bit more inside so I would think we're in Butler probably in terms of snap count is probably the guy that will see more playing time coming out of this than anybody else that you would keep McCoy basically on the same amount of snaps that he had before but and so many guys that can step up they activated Brian Cox jr. will see these active on Sunday as far as getting it down from 53 to 46 but you've seen it I mean you've got Marquis Haynes and Brian Burns and Mario Addison you can get more out of that fail bot if you needed to so there's a lot of different guys that could easily absorb some of those snaps that he was holding the city of Minnesota's last major sports championship was 1991 with the twins the city of Phoenix they haven't won since the Arizona Diamondbacks did in 2001 the Atlanta last championship for that city was the Braves in 1995 among the major sports when you think about what fan base has gone through the worst what sports city where do you go you know I'm from right I don't Jim where are you from I'm from Cleveland right I mean that's good he's left twice he's gone right now if you're talking you know a body of work Cleveland's right up there yeah they won a championship in the last what five years or whatever the Cavaliers but they've had some heart when they do get there it's heartbreaking like the Cubs World Series with the Indians all two years ago but I know they don't have as many teams to pick from only last time Buffalo won anything papers won anything no sabers have never won bills haven't no no no we know that with the four Super Bowl appearances they had but you know Buffalo again they don't have major league baseball they lost their NBA team decades ago so it's probably not quite as fair of a comparison for Buffalo but growing up in Cleveland I'm asking that was a tough go and that's why that championship with LeBron was so special I want to say it was 52 years between city championships between the Browns championship and then LeBron's championship which I called that LeBron's championship you really didn't have a lot of Jerry out at that time I should carry up are you are you in Bank of America Stadium right now because I'm seeing the US Women's National Team making their way in there now I just left honestly after practice about two hours ago and I've been following on Twitter you have the practicing in there at least they were and to meet them with the fans a little bit and then they've got the match tomorrow night there so and a lot of people are excited there's a lot of soccer fans here excited to see that and hoping for MLS and even more soccer in the future and things are certainly trending that way in Charlotte Jim it's good to hear your voice I'll see you on Sunday I guess thank you again it's Jim Zocchi from the Carolina Panthers radio network yeah soccer town Charlotte North Carolina got the match tomorrow night it is the victory lap the victory tour after the Women's World Cup title their second consecutive Women's World Cup championship while that's happening I'm seeing the practicing at Bank of America Stadium wishing I was there trying to talk to Megan Rapinoe and friends I see at North Carolina media day it's a long-standing tradition that freshman players do not talk to the media until they played their first game well long-standing traditions over Cole Anthony meeting with reporters and there's this massive crowd at the Smith Center and as this massive crowd surrounds this teenager and other North Carolina players on one side of the floor you can see in some of the camera angles there is this figure shooting hoops on the other side and you might think what media member is shooting hoops well we're getting sound and interviewing people at media day turns out it wasn't a media figure it was rapper Jay Cole getting shots up at North Carolina media day so that's what we're missing out on just hanging out here in Kernersville you guys Cole's got a shot man he's uh yeah he proved it he played in high school he's actually pretty good he proved it at the all-star celebrity game four or five years ago he was one of the best celebrity game players especially in hip-hop who did a nice job in that regard yes Aaron I dunk on J Cole no you want it I don't know you know can you dunk I don't you better be able to dunk how tall are you like six four six four six five better be able to man I didn't know you could dunk yeah I'm on J Cole all right well J Cole I are making around because he was just he just took a picture with the Charlotte Hornets that was on Twitter getting shots up still in the Smith Center he hasn't left the Smith Center in the last 24 hours it's just been the night just getting shots up where my shorts at that's right a lot of people saying Charlotte potentially being SportsL USA just stop he told you no I mean just because other people are being dumb doesn't mean and oh right no no no no no because you do that all the time you base opinion off of what you think the majority thinks right I know that North Carolina is a college sports state you know and the Tar Heels and Duke are so good that we're spoiled we're spoiled and the Hurricanes won a championship too and that's two and a half hours down the road but that's not the question Charlotte's not in Raleigh and Charlotte's none of those college teams it's just about Charlotte and their pro franchise I know but there's only two like Minnesota's got three so bad they can't attract the Major League baseball team well no people just don't care enough about Major League baseball if they did people would Tampa well they won a Super Bowl in 2002 can't really fly with that Justin Atlanta won an MLS Cup all right yeah Atlanta soccer soccer state but then they left right oh no that was the hockey team Desmond I got this Marshall tweets in the state of Tennessee is sports hell Titans Grizzlies Predators never won anything it's not a bad submission not to mention Tennessee football well the Titans have been around for about a little over 20 years the Grizzlies how long have the Grizzlies been a thing I mean they started in Vancouver so right so I'm trying to think of when they moved over and the Predators it's been about 15 years or so and they're implant too so I can't really say your sports hell USA when all three of those teams have only been in their current iteration for a little over 20 years can't quite do that it's almost the thing with Charlotte they don't have three teams you got two and they've been here for 30 years combined I mean that's it or I mean 30 years they both been in place Panthers for 25 so we're looking at the poll Minnesota Phoenix Atlanta 43% of the vote right now says Phoenix is the option three three six seven seven seven one six hundred if you want it on today's show on Twitter at sports I've tried talking about sports hell USA I don't even think of Phoenix as a sports town to you I mean is it one of the sports towns it's just on the west coast I mean yeah when the teams are good fans really care but the problem is none of the teams have been good like there were it was a really ravenous fan base when Steve Nash was winning back-to-back MVP Awards and when they made it to the Super Bowl those fans traveled and those fans traveled to Charlotte by the way when they played in the NFC title game yeah they a few years ago so they traveled well I mean yeah it's a good sports city good sports state state of Arizona tomorrow we're gonna play the movie game tomorrow we're gonna chat with Andrea Adelson of ESPN also we're gonna be sharing with Darren Vaught so tomorrow a pretty big show that we got lined up but we're not done with today this is the sports hub at a.m. 600 a.m. 920 now back to the drive with Josh Graham the only thing in sports I care about less than fantasy sports is media coverage of high school recruiting and there are two big headlines today that are making me quite uncomfortable starting with the Indianapolis Star story profiling not the son of Peyton Manning or Eli Manning but of the eldest Manning brother Cooper Manning can you think of a better name for a quarterback than the one I'm about to bring to you arch Manning like if you're a quarterback nepotism is something that is prevalent at all levels of life in the business universe and certainly in sports if you have the last name Manning and you play quarterback that helps you I think it gives you an extra leg up if your first name is literally arch and apparently he is a freshman quarterback and he's very good and you have Archie Manning the father of the Manning brothers the great New Orleans Saint and Ole Miss quarterback he said on the record that quote he's probably a little ahead of his sons where they were as freshmen saying that he's looked very good and you look at the tape he's not playing JV he's made the varsity club and he's just slinging it and the tape looks pretty good I think so there's that and then with North Carolina last night five-star guard Caleb love said that says that he's gonna play for Roy Williams in the Tar Heels making that three top 25 players that's gonna be in the 2020 class three five-star players the first time Roy's had three top 25 players since 2014 but I'm just very uncomfortable getting into what these players are and what they potentially can be when they are still in high school high school recruiting it's such a crapshoot both in football and in basketball it matters don't get me wrong that's the life source of all football and basketball programs how you're recruiting so I'm not dismissing the importance of recruiting but the media coverage of it is a bit of a sham I'm gonna let you behind the curtain a little bit because I used to actually work and run a scout site I had these air quote insiders who were telling me all about how good these high school kids are but really the star system is the media evaluating how good a certain player is a certain prospect is and I've seen it flip in ways that seem a little strange like there's a three-star kid and this has happened a handful of times more than I can count on my hand a three-star kid commits to Clemson and all the sudden overnight he's a four-star kid now or other way around three-star kid who's getting consideration from SEC schools commits to Appalachian State all the sudden becomes a two-star player huh I don't really trust the media's evaluation of how good high school players are but considering how much we love college football and around here college basketball we're gonna consume the content we're gonna read what Caleb love has to say we're gonna read what the media deems to be five star players even if it isn't the most accurate stuff and I always fear while there are many instances where they're right especially with the top guys like Zion and RJ Barrett these players who were great there are also instances like Cam Reddish last year there's instances multi-year situations like seventh woods where we build these guys up and we put the expectations on them why because the media said that this guy was going to be very good and gave them a bunch of stars I'm uncomfortable doing that when it comes to high school players I refuse to criticize high schoolers for athletic performance I don't think that's what the high school game should be about but let me clarify something I'm not saying the media shouldn't cover high school sports not saying that we do an excellent job here on sports hub triad Dave Pulaski Joe Serrara Desmond Johnson and Rod Thunderbrook covering high school sports and I could tell you playing high school sports there was no bigger thrill I had than hearing my name on the radio no bigger deal than reading my name in newsprint I don't want to take that away from high schoolers but the critical aspect of it like I couldn't be fair to myself saying okay we could talk about high schoolers but you can only say good things about that what if you can't say bad things if you're not comfortable saying negative things about somebody then you probably shouldn't be covering it at all on a format such as this one the other clarification I need to make it I love high school sports I took a job in Colorado where 95% of my job was broadcasting high school and it wasn't just football and it wasn't just basketball it was high school wrestling it was volleyball it was baseball it was softball I broadcasted it all and I loved it it was one of the most fun years I ever had and all of radio my radio career so I love high school sports I'm not saying the media shouldn't cover high school sports I just disdain high school recruiting coverage because I'm here to tell you I'm gonna break some news for you right now the media doesn't know we don't know we don't evaluate players at the high school level as well as Saban and Dabo and Roy Williams and Coach K do we don't and often we're trying to play catch-up when they offer one of these kids someone who might not be a star at all all the sudden becomes a 3 and a 4 because guess what we're not following it as closely as they need to and we could just play catch-up and we know people will click on it and people will consume it but it's uncomfortable whether it's Caleb Love or Arch Manning Sarah Sivian Carolina Hurricanes beat reporter will join us in 10 minutes three three six seven seven seven one six hundred the phone number if you wanted on the show you could tweet us at sports up try it yes sir um excuse me are you good yeah I'm okay first time the microphone goes on the um got a cough I uh I hear what you're saying I agree with a lot of the points you're saying the seventh woods thing I don't think you should throw him in there because he got injured that's different than him just not panning out to when he became healthy again this wasn't debilitating stuff for him he was a teenager it was a leg injury sophomore year that was pretty bill it robbed him of his explosiveness that's why he was rated so high to begin with and then he was already signed to Carolina early I think he's signed after sophomore year of high school so he was already in there so I'm that one's no point no I don't think it is I think it does apply because he we had we placed these expectations on him and without the injury stuff there we'd hold him to a standard and he didn't even meet it before he got injured and when he did get injured people don't care about that as much they still had the expectation for him I remember the UNCW game he had 11 points in the first half people say okay now now we could start relying on this guy again when really he hadn't cut his teeth at the collegiate level at any point yet but putting seventh woods aside the point remains I refuse to criticize high schoolers on this platform it took me a while to get adjusted to college athletes I remember one time I ripped into a freshman player I I won't say the coach I won't say the program I ripped into a freshman player for a football team and then the coach called me into his office I talked to him about it and he said and the guy just flunked to class yesterday he was in he was sick as well that's why he was out there and he struggled and you're just gonna come out here and crush a 17 year old what are you doing here but then I start covering Duke basketball and North Carolina and you see Kobe white have the efforts that he puts in Zion Williamson and you start thinking okay if you're playing at that stage the very top tier of a college sport then yeah you're asking for some of that a little bit if you're trying to reach the heights of being an NBA lottery pick and being a national contender in a collegiate sport you know thinking on it now with high school football play-by-play that I've been doing here for a number of years now and then contributing with high school huddle and other stuff I'm around these high school kids and coaches and staff a lot and I typically for the most part we don't really go negative in terms of like during a game it's very easy to go down that wormhole I will say that it's not an opinionated format right you're just covering the game something's good something's bad objectively that happens I'm speaking about columnists I'm speaking about shows such as this one high school huddle falls in that we're basically giving our opinions on the teams that we saw over the course of the week whether they're good or bad and why so that that would fall into that category and we don't go negative with players because probably it's never been spoken but probably for the same reason that you've laid out that you know going in on a 15 year old freshman quarterback over in Wilkes County that's not really you know helpful to the kid not helpful to the broadcaster or the publisher or whoever the writer and it just seems mean you know I mean right and that's why I don't want to touch it yeah I don't want to touch it if I put it this way if I can't say negative things about you in this platform I'm not going to talk about you at all because if you are somebody if I want to have flexibility with the topic to go either positive or negative with the subject matter we have that with professional sports we have that with collegiate sports we don't have it with high school and that's what's uncomfortable and unsettling a little bit when it comes to it don't forget that the Dixie classic fair is coming up October 4th through the 13th learn more about the DC fair comm also use the hashtag how do you fare advance tickets still are on sale right now and if you order an advance ticket again the fair starting just in a couple of days 40% off and something you got to think about ahead of the DC fair I'm excited about the food I'm excited about the rides hashtag how do you fare DC fair comm you can learn more about them okay one of my favorite people in all of sports media is Sarah Sivian one of the funniest people on Twitter at Sarah Sivian Carolina Hurricanes they start their season tomorrow hockey begins tonight with the defending champion st. Louis Blues hosting last year's champ the Washington Capitals it's crazy that we're talking about hockey at this point but what I love about Sarah it often branches way outside of that she is one of the funniest people I know in all of sports media she's gonna join the show next on the drive the drive with Josh Graham it's crazy to think hockey season starts tomorrow but the Carolina Hurricanes that is Pians Arena it's the Hurricanes hosted the Montreal Canadians the Capitals last year's champ make it two years ago champ plays the defending Stanley Cup champion st. Louis Blues tonight we're now being joined though one of my favorite people in the sports media it is Sarah Sivian who's on Twitter at Sarah Sivian reader stuff the athletic Carolina's hurricanes beat reporter Sarah I've got a bunch of tweets that people handed me here and I've got a ton of hockey questions as well I'm just glad we're doing this again how you doing I know I'm so happy to be back happy to have relevant things to talk about and scared to see my tweets what's up so this is what we do we will do a tweet from Sarah Sivian at Sarah Sivian then we'll get to a Carolina Hurricanes hockey question let's start here Taylor Swift sings about drinking like she's drank a Smirnoff ice for the first time listen I love her she's my close personal friend I have a picture with her but not actually but yes but um I mean not like like in her songs now it's like I'm drunk in the back of the car and I'm crying I'm like like what did you think was gonna happen honey like you're obviously upset like you act like you've been there before Jordan stall is going to be the captain for the Hurricanes moving forward Justin Williams taking time away from the game we were talking to rod Brenda more about this yesterday and he said it's really tough to quantify until games are actually played what exactly will be lost with Justin Williams now sidelined where will Justin Williams be missed most you think I mean that's obvious in the locker room even I was just kind of looking around today lamenting on that I guess just felt like he would just talk to us every single day and he just had like he just had that swagger about him that he just knows exactly what to do and what to say and I think that's gonna be most miss and obviously his right shot on the power play but yeah you can't really tell those halfway through the season probably at Sarah civilian on Twitter every time my friends asked me for dating advice I'm like dude we're all gonna die one day maybe even tomorrow send the GD text after a few weeks of experiences I think I retract that statement maybe hold off sometimes but honestly if you're worrying about what it's on your mind a lot just text the person you'll get peace of mind no matter what the answer is can I follow what's happened the last few weeks if you don't mind me asking all right we need to get that podcast going I'm looking at this roster now now that the dust has settled this offseason is this a better team on paper than last season yeah definitely there's so many question marks though it's like it was more addicts run last season Cinderella story that's kind of like that's the biggest question for me and there's so many new guys how are they gonna fit in the locker room that's obviously if they play as advertised the roster is better though on Twitter at Sarah civilian it's cool that the bank can just decide something I bought was sketchy and put a hold of my account buddy I'm a creep we'll be here all day I'm just trying to buy some clothes from Australia like do they think I'm not fashionable they're like I was trying to it's so embarrassing it's Starbucks just ordering a copy and they're like your credit cards declined I'm like what are you talking about it I'm sure I have money at least five dollars but it's crazy that they can just do that what kind of Australian clothes are you buying I don't know it's a cute little boutique trying to get back in all this season that makes sense I'm trying to do the same to see guys we were there as well and these media rooms you gotta look look the part a little bit the Carolina hurricane space in the Montreal Canadians tomorrow night at PNC arena it's Sarah civilian with us here from the athletic Carolinas how noticeable of a difference is it in your coverage the following ahead of tomorrow's opener versus the buzz at this time last year I think it's a completely different situation for me specifically I've actually been around the team for a whole season now one whole season and I'm just I was here for training camp this season but I think there's an expectation there was pressure last year and now there's an expectation to keep the what came of that pressure like they have to make the perhaps again to get to keep interest around here and it's different but I don't know it's like at the same time it's the same thing on Twitter at Sarah civilian living in a college town is just attempting to go out on the weekends and just getting your feet stepped on and screaming I'm not judging in the ladies bathroom when you're actually totally judging I don't remember falling down all over the place when I was in college but I mean like some of these people really got to get it together oh my god I feel like I can't even enjoy myself sometimes I have to go to like breweries or something now because I'm in my old age I'm like worried for these people I don't have any more hockey questions but I have one more tweet that I'd like to ask you about is that okay yes quote there's like 20 good-looking men walking around with dogs at my new apartment complex is this a convention or should I have been living in North Hills all along well I actually found out that that's not I'm not living in North Hills it's like I wait I'm not actually gonna say where I live on the radio but um please don't it it's right near the arena and it's I felt like everything that isn't downtown is like and that's north of downtown is like vaguely called North Hills I didn't realize that was a specific place but I was told that parking PR Mike sometime came up with the cows the commute from North Hills and I'm like haha but um I yeah there's a lot of good-looking guys around here and I didn't really know that I guess I'm recently single so I haven't been keeping an eye out but they're not downtown they're in wherever I live and is this podcast ever gonna happen um the athletic just launched a bunch of podcast and I wasn't included so I'm feeling like a healthy scratch but I might just need to take matters into my own hands I want a podcast so bad on Twitter at Sarah civilian let the athletic Carolinas know that Sarah civilian needs a podcast we're behind this follow her Carolina Hurricanes coverage which again has been going on for a while now but the games actually start the regular season games tomorrow night looking forward to watching on television and seeing you very soon Sarah thank you for doing this yep anytime you got it that's Sarah civilian from the athletic Carolinas and just a really entertaining Twitter follow we're now the opposite of the front of sports talk because we're well we're back to it get it well that's not funny back to the dry that's moronic with Josh grab all right it's time for my top 10 Joker's the new Joker movie comes out tomorrow with Joaquin Phoenix it's gonna be very difficult for anyone to talk the performance of the Joker in the Dark Knight about a decade ago but if anybody's up to that task I'd probably say it's Joaquin Phoenix or maybe Daniel Day-Lewis so since it's Joaquin Phoenix one of the best thespians we have in all of Hollywood right now I'm excited about it I've been all all aboard with this project for a very long time and it seems like it's getting great reviews there's been a lot of criticism as well I'm doing everything I can to stay away from reading reviews about this movie because I want my own judgment to be I don't want other preconceived notions to influence how I watch the movie going in so I'm holding off on that I don't know if I'm gonna go tomorrow night or Friday night because all these threats of people potentially afflicting violence at the movie theater these incels who are saying that they're inspired by the Joker you have the army saying they're taking measures to protect movie theaters I'm just gonna wait till a matinee maybe a Saturday matinee or go on a Tuesday night because mass shooters don't go to the movies on Tuesday night or to a matinee pro tip from yours truly what air it's true is it see that in the handbook or something right I mean if you're trying to get the most people harmed if you're trying to afflict the most damage you don't go to matinees you don't go Tuesday night so I mold my schedule that way okay we missed the newsletter or something yeah I must I must not a renew my description put it up on the ESPN ticker at the bottom of the screen mass shooters do not go to the movies for matinees or on Tuesday night let's get out of this awkward space and get to the top ten list please Oh top 10 jokers my top 10 jokers yes that looks like you did no I'm just uncomfortable right now this is my comfortable face number 10 my number 10 Joker Nikola Jokic yeah it's my number 10 Joker not bad he's a top 10 player of the NBA right now too I don't know about that I saw the list well he is Jokic is a top 10 NBA player statistically there's no question like he's an all NBA guy was he first team all NBA or was he second no he had second there's no way he made first I think he might have been first team all NBA this year Nikola Jokic oh no he had an excellent year he's one of the ten best players in the league there's no question based on the way that he's played the last two seasons for coach Mike Malone and the Denver Nuggets should I keep filibustering for you or move on to number nine number nine my number nine Joker Devin Jester are they all gonna be jay-z no okay you're so impatient well it's early to it when we start things gonna be dude jay-z's hello what you're doing with these sounds now it's just the way I'm bothered I'm annoyed we're good Devin Jester when he returned that kick in Super Bowl what would it have been it was the Bears call it the way the Colts it's the wet one the wet one the print Super Bowl print Super Bowl Devin Jester what do we got on Joe Kitch he was indeed the Nuggets first all NBA first team first team all NBA no question that guy's a top ten player in the week number eight my number eight Joker David and Joe coup very good tight end is he the Browns number one tight end I don't know why I'm just asking you guys question I think he is thinking I hurt yeah yeah but that's why you had another tight end catching a touchdown for the Browns this past weekend at Baltimore Brown's got a lot of talent coming back great and now analysis there yeah the Browns the Browns yeah Lord they've got a cream hunt coming in I mean they've got their their entire secondary is injured they're coming back I just love that the spot you feel it all right well let me make sure I get this in here got the Browns yeah they're pretty good David and Joe coup you mentioned and I mean number seven my number seven Joker haha Clinton dicks oh we've had a lot of haha Clinton dicks on the top ten list I think he was there last yeah yeah wouldn't he just on here last week no no that was a couple weeks ago haha Clinton dicks that must be as for the one-hit wonders must be a cousin or somebody yeah number six my number six Joker Heath Ledger see the best Joker of all time not I want to think about this maybe we could get to this conversation in a bit Tom writes it as a lifelong detective comics collector Jack Nicholson's Joker is the most accurate to the comic book I agree Heath Ledger best performance I think so it really is what ever criteria you set that I think will lead you to the answer you want number five my number five Joker dick trickle they don't belong here favorite NASCAR driver of all time Ed Harden making an appearance on the show yeah also a noted NASCAR writer but you don't belong there and hater of carp he does hate carp as he made known they don't belong here number four my number four Joker Novak Djokovic it's been a solid list you say yeah just wait till we get to the top three oh boy my number three Joker today beyond clowny that's fancy that's that's a spicy right there I like that scariest person I've ever seen really in college up close just being next to today beyond clowny terrifying but he's a teddy bear he probably is I never talked to him but he's a scary dude number two my number two Joker prank Thomas I see Frank Thomas every day on the big hurt commercials prank Thomas the big hurt every time he does these commercials he always ends you know it's about the new genic stuff that he's pushing right now yeah the extra testosterone stuff at the end of he always looks dead in the camera and goes your girl like it too and then he winks and he walks away that means that's prank Thomas telling you that he has a big penis number one my number one Joker Dave Chappelle he is my number one Joker there you have it my top ten joker good let's go this you even like the workplace the first time you actually been in on the work yeah it was good it was good I like to kind of think what else would have been on the outside looking good I just actually these were the first ten I came up with and I just threw him on paper that's how it should be what do you got there Steve Miller of the Steve Miller band we were playing Steve Miller going again it just didn't have the words right Joker Philip who's Joker Philip he's like a wide receiver coach at Maryland oh thank you it's random but it applies thanks for filling us in Mark Hamill Oh Mark Hamill he was okay yeah Mark Hamill is an interesting choice I miss that I miss that animated series the Batman childhood yeah Mark Hamill though is he your favorite Joker can we agree that Jared Leto is probably the worst terrible yeah that I'm gonna go with the person on Twitter that hit you up now Nicholson that's a really accurate description Jack Nicholson's Joker is more aligned with the Joker in the comic books than any of the other ones before or after him I love his Joker portrayal and I was hardcore like Heath Ledger would never surpass this until I watched Heath Ledger now I'm waiting to see what Joaquin Phoenix is like right I'm giving him a chance can we talk about Zach Galifianakis though in the Lego Batman movie that happened I might need to check that out yeah it's pretty good Cesar Romero can't be on the list because he just painted over white over his mustache like he refused to shave his mustache so I painted over white mustache which I guess made the Joker look crazier that disqualifies him yeah it was the Adam West Batman he did have an iconic mustache like I don't even think Jack Nicholson's at the top three what dude that that role is so I got a feeling that walking Phoenix is gonna do better and then it's it's Heath Ledger and Mark Hamill man no you can't put Mark Hamill's Joker above Jack Nicholson are you insane I can't I'm just great animated but it was America America says you can't that's just not right America actually says I can there's this thing called the First Amendment I could say what I want ooh gotcha burn got it America want some aloe vera for that burn I'm giving Joaquin Phoenix a puncher's chance I'm going in with an open mind I am we've been putting hype on this movie before everybody else I know that's often out about it was between the two of you I'm a Todd Phillips guy man I'm worried about why movie why are you worried but Phillips has never done a movie this dark before I know him from old school and like stuff like that like hangover yes campy comedy and I don't know he also played a role in a star is born too I think he might have been a producer let me check I'm pretty sure he played a role in a star is born the commercial I will say the commercials for the Joker movie look very interesting I'm not that concerned I mean Adam McKay did the same exact thing and put out great movies put out the Big Shore and vice after doing step brothers among other things true that's true so it's not impossible to suggest he was a producer for a star is born so ah it's Joaquin Phoenix I trust that I like Todd Phillips we've seen people go this route before Judd Apatow doing it Adam McKay doing it comedy to dramatic movies it's never the other way around it's never someone I'm doing these great drama movies and now here's one of the best comedies no it's comedy and then evolving to dramatic work not just for actors but also directors and producers too