The Drive with Josh Graham - Background TV Shows

Attention, please. This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. Tune into The Drive 3 until 6pm weekdays on the Sports Hub. I love it. It's brilliant.

Okay. Carolina Panthers finally helped us make sense of last week's loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They announced Cam Newton re-aggravated his injured foot. He wasn't at practice today. He's day-to-day for Sunday against the Cardinals Sunday. And Ron Rivera literally just got finished addressing the media minutes ago.

So we'll bring you some of his comments in just a few minutes. The Carolina Panthers need to act. Not in a week. Not in three or four days.

Right now. This is no time for let's wait and see on Kyle Allen. There's too much talent on this roster for that. And this game on Sunday means too much. The season can still be rescued for the Carolina Panthers. Drew Brees, he's out for six weeks. The schedule is relatively favorable even though four of your next five games are away for Bank of America Stadium. Who's saying you can't beat the Arizona Cardinals or Gardner Minshew in the Jacksonville Jaguars or Tampa Bay on a neutral field in London?

Nobody. So whether it's Cam Newton or a veteran quarterback you bring in, I don't know. Like Colin Kaepernick, I feel like the Panthers have a good shot at winning if you have solid quarterback play under center. I think Carolina needs to pull the trigger on Colin Kaepernick. I'm not saying that to be controversial. I'm only talking about football here. It's the same thing we did last year when the Panthers signed Eric Reid.

Looking at it from a football perspective, it made sense for Carolina and that was justified when Carolina extended Eric Reid to a three-year contract during the offseason. Colin Kaepernick is better than any quarterback the Panthers have on their roster not named Cam Newton. Colin Kaepernick is better than any other free agent quarterback.

Who's out there? He's mobile. He can run the system. I get he's been out of the game the last two years, but look at the quarterbacks across the NFL right now. There were 46 backup quarterbacks on rosters at the beginning of the season. 20 of those quarterbacks, 20 of 46 never started a game. Half of those never have thrown an NFL pass. And you're going to try and tell me Colin Kaepernick can't play because he's been out of it for two years?

Garbage. Carolina can beat Arizona on Sunday with Kaepernick in there or Cam Newton even if he's 75-80%. They will not beat them with Kyle Allen. I watched Arizona in person on Sunday. I was at M&T Bank Stadium. I saw Lamar Jackson put up the great numbers. By the way, Lamar Jackson did something no other quarterback has ever done in the regular season. And that's pass for 250 yards and rush for 150 yards in the same game.

Do you know why I note regular season? The only other time it's been done in the history of the sport was by Colin Kaepernick in a postseason game. Kyler Murray's good.

I was impressed by Arizona. Carolina is going to lose that game if Kyle Allen's playing quarterback. Colin would give you a chance if you put him into the lineup. So Joe Person, I think this is what the sound is of, this is literally just minutes ago, asked Ron Rivera if they would consider signing a veteran quarterback. Cam, we're out for any length of time. Would you all consider a veteran quarterback? I don't think so. I think the guys that we have here, we brought them here for a specific purpose and that's to develop them, train them, have them ready to go for a situation like this.

And that's why they're here. How long was that pause? Desmond Johnson is the producer of this program. He's also taking your calls. 336-777-1600. Would you be okay with the Carolina Panthers signing Colin Kaepernick this minute?

777-1600 on Twitter at sportsubtriad. I just want to hear it one more time. How long it took Ron Rivera to say no to that question? Cam, we're out for any length of time. Would you all consider a veteran quarterback? One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi. I don't think so.

Okay, about three and a half Mississippi. He pondered. He pondered for a little bit there. Not only would I welcome Colin Kaepernick in with welcome arms, it almost makes too much sense to have him. Can you imagine running run play option with him and Christian McCaffrey? How would defenses even defend that? Well, they would defend it the same way that defended Cam Newton last year.

I'm not saying it's going to be unstoppable. I'm saying it's better than Kyle Allen. I'm not going to say defenses are going to struggle to stop a Colin Kaepernick-led offense. I'm saying Carolina has better options available to them right now than somebody who's played one career game against a team that actively wasn't trying to win that football game. It's a better option than Kyle Allen. Would you say that based off of our previous history with signing Eric Reid that the Panthers are probably the only team that would probably be able to sign Colin Kaepernick at this point, considering other teams have passed him by the past two years?

I think Carolina has a better chance of signing him for that reason, but we have to be honest about this. Okay, David Tepper signed off on Eric Reid being picked up. Eric Reid, now alongside Colin Kaepernick, he certainly was a controversial player, but let's not act like it's the same thing. Signing Colin Kaepernick would be the biggest headline, not just in sports, across the United States, if the Carolina Panthers signed him. That didn't happen with Eric Reid.

It was talked about and maybe made some of the news shows. If the Carolina Panthers sign Kaepernick, you're all of a sudden going to be a part of the president's comments every single week, every single opportunity. You're all of a sudden going to be watched by people who aren't generally watching football, just trying to see this guy slip up. That isn't happening with a strong safety. It would happen with Colin Kaepernick.

So does David Tepper care about that? That remains to be seen, but let's not act like it's the same thing, signing Eric Reid versus signing Colin Kaepernick. I do think this, public opinion has shifted on Kaepernick in the last few years. Kaepernick was not well received in the first year that he was demonstrating during the national anthem.

Wasn't well received at all, but then it completely flipped because I think Colin Kaepernick's silence and him operating from the shadows earned him respect in some's mind, including mine. I couldn't say for certain Colin Kaepernick's, his objectives were pure, that his intentions were pure at the start. I thought we couldn't say for certain he wasn't trying to seek spotlight and to be a capitalist in some senses while also exploiting a movement.

I couldn't say that with absolute certainty at the time, but when the guy doesn't do any TV, radio or print interviews for nearly three years, I don't think you can allege that somebody who is seeking out attention. It is somebody, whether you agree with his calls or not, was willing to sacrifice his living based on a moral belief, a moral objection to something he saw going on in his world. Now, if you agree with what he has said, that's great. If you disagree with it, that's fine, too. But if we take away police brutality and what he is protesting or was protesting at the start and just make it OK, this is somebody who believes in something morally, so strongly he's willing to be blackballed and sacrifice his profession. As a result, maybe you look at him a little bit differently. I certainly respect that, even if I don't agree with almost everything he said.

Well, people have to people have to remember how this all started, I think, and that's kind of got lost in the in the narrative of how this all began. He was sitting down at the back of the sidelines during the national anthem of a preseason game and a camera caught him sitting down like he never went out looking for a camera to protest in front of. So I never really got the vibe that it was all about him. And then even after that, I mean, the last big check that he got from the 49ers, 15 million or whatever, he gave out all the way to charities and things of that sort. So I feel like it's flipped.

Yeah, I think so. Without rehashing a lot of that stuff, Nike saw an opportunity to make this guy a spokesman for them, and it was quite lucrative. At first, we thought maybe Nike made a mistake. They did not, and making Colin Kaepernick a spokesman for them. On Twitter at Sports Hub Triad, The Drive broadcast live in the law offices of Timothy D. Welborn Studios.

Learn about all the ways Tim Welborn can help you online at Tim Welborn dot com. You'll know when you need us. That's not the only news involving quarterbacks today. Yesterday, it was Drew Brees out for six weeks with the thumb. Ben Roethlisberger out for the rest of the season in Pittsburgh. Today, after Monday Night Football, we learned Trevor Simeon.

He's injured. Gonna miss the rest of the season, which means former Washington State quarterback Luke Falk. You're up for the New York Jets since you got a quarterback with Mano who was drafted in the top five and his backup who started in Denver last year out for the rest of the season. It gets easy, though, for the Jets. You just got the New England Patriots this week.

So there you have it. Eli Manning benched in favor of Daniel Jones, a moment that this show has been waiting for for a long time. We have a direct line to the New York Giants locker room where we heard the exchange, the first exchange between Eli Manning and Daniel Jones after the news broke that Daniel Jones would be the Giants starting quarterback.

Here's how that sounded. Hey, guess what? I'm the new starting quarterback of the New York Giants. I've been waiting on this day for an eternity. I'm Daniel Jones, by the way. I'm about to blow your mind. Well, I'm actually feeling pretty sad that you are.

Yeah, I thought they said they was trading. I mean, I thought they said they was putting you on the bench. Well, I am sitting on the bench, but I get to keep the same locker and my helmet and my jersey. Do you want some confetti? Because I got confetti in my pocket.

I walk around with it now because I've been waiting on this day forever. And I walked in this morning and they were like, guess what? And I was like, what? And he was like, you're going to be the starting quarterback of the New York Giants. I said, yeah.

Daniel, I didn't know you like this kind of music. Yeah, man, I'm a party animal, man. I went to Duke.

This is what we do, man. Do you ever go to those basketball games? I was a little too big to go to them basketball games. I was afraid I was going to get mobbed by all the Duke coeds and stuff.

So I would just kind of keep to myself, but I'd watch them in my dorm room all the time. Yeah. Learning plays. Well, congratulations on getting the starting job. I hope you do good. Congratulations on a good career, Eli. You play real well. I don't think anybody else is going to play with you anymore. But you know, hey, you do got two Super Bowl rings, man.

That's a shout out to that. I'm going to try and do this tease as Eli Manning here. Well, hey, you got media. You can do media, you know, if you leave the game. But let's see how I do. Okay. As a media member, I'll judge you.

Can both Wake Forest be good and the ACC also be good? That was awful, man. It's like you're throwing interceptions again. Like, what are you doing? Like, you got to put a little oomph into it.

Say it with your chest, man. Can both Wake Forest be good and the ACC be good? That's next on the drive.

Oh, look who's back. This is the sports hub at AM 600 AM 920. Now back to the drive with Josh Graham. Wake Forest beat riders Les Johns and Connor O'Neill in studio with us. I have a question for both of you guys that I'm interested to get your take on because in my view, I think in life, in sports, we can hold multiple truths with things. The question has been posed by national media and some locally looking at it. Can the ACC be a strong league with Virginia and Wake Forest making up two of the top three teams in football in a season? Like it seems like it is right now. Virginia ranked in the top 25. Wake Forest earning votes. They're undefeated at the moment, beating North Carolina this past weekend in a non-conference game, their first conference game coming up against Boston College in two weeks. I feel this is my viewpoint on it, that Wake Forest and Virginia can be respectable top 25 programs and could be top five teams in the league and the league still be strong. But with that being said, just in this given year, in this given circumstance, Wake and Virginia are top three teams in the league, no doubt. But this is not a strong year for the ACC. I can't pick five teams that I know right now that are good. So I think it is a down year for the ACC, but Wake and Virginia still deserve respect.

How do you guys counterbalance that? I just think it's early, Josh. It's three games in.

I'm not sure. Once again, I'm sure we're going to see better performances out of Boston College, North Carolina State, Virginia Tech for sure, and Syracuse for sure. Those will probably be really good teams in a month or two. Right now, they're not looking all that great. I don't expect we'll see good football out of Louisville, and I don't expect that we'll see really good football out of probably Duke. Georgia Tech is another one that will be down at the bottom. Aside from that, spots two through 11 in the conference will probably end up being pretty good football teams. I just don't think we're seeing all that right now. I have some faith in Miami.

I do. I mean, you have all that talent on defense and continuity with Manny Diaz returning. I watched them when they were in North Carolina, and I like some things I saw from Jaron Williams. I'm still a believer in Syracuse just with all the talent on the roster, but Florida State, North Carolina State, what I'm seeing right now, I'm not going to buy it. I don't think there's another league that you can look at right now and not pick at least four teams that you know are good at the moment. No, it's a down year, but that doesn't have to mean that Wake and Virginia are not good teams just along par of what NC State has been the last two years and what Syracuse was last year.

One doesn't have to go hand in hand with the other. This is where I buy SEC bias, the only spot I buy it. I'm not the guy who says, ah, the reason why they talk about the SEC so much on TV is because of bias. This was happening back when the SEC was winning six or seven straight national championships. So I don't believe if the ACC was winning six or seven straight, they'd still be spending time talking all this SEC nonsense. But last year, Kentucky has a great year and they're finished in the top 10. Most people just applaud Mark Stoops and Kentucky and don't make this about the SEC potentially have a down year because LSU isn't meeting expectations or Florida isn't. But when it's the ACC and it's Syracuse in the top 15 and it's Virginia and Wake Forest knocking on the door, it has to define the conference in a way we don't see in other spots. We don't see it with Miami and Florida State and Virginia Tech down. People were laughing at the Atlantic Coast Conference and not getting credit to Syracuse last year.

And right now, Virginia and Wake Forest. Yeah. And it's a disservice to their programs. It is what it is, is the answer you'll get from Dave Claussen and Bronco Mendenhall. But it's not going to make an effect on the players. It's not going to mean that Virginia players go out and play that much harder against Old Dominion or against Duke or against Carolina later in their coastal division games.

I mean, it doesn't make a difference to them. That is the answer. That is the answer we actually got from Dave Claussen earlier today.

This is from his press conference. Whether we receive votes or whatever, I have no control over that. We control the product on the field. And I think if you've watched us the first three games, the product on the field right now is pretty good. And our job is to sustain it and make it better. And if we do that and people still don't think the ACC is good, then what can we do? Well, I know what we can do.

I asked the question and he said, well, that's a question I have for you guys. It's media driven more than anything else. I feel like Amugatu and Zoolander are taking crazy pills right now because I don't understand how there can be such stark differences of how a league is perceived in the ACC versus the SEC. When we saw very similar circumstances play out for the SEC and nobody cry wolf or in other words, cry out and say that the SEC is having a down year. Here's more from Dave Claussen.

Like I said, in media days, you know, media perception takes a long time to change. So maybe, you know, in 50 years when I'm six feet under and we're three and oh, maybe we're ranked and that'll somewhere I'll be smiling. Yes, Connor. I don't know why Dave went so grim on us. Like I just complimented him on how optimistic he is and he like kind of bristled at me for that. And last year he told us constantly that he was a glass half full guy.

I guess that was just himself trying to convince himself that amid what 12 or 13 season ending injuries. He was going to be optimistic, but I don't know why he had to talk about his demise and death. He's going to be somewhere.

He didn't even say he's going to be in one place or the other. Like it's kind of a bummer. It was it was a weird shift there. Yeah. And you've got to believe I know you have to say the thing. Yeah, we don't pay attention to it. None of that stuff.

I call hogwash across everything. It's OK to want recognition for something you feel you've earned and to suggest Wake Forest. It wouldn't mean something to them to get a top 25 ranking when it hasn't happened in a decade.

2008. That's that's absurd. And it's not plausible.

I don't buy it. It would matter to the players. Now, that doesn't mean that they don't care about the coaches and and the recognition they get from them. But it would just feel good to get national recognition. And Dave Clawson has to want that just as much as anybody. That's just human nature. And the fans are definitely seeking that as well. You can see that on Twitter with with their with the way they responded to what they perceived as disrespect from the a couple of UNC players and the way they respond to only getting 14 votes in the AP poll and being just outside the top 25.

I love this. Right before Connor O'Neill walked in here. You can follow him on Twitter. C O N O R is how you spell Connor. Connor O'Neill WSJ on Twitter. Les Johns is on Twitter at Les underscore. John, he posts a picture and you've had quite the ongoing battle with Wake Forest parking. You post a picture saying essentially that they they're threatening to put a boot on your car. Recovering wake athletics over there.

Do I have this right? Yeah, this is an ongoing situation. I think I've given you a platform to help.

So I think there are gears that have that have been wound since I came into the studio and things might have already been resolved. So I don't want to say anything negative after. Don't come after people that can renege on something that helps you after after things have already I think possibly been cleared up with this.

I'm not going to put my foot back in my mouth. And, you know, it's just it's something that I got ticketed twice in the first two weeks of the season on Wednesday mornings when we go for post practice interviews. And I you know, I see a fine from Wake Forest University and it's like, OK, well, they're not going to give me my diploma. Big deal. But then actually, a former Wake player that I covered when he was in high school at Eastern Alumance, Ali Lamont, older brother of John Lamont, the Boston College middle linebacker.

Sent me a he just responded to my tweet of the second ticket and said, you are messing with forces that you do not understand. So I had this game of Thrones. I had an inkling that it might come to this. So last week I put a note on my dashboard saying, like, I'm not a student.

You know, I am I cover Wake Forest sports for the Winston-Salem Journal. And here's a copy of my business. Like, here's proof and and put a business card there in the dash. But it's a visitor parking lot. And the kicker is all three times Connor has been ticketed. I've been probably less than 100 feet away from him and haven't been ticketed. I wasn't going to bring that up because it's funny.

It's funny, though. I watched the wires. I mean, I don't I'm not a snitch.

I'm from a Baltimore suburb. I'm not a snitch. So I wasn't going to go there.

They get stitches. It is funny, though. They get they've laughed about it. But I'm glad you were the one that outed yourself and not me. Right. I was at my dad's alma mater of Towson, speaking of Maryland yesterday. And he told me back when he was in school, like he was a commuter. He the parking spaces were taken up so quickly he would park right next to the building they had class in and just take chances.

All right. Well, they'll ticket me or whatever. And he collected, I think, up to about five hundred fifty dollars worth of parking tickets that my grandfather had to pay off before things. I think the way he saw it was, yeah, these are university fees that that are needed in order for me to graduate.

Yeah. These university fees are going to go to helping like the new Towson Center over here. When really, you know, they might have went to the Towson Center, but it's actually just paying off my parking fees.

It's cost of attendance. It's a heady play. You guys are going to be on Chris Lee's show tonight, WXII.

It's the Wake Zone. Give them a little bit of love because I was on it last week and it was just me and Chris Lee. So you guys are going to fill up the studio a little bit better. We've got to bring the energy that you brought to the show last week.

You did a great job, Josh. Well, thanks so much. So you can find that on Facebook, WXII's page.

Read Connor O'Neill's work in the Winston-Salem Journal and read Les Johns at Demon Deacon Digest. And you can follow him on Twitter at Les underscore Johns and also Connor O'Neill WSJ on Twitter. Fellas, thanks for being here. Thanks for having us. All right. Every week, Des, yesterday you had Darren Vada in here yesterday.

He had a Monday show, but he didn't do Let's Get Crazy. Do I have that right? That is correct. So hot takes. That's all we want. We suspend journalistic integrity like these two guys have. Once every week, we throw it away for 10 to 12 minutes. We get reckless with opinions.

It is the radio equivalent to the jump to conclusions mat from office space. We get crazy next on the drive. I do want to get this out of the way on the front end. I'm strictly talking about football here, not politics. We don't do politics on this show. The Carolina Panthers should pull the trigger on Colin Kaepernick.

That doesn't mean I agree with everything he's ever said. But in a league that started the year with 46 backup quarterbacks on rosters, 20 of which never started an NFL game and half of those never attempted an NFL pass. You can't convince me that there are better options out there than what Colin Kaepernick is, even if he hasn't played the last two seasons. The Panthers should absolutely pull the trigger on him. The season could still be salvaged. Now that Drew Brees is out the next six weeks, the Panthers are just a game back in the south.

And they have a pretty favorable stretch that starts with Arizona on Sunday, a team that I saw at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore in person on Sunday. I was impressed with what I saw from Kyler Murray, by the way. But I don't think the Panthers are winning any games with Kyle Allen at quarterback or with Will Greer, who's just quite not ready yet. David Tepper, it's up for him to decide if the Panthers can pull the trigger on this guy, if he would sign off on it. Eric Reid said that nobody came up to him and asked for his thoughts on Kaepernick. To add perspective, Torrey Smith was approached by Panthers coaches and by administration to see what he thought of Eric Reid at this time last year before Carolina decided to sign the safety. That turned out to be a great football signing, so much so that Carolina extended him three years in the offseason.

This is about football. David Tepper already signed off on Eric Reid. But let's just acknowledge the obvious, that it's different to sign Kaepernick than it is to sign Eric Reid.

They maybe have knelt just as often Reid doing so more than Kapp because Colin's been out of the league the last two years. But Kaepernick is the polarizing name, not Reid. He's the one that played quarterback. He's the one that started.

He's the one that started this entire movement. He's the one that played and nearly won a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers. If Carolina wants to be committed to winning, you can't make that happen with Kyle Allen.

You just can't. And Cam Newton, he might play. And I'd prefer a 75-80% Cam with his re-aggravated foot injury over Allen and Greer. But I'm not sure if I'd prefer that over Colin Kaepernick.

I think the Panthers should pull the trigger and sign him. Now, that's not the only thing that's going on today. Eli Manning was benched in favor of Daniel Jones.

Jalen Ramsey is demanding a trade, then saying publicly today that if he's still on the team, he'd like to face the Tennessee Titans on Sunday. A lot of stuff going on in the NFL. But also today, news and television. HBO Max is getting the streaming rights to The Big Bang Theory.

Netflix likely paid more than $500 million to acquire Seinfeld starting in 2021. Had me thinking about the best background TV shows of all time. Not the greatest shows ever. But you had to be a pretty good show to qualify as something that people want to turn the channel when it's just on in the background. I think SVU, Law & Order, is the best background TV show ever.

But Dez is telling me now that the phone lines are exploding with people who want it on this topic. So let's go to Mike in Winston-Salem. Michael in Winston-Salem.

What's your pick for the best background TV show of all time, Michael? My pick would be Martin. And I would also say that the Panthers should try to get RG3 from the Ravens. He looks really good.

I'll leave you with that. Yeah, I'd be fine with RG3. I'd be fine with Martin being the choice too. RG3, it would require you to trade for him though. You would have to give something up in order to get RG3.

So you're asking yourself the question. If it is Kaepernick, let's just say for this hypothetical snap. If it is Kaepernick and RG3 and you're trying to evaluate which of the two to bring in, you're not just saying that RG3 is better than Colin Kaepernick if you bring in RG3 with those two options. You're also saying RG3 is that much better than Colin Kaepernick that you'd be willing to give something up in order to bring him in when you wouldn't have to do so to acquire Cap since he's a free agent.

That is a really intriguing idea that I didn't even think of. Because I'm thinking of it, you don't want the Panthers to have to change what they do offensively. And with Robert Giffen III, you kind of can continue to run the same offense.

And I think he was a better passer too. But you'd have to trade something away to get it. And the Ravens, they want to back up quarterback in place behind Lamar that can run that offense too. And they also understand the desperation the Panthers are in. You're probably going to be having to give up a fourth round draft pick, a third round draft pick to do that.

I don't know if it's worth doing that when the alternative cost you nothing extra to bring in considering he's a free agent. George in Greensboro, what is your pick for a background TV show, the greatest background TV show of all time, George? I would say Cheers and or Coach.

Wow! Cheers is a very good choice. Thank you, George. How did I not think of Cheers? It was in the back of my mind. I just watched the series finale like two weeks ago on Hulu. Just randomly, one weekday night.

One of my favorite shows ever. Hmm. I want to discuss this with David Glenn when he joins us in about five minutes. I think in the next few months, we're going to learn who David Tepper is as an owner. I think he's made a ton of good calls the last year and change in his first year as the owner of the Panthers.

But unlike last year, I think action is absolutely required here when it wasn't a year ago. You didn't have to move off Ron Rivera or Marty Hurney or make a decision on Cam Newton at that moment. But with Cam having just one more year left on his contract, being 30 years old, about to turn 31, a decision is going to have to be made to give this guy an extension and that's something the owner signs up for. And if the Panthers don't make the playoffs, a decision is going to have to be made on Ron Rivera.

Do you keep him or do you extend him further? Marty Hurney the same way. This is where we're going to see what he's made of. He signed off on Eric Reid. It's going to require more balls. Best way to put it. For David Tepper to also pull the trigger on Colin Kaepernick too.

So we'll see. I know he has brass testicles on his desk in his office, but let's see just what the size of those cajonas are if he's willing to go the extra step, if it means helping the Panthers on the field. Andrew in Greensboro has a pick for background TV show, The Greatest Out There. Andrew, what would you nominate? I would nominate the Simpsons. Do you have a favorite Simpsons character? Oh, gosh, it would have to be Apu. Yeah, controversial pick, but a good pick. Thank you, Andrew.

I always like Santa's little helper, the dog. Dude, I was in middle school when the Simpsons began. I'm now 41. Yeah, and it's still on. It's still on the air.

I think they got renewed for another three seasons. Tom writes in, Original Law and Order is the best background TV show. Yeah, I agree.

I prefer SVU over the Original Law and Order. You're agreeing with so many. There can only be one best.

See, you're just pandering to the person who says that this one's good and you like the show. Oh, yeah. Cheers. Oh, yeah. I agree.

Original Law and Order. They're all good shows. Right. But they all can't be the greatest.

Sure they can. You don't watch TV. That's the problem here. I've watched all these shows. Not as much. You've admitted you don't like television. Like, you don't watch it. Not as much as I like movies. Like, everything to you is a background TV show, I would think.

It's true. Except for The Bachelor. No. Watching it intently. Seeing what's going on with Connor. Did you finish Bachelor in Paradise? I don't watch Bachelor in Paradise. Oh, I thought you gave in. I watched one episode.

It didn't hook you? No. Wow. Getting ready for Pilot Pete season. Pilot Pete.

I'm surprised. I'm just shocked that you didn't get homeboy. Petey four times. Pilot Pete in the in the windmill. Going to be the next bachelor.

What did you call him? Petey four times? Yeah.

Hannah just putting out his business. Four times? I still question that. I don't think that happened the way they described it. In a windmill.

In a windmill of all places. I'm so excited. Suspect. What's the ceiling for Wake Forest football this year? We'll discuss that with David Glenn in addition to Cam Newton next. In honor of HBO Max acquiring the streaming rights to The Big Bang Theory and Netflix roping in Seinfeld, we started talking about the greatest background TV shows of all time. And the phone lines since then have been flooding, as has our Twitter feed.

Boardman Nada tweets in that 70 show should qualify. We're now being joined by David Glenn, our early afternoon host, to talk all things ACC. We have our weekly ACC rankings up at ACC Sports dot com. And we're in agreement with our top three of Clemson, Virginia and Wake Forest in that order representing the top three. And what I'm interested in, DG, is this perception of the ACC that we're seeing a lot of question today nationally. The ACC has Virginia and Wake Forest making up two of the top three teams. And people think that just because they are the teams one in the top twenty five, the other knocking on the door, they are the ones that are at the top. That means the ACC isn't so strong. What do you make of the perception of it, of ACC football at the moment that does have the Deeks and Cavaliers at the very top behind Clemson?

Well, I'll say this, Josh, it's good to be with you as always. Somebody asked me rhetorically, when is the last time that I, as an ACC dude, thought that Clemson, Virginia and Wake Forest were the three best football teams in the league? And I actually am geeky enough that I went back into my archives and tried to figure out the actual answer to the question.

And it was 1987, the first year that I covered stuff. So it does sound weird when UVA and Wake are the next two ACC football teams beyond Clemson. That answer, by the way, came before Florida State joined the league, much less Virginia Tech and Miami and BC and Pitt and Louisville, etc. So it has been a long time.

It's not used to what people are seeing. Virginia Tech is down. Florida State is down. Miami is down.

And the usual suspects are nowhere to be seen on that top tier. I remind folks that it's only heading into week four as we speak. We don't know what UVA is going to do against Notre Dame or other highly ranked teams on their schedule.

We don't know what Wake's going to do head to head against the Clemson Tigers when they face each other later this year. Even if you don't win all those high profile games, you can show that you belong. But it is a huge, huge deal for the ACC.

We talked about this all summer. It has to show that it has depth as a football league for a lot of reasons, including long term TV type reasons. And in 2016, the ACC not only produced the national champion Clemson, but four or five other really good football teams. In 2018, it was Clemson and then maybe Syracuse and then a big drop to everybody else. So far this season, it's Clemson and UVA and then Wake knocking on the door. And that looks a lot more like last year than that vintage 2016 season. And that's not good news for the ACC as a whole. How many teams today are you convinced are good that you know right now are good football teams? Three.

And the three we mentioned. That's nuts, D.G. That's crazy. It is. I know it is.

But let's talk about it. We know Georgia Tech is not good. They just lost at home to the Citadel, an FDS team. We know that I think we know that Clemson is great. And we think that Virginia and Wake are good, at least if we're on the same page, which I think our power rankings reflect that we are. Would you be willing to bet your life that the fourth best team in this league would automatically be number 13, whoever you think that is?

I'm not betting my life on that. I mean, whoever it is, your fourth or fifth best team... I think we both have North Carolina there.

Okay. Whoever that is in anybody's mind, they are not night and day better than whoever's 12th or 13th in this league. They're just not. Louisville is doing well enough under Scott Satterfield out of the gate to be a little bit scary. Virginia Tech is down but has enough talent to be competitive. Florida State, of course, is a debacle but has plenty of talent.

They can't play. I know Miami got out of the gate 0-2, but good luck pretending that the Hurricanes are bad just because they started 0-2. It was a one-play difference between them and the Tar Heels. So you could have Miami way down bottom, the Heels way up at number 4, and still have to accept the fact that if Sam Howell didn't throw that pass to Daz Musa in the right corner of the end zone, guess what?

Your ACC number 12 would have beaten your ACC number 4. That's how much of a mixed bag that middle tier is right now. But can't two things be true if it is true that the ACC isn't strong this year and you know right now, just a few weeks in, that there are only three teams that you know for sure are good football teams, Wake Forest, Virginia, and Clemson. Even if that's true, can't it also be true that the ACC is viewed differently than other conferences when you have teams creep up into the top 25 that might not be the traditional teams? Like, can it be true Wake Forest and Virginia are both top 25 teams and the ACC in a given year actually is strong?

Yeah, the labels shouldn't matter. And here's the reality, and I think you know me well enough to know, I believe the evidence supports the idea, and I could prove it to you if we had a longer time and a bigger platform, I could prove to you that the only league that can look down at the ACC in the sport of football lately is the Southeastern Conference. I mean, whether you're talking about top down, the ACC has three of the last six national championships in football, with Clemson winning two and Florida State under Jimbo Fisher winning another. If you want to talk about players in the NFL, if you want to talk about bowl participation, if you want to talk about head to head, when you mix all of those things up, the SEC is the king of college football.

They have the top tier team or teams and depth behind it most years. The ACC right now has only the Tigers on the top tier, but you know what? Does it really matter if the Pac-12 has five or six teams in the top 25 when they're totally irrelevant, at least for now for the college football playoff picture, and they've been mostly irrelevant for the entirety of the college football playoff era, right? Is the Big Ten really better because they have maybe teams in Michigan and Wisconsin? The ACC has maybe teams in Virginia and Wake Forest. Ohio State might be the trailblazer for the Big Ten, but when you look around, Oklahoma is representing the Big 12. Ohio State is representing the Big Ten. The Pac-12 has a lot of interesting teams, but no dominating team. And it's only the SEC that can say, yeah, we have not only Alabama, but we have Georgia, and we also have an interesting Auburn team, and we also have an interesting Florida team.

That's it. The list is one conference long. And by that standard, the ACC is shoulder to shoulder with everybody else, and because of some of their other recent accomplishments, they're usually above the other leagues. You know, who's left out of the college football playoff? The ACC has never been left out. Those other leagues not named the SEC do get left out, and that's an important part of this conversation.

Our early afternoon host, David Glenn, with us on Twitter, at DavidGlennShow. He's going to be in Greenville, America this weekend with the big tailgate tour, as the Pirates face William and Mary on Saturday. But keeping it with Wake Forest, they beat North Carolina. They're 3-0. They got AP top 25 votes. They haven't been in the AP top 25 since 2008. They'll likely beat Elon this weekend. Boston College lost it home to Kansas last weekend. They're up next. And then you have three straight games that I cannot see the Deacons not being favored in.

Florida State, Louisville, and NC State all will be playing at BB&T Field, followed by a game at Virginia Tech before you ultimately face the Clemson Tigers in Clemson. What do you think the ceiling is for Wake Forest? The ceiling is 11-1. And I'm not saying that would be easy. I'm not even saying that I would predict that. It would take something just a few notches down from a miracle to beat the Clemson Tigers head-to-head. Other than that, every game is winnable.

Now, we all know in the sport of football you don't win every time you're favored. And that stretch that you mentioned, who knows what Florida State looks like by then? Who knows what NC State looks like by then? Boston College is not great, but is certainly capable. Wake's margin for error, I think Dave Clawson would be the first to admit, is not huge.

But they're legit. Like, they love their starting quarterback and his backup with the way Jamie Newman is playing. They love their running back depth, especially when Cade Carney gets healthy. They have Sage Surratt and Scottie Washington making plays at wide receiver. They have two veteran tackles in the league where others are wondering what the heck they have on the offensive line. And we knew they weren't dominating defensively, but Boogie Basham is doing his thing up front. Justin Sternat is one of the better linebackers in this league right now. They have two veteran corners who are playing well. I mean, that's a solid foundation. It's a better foundation than most of what this league has right now. It's all summer long. What did I put in the pages of the ACC Sports Journal? We had to file those articles three months ago. Wake Forest has a chance for a special season, and I believe it'll turn out to be the best team in North Carolina this year in college football.

I think through three weeks, people would have to agree that that assessment was right on target. And, you know, barring a slew of injuries, I think the Deacons have a chance to have their most special season since they won the ACC title in 2006. Cam Newton re-aggravated his foot after the Bucs lost on Thursday night.

We learned that today. He is questionable for Sunday in Arizona, and he did not practice earlier today. What do you think we'll learn about David Tepper in the next three months now that it seems like, with a roster that should be competitive if you get decent quarterback play, it seems like that action is necessary with Cam Newton having just one more season left on his contract beyond this year. Ron Rivera's status, Marty Hurney, and maybe signing off potentially on Colin Kaepernick being the quarterback of this team. That's something that's being discussed in the locker room as we speak. What do you think we can learn about Tepper the next few months? We're going to learn which David Tepper's personality will allow him to govern the Carolina Panthers his way.

That's what I mean. As a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, he witnessed the ultimate patience. He was not the decision maker when things went poorly. But that franchise has had three head coaches over a period of how many decades? It is the most stable franchise over that many decades in the history of the National Football League. So that's in his blood. That patience, that not overreacting to the last bad thing, is part of his NFL background given his minority ownership of the Steelers. Or is the David Tepper personality that enabled him to rise in the ranks and become a $13 billion hedge fund manager, his net worth is in that neighborhood, who when somebody did not give him a job or a promotion that he wanted, he bought that guy's former house, tore it down, and built something that much more elaborate. Is that David Tepper the one who's going to govern the Carolina Panthers?

Because that guy doesn't have patience. And that guy wants to know what he has in 30-year-old Cam Newton, who is injured more as he gets older, and hasn't shown the ability to be a consistent pocket passer the way those guys like Breeze and Brady, how do they get all the way to their late 30s and 40s and still produce while they become even better pocket passers as they get older? Cam's never really been that, with the exception of his MVP season. So Cam has to decide, if I get healthy, can I really be this dual-threat thing where I take a beating, but that's what makes me great? Or can I try to evolve into this pocket passer, which started on the right path last year under North Turner before the shoulder injury? David Tepper has defined the answers to those same questions.

And even though Cam has two years left on his deal, David Tepper needs to figure out by the end of this season how he's going to enter conversations with Cam Newton and his representatives about the face of the franchise, the franchise quarterback in the longer haul, and how David Tepper is going to manage that very important fork in the road, one of the most important, I think, in Carolina Panthers history. D.G., before we let you go, give me the greatest background TV show of all time. Not necessarily the best show there is, but one that you could just parachute in on at any point and enjoy. It's not something you're seeking out, but if it's on, you're not turning the channel. I got to go Seinfeld, man.

I know it's one of the greatest of all times, but of all time. But a lot of things, you need depth, you need context, you need background. I can't watch a Sopranos episode and just drop in and know what's going on. I can't even see that with a Friends episode.

With Seinfeld, you know you're going to laugh, you know you're going to be entertained, and it probably doesn't matter all that much if you miss what happened before. D.G., very well done. Enjoy Greenville, America this week, and we'll talk soon. Thank you, my friend.

Always fun. You got it. That is David Glenn. Let's get more input on this subject in the way of background TV shows. Let's go to Fat Mike. Fat Mike's in Kernersville.

Fat Mike, give me the greatest background TV show of all time. Actually, I had two thoughts for you, Josh. First things first, great work on your best bets. Thank you for helping me make some money there.

You're welcome. Two real quick thoughts. The first one was a Baltimore Orioles baseball game, because you can just snooze out at pretty much any time without having to worry about missing anything.

It's very true. But that was close to you. My real one was Sports Center, because you can pick it up, their own back to back to back. You can snooze out, catch some highlights here, catch up with a little bit of information, and just figure out where you're at as the night goes on. Well done, Fat Mike. Those were my two ideas.

Thank you so much. And yes, we were two and one again with our picks this weekend, making us six and three. Six and three with the best bets through three weeks. Mike Houston, giving us the best advice out there.

Put some money on it. And we did. And apparently Fat Mike did, too. Winning out there. Sports Center used to be.

I think Sports Center used to be that show. But now we get all that on our cell phone now. Just the information. So the highlights don't really do it as much for me. Baltimore Orioles baseball is excellent because it's just great background. It doesn't really matter.

But but again, you're saying not something that you have to be into. It just has to be on in the background. And to Fat Mike's defense, I really only watch Sports Center Scott Van Pelt, which is, you know, late night past 11 p.m. And the past eight times I've tried to watch it, I end up waking up at three in the morning wondering what happened because I fell asleep. So they're enough.

It's a good submission. But the ones I've liked the most, I think SVU is the one I'm just going to stick with because it's always on. Like, you know, if you just turn on the TV, there's going to be a law and order SVU episode on your TV screen. Seinfeld's good for the point D.G.

made. You don't need any context. What's happening? You're just in and there's jokes. It's not too dense. And it's 30 minutes. I didn't realize it.

I probably should have. Law and order special victims unit has been on for 20 seasons. It started in 1999.

They're going to start their 20th season this year. All right. Well, that's what you got. Take it to the house.

Speaking of television shows that that warm people's hearts, I have a very famous Saturday morning television show that's going to be coming back in a reboot. Oh, I'm going to give you the lowdown on it. And I'm not really sure how I feel about it either. They're kind of messing with some perfection here. All right. We take it to the house next.