The Drive with Josh Graham - Wake Forest AD John Currie

Attention, please. This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. Tune into The Drive 3 until 6 p.m. weekdays on the Sports Hub. I love it.

It's brilliant. The Antonio Brown story is no longer funny. Now that former trainer, Brittany Taylor, has filed a civil lawsuit accusing AB of rape. And if I'm being honest, I've been very frustrated today with the TV and radio coverage I've seen of this topic all across the sports media landscape. Here's what I think we need to do more of here. We need to be fair to both sides. And this rails against what we're taught to do in sports media, the mechanics of sports talk and sports debate, where you pick one side and you defend that and you argue for that. That's not what we need to do here. We need to be fair to both Antonio Brown and to Brittany Taylor. Usually we're coached not to sit on the fence.

I'm going to do that today. We don't need a hot take. We need more information and we need to be absolutely fair to both sides. With AB, let's stop pretending that he didn't sacrifice anything.

This is something that has just bothered me to no end the last few days with AB. Just because he gets on the New England Patriots and seemingly gets what he wants because on a YouTube video he puts out on Saturday, he's celebrating and running around in his yard when the Oakland Raiders released him. Somehow we believe that he's lost nothing in this. Financially, he has. He was guaranteed $30 million with the Oakland Raiders pretty much. Now he's guaranteed $9 million. That's everything in the NFL.

The guaranteed money is what you make, what you know you can account for. So there's a financial aspect here. The other thing is this. Socially, AB's reputation and his dignity have been tarnished in a way I don't think any athlete, short of committing actual crimes and being convicted, I don't think there's an athlete who's had their reputation tarnished as much as AB has in the last nine months.

It's happened in such a short period of time. In week 15 of last football season, AB was known as maybe being a bit of a narcissist, a guy who would film Mike Tomlin's postgame comments on Facebook Live and do a lot on social media. People thought that but they didn't think he was a loon. They didn't think AB was a clown show. They didn't think this was somebody who would hurt your football team.

But then he's not there for the regular season finale and all the antics that have been unprecedented this entire offseason. So when it comes to AB, let's just make sure what we're saying is accurate here. To say that this is someone who's lost nothing across the last few months and being traded away from Pittsburgh to Oakland and then losing all that guaranteed money and now being accused in a civil lawsuit of rape by a former trainer. There's a lot at stake for Antonio Brown. As for Brittany Taylor, AB's defense was prepared. His legal team was ready. They put out their statement almost in conjunction with what Brittany Taylor put out there in the lawsuit actually being filed.

Drew Rosenhaus was on TV earlier today. The defense, it's always the same when it's against women. She wants money. That's all she wants. She wants fame.

Why is she talking now? Those are the three things. Money, fame, and timing.

I don't buy any of those. And I'm tired of people repeating these points time and time again when historically a lot of those claims are unfounded when it comes to women accusing people of sexual crimes. She wants the money. In the state of Florida, the bare minimum you can ask for in this type of suit, this civil lawsuit, is $75,000. That is what she's seeking from Antonio Brown. AB, if you want more from AB, you probably could ask for more. He's certainly got it.

He could supply that. But why the bare minimum value for this civil lawsuit as far as I understand it? She wants fame.

This is the most bogus defense. She wants fame? Is this really the way you want to become famous? Who has that helped out? Look at the stories about, say, Monica Lewinsky in the 90s and what she's gone through the last few decades. Who would seek that out? Any woman who speaks up. Who would want to be famous for who you slept with?

Who you were raped by or who you accused of rape? Who wants that to be on your obit when things are all said and done? I know fame is a powerful thing in America, something we very strongly value. But there are certain kinds of fame I don't think anybody would want.

And this, I would say, is one of those. Then the timing of it all, any psychologist would tell you this, it's victimhood one-on-one when it comes to sexual crimes that the more prominent somebody is featured in the news media, the more likely somebody is to come out and speak about what crimes they believe those people to have done. It's victimhood one-on-one. It's not, hey, this seems like the right moment to hit him. If that was the case, you wouldn't hit him when he had 9 million guaranteed dollars.

You'd hit him when he had 30 million guaranteed dollars just a few months ago. So that argument doesn't make much sense here. I'm not picking aside Antonio Brown or Brittany Taylor.

I'm just saying I don't have enough information right now. And I think we need to be fair to both AB and Brittany Taylor in this instance. We'll talk more about this subject with Darren Gant when he joins us a little bit later on in the hour. The drive is broadcast live in the law offices of Timothy D. Wellborn Studios today.

Learn about the ways Tim Wellborn can help you online at TimWellborn.com. You'll know when you need us. Desmond Johnson producing today's show. Intern Arthur? Can we call him that? Arthur, what's your last name, Arthur? I don't even know your last name.

Yeah, hey guys. Arthur Christakis filling in for Aaron. It's okay, you're filling in for Aaron. And he's not an intern. Okay, just making sure here. Just part time. Okay, he's just working in here today.

See, we rarely ever cross overlap paths with one another. But it's good to have you here. 336-777-1600. Arthur and Desmond will be taking your phone calls today on Twitter at Sports Hub Triad. Shifting things to Cam Newton. Other than Cam Newton not hitting a deep ball on Sunday. There's no sensible reason to believe his arm strength has left him. No sensible reason to believe that.

Rather than just giving you opinions, let me just give you a bunch of facts. Cam Newton had reconstructive surgery on his shoulder in March of 2017. That's a fact. You probably already knew that. Did you know though that year that he played 16 games, threw for over 3,000 yards, and the Carolina Panthers made the postseason?

Let's not forget about the details. The following year, when everything went wrong last season, Cam Newton barely practiced after the Philadelphia come-from-behind win. Carolina was still winning games at that point.

They won two more games after that. Cam Newton was limited in practice to the point where he was just practicing once a week. And it was limited in which he was playing because his arm and the strength of his passes was deteriorating.

Then you got this year. Cam Newton, he undergoes surgery in January, which is important. Remember, the reconstructive surgery was in March of 2017.

He played that year 3,000 yards, made the postseason. This year it's January, so more time to recover. And it wasn't a reconstructive surgery, it was more cleaning up the previous surgery.

So it was less invasive. We've had medical experts on the show talking about that fact and that there are differences between the two. Cam started throwing footballs in April, way ahead of schedule during training camp. He's throwing the deep ball. We saw it a couple times to Curtis Samuel. And he hasn't been limited at practice last week or this week. He's not on the injury report. So I understand if Cam is upset that he's continuing to be asked about this just because he hasn't thrown a deep ball yet.

Cam is clearly sick of this, and he made that known in his press conference yesterday. You're only asking him because of my shoulder. How about this? You talk to the defense coordinator for Tampa and don't think I can throw the ball over 20 yards and see how far that gets you.

How about that? If he is limited, he deserves awards for his performances and press conferences this week. On Sunday after the game, he said he was relieved that he got through an entire game.

Didn't deal with any problems with his shoulder. He's not through the woods, he said, but he said there was some relief to get through a full football game and the narrative not be that he can't complete the game for reasons of health. Then yesterday, he's joking.

He's having fun. It's normal Cam Newton, just like he was last week. He was asked specifically, do you still have the deep ball? Here was Cam's response.

Of course. But if it's going to hinder us from winning, I don't want to throw it. But if it's going to make us win, oh baby, you better call some dog on deep ball. The Norv Turner impression is back. I like that right there at the end.

The Norv Turner impression is pretty darn good there, Dad. A joyful, happy, joking Cam Newton is a danger to the NFL. It's when he's in there moody and short answer, Belichickian almost. That's when you're like, okay, Panthers are probably going to lose Sunday because Cam's in a bad mood. But if Cam's in a great mood, he's playing loose. He was in a good mood last week. He's joking with his teammates. He was in a good mood last week.

And they almost defeated the defending NFC champs with four turnovers. He didn't play well. He didn't play well on Sunday. But it wasn't because of his health. Just because Cam Newton doesn't play well doesn't mean it's his health. At times, crazy concept, players just don't play well. And that's what happened with Cam Newton on Sunday.

Here's what's lost in this. Teams don't throw the deep ball as often as they used to. Here's where analytics have crossed into the NFL. It's taken over Major League Baseball and the NBA. In the NFL, and I think it's hurt the product to a degree, teams are petrified to throw the ball down the field.

Petrified. We've seen less and less downfield passing in the NFL. And that's because, statistically, according to those analytics and sabermetrics, the further the ball travels down the field, the higher risk there is for something bad happening. A ball being picked off, a ball being tipped.

Something that's not positive. That's why teams look at first down, let's throw, get three. Second down, let's throw, get three. And the goal is to get in third and three, third and four.

That's what you want. It's hurt the product. No one wants to watch that. No one wants to watch quarterbacks just throw it sideways for three hours. Thank God we have guys like Patrick Mahomes in the league now and Baker Mayfield, who make things a lot of fun. But most of the NFL is that way. Look at the Rams, for example. They took the one shot on their first drive to Brandon Cooks. I don't think they really had a legitimate deep ball the rest of the game.

None of it comes to mind. But nobody's saying that Jared Goff doesn't have the deep ball. He gets the big contract. Sean McVay wasn't taking any more shots down the field. Who's more aggressive than Sean McVay is? It's just where the NFL's at right now.

And that's that's completely fine. Coming up, what the USA basketball team won today. This is the drive. Every time we talk to our next guest, it always seems like we arrive at a place where we're asking ourselves, how can the NFL mess this up?

Whatever it is that given week, that given month. That guest is Darren Gantt of profootballtalk.com that you can follow on Twitter at Darren Gantt. And the story today, as it's been really the last month, is Antonio Brown, except that this is no longer funny anymore in any way when you start getting into civil lawsuits and those lawsuits, including allegations of rape. Darren, welcome to the show.

Appreciate you coming on with us. What's the worst thing you think the NFL could do to mess this up? Boy, that's a good question, because there are so many ways the NFL could screw this up. And it feels like they're in the process of it.

And I'll apologize in advance if I get in a little bit of a rant. It's like a Jules Winfield transitional moment here. I'm tired of this being a football story. This doesn't need to be a football story. So far, we've had football teams say, we've said all we're going to say. And we've had football agents say, oh, this is a setup and this woman's just out for a cash grab.

And we've heard football announcers talk about this. What we haven't had enough of is human beings talking about what may or may not have happened to the woman. I don't know. I don't know if she's guilty.

I don't know if she's innocent. What I do know is that this doesn't need to be framed in the way of, oh, is Antonio Brown going to be able to play week two? This thing sailed past that or so long ago. I don't even know where to begin. It's just kind of a it's a larger frustration for me because so many of these stories get painted this way. And it's just kind of where we are. And I get that this is a sports talk radio station and I write sports stories for a living. But when we treat these things so flippantly, it's just bothersome to me. Yeah.

And I'm right there with you. But at the same time, you got what do you find more interesting about the actual news of this? Antonio Brown and the case itself with this woman, Brittany Taylor, or not necessarily the football side of what the Patriots and the NFL are dealing with, but how they need to go about handling the image and the air, quote, protecting the shield here? Well, I think they have made a decided effort recently to keep star players on the field. And as you saw with the way they handled Tyree kill, I mean, there's almost a rush to get them back on the field rather than a rush to investigate this thing fully and make sure we know 100 percent of what's going on. And I think it's a business reality for the NFL. They know they need stars on the field.

So it's the Kelly. It's not out there for the Cowboys or or Tyree kills not out there for the Chiefs. That's bad for business. And, you know, it's you know, again, maybe I've been cynical for too long and now it's dawning on me that, hey, this is just a business. But it does feel like that we're rushing to that point. And I don't know, I mean, regardless of the facts in the case of Brittany Taylor, and I hate even saying her name and I'm disappointed in myself for saying her name. Regardless of the facts of the case of this woman, we've gone full steam ahead to Antonio Brown football. And I think the one thing we know for sure, without a shadow of a doubt, is Antonio Brown has terrible judgment. Antonio Brown does not think things through all the way. And, you know, we've basically rewarded him with a free pass to the best team in the NFL for being a jerk to the Raiders. I mean, he looks to me like a guy who realized he was on a terrible team and did everything he could to get off of it and won.

Darren Gantt on Twitter at DarrenGanttProFootballTalk.com. Shifting things to tomorrow night, it's a quick turnaround for the Carolina Panthers as they face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cam was jovial yesterday. He was laughing off some questions about his shoulder.

The Norv Turner impression made a return. How concerned are you at this point after watching one week of football about Cam's shoulder? It's early yet. I am as concerned, and I think it's probably worth remembering, that this guy's coming off a mid-foot sprain.

And those things are no joke. And I know they said he was full participant in practice the week before, but after he dodged that bullet in the preseason, there was something happening there. He was in a boot for a reason. He was hobbling for a reason. And I think any time you're talking about a person who throws things in exchange for money, a foot can be as big a deal as a shoulder sometimes, because it changes the mechanics. But I think the combination of Rusty, the foot problem, that obviously, I mean, the guy ran the ball three times for negative yards.

That's something he's never done in his career. It's pretty easy to look at that game, you know, one of those source my two eyes and say, he ain't right just yet. Now, is it lingering shoulder?

Is it simple rust? Is the foot bothering him? I don't know, but he's not Cam yet.

And I think until he gets back to something a little more closely resembling run around Cam, improvised Cam, play with some kind of rhythm Cam, that it's going to be kind of hard to see where he actually is. Finish the sentence, Darin. If the Carolina Panthers lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tomorrow night... It's time to panic, obviously!

Yeah, go to the store, buy your bottled water and beverage of preference, because the storm's coming. No, it's early, it's two games into the season, people have overcome slow starts before. But yeah, this isn't a game you want to lose primarily because the Bucs are bad. They don't have very many good football players, and Jameis Winston was pretty dreadful. I kind of giggled when Bruce Arians was explaining away two of the interceptions the other day. Well, okay, that left one, and that didn't include the three that were dropped by the 49ers, so it could have been six.

I guess if you get the pass on two out of six, that's good. Yeah, the Bucs aren't very good, so if you lose to them at home, short week or not, that's a sign of a problem. You would think, even if Cam's not throwing it over a mountain, Cam Newton of the past, that he would be able to play the way he played the first half of last year, keep it safe, throw the short passes to Christian McCaffrey and let him do his thing, that they ought to be able to win that game at home. There were select members of the media and, of course, listeners on this show on Monday who kind of thought I was just trying to zig when others zagged when I suggested that the Carolina Panthers, the result they had on Sunday, actually wasn't a bad result for them. Even though they lost to the Rams, it's week one.

Tampa Bay, they rolled New Orleans week one last year, and we saw what happened after the fact there. It looks like to me, Darren, that the two biggest problem areas from last year seemed to be improved. The offensive line, Aaron Donald wasn't a factor on Sunday, and that's a huge compliment to the O-line.

Defensively, the new scheme, the pass rush, Brian Burns, he was making an impact on the game, and he got very close to Goff a handful of times, and he's going to be a really good player for the Panthers. But then if you factor Cam Newton's health into it, Cam even said it himself after the game. He was relieved that the narrative after a game is not his health, but instead, maybe I just didn't play so well, and there's rust in there. Do you buy the notion that even if you lose a game, that maybe the result isn't quite a failure?

Yeah, I'm cool with that. You lost by three points to the team that was in the Super Bowl last year. Could be worse.

You could be the Jacksonville Jaguars and lose your quarterback. Yeah, I think all things considered, it wasn't a disastrous result by any stretch of the imagination. Have they lost 40-0 or something like that to the Rams? Yeah, I think, Ben, you get really concerned and all that kind of stuff, but there were moments of competence scattered in there where it looked like, okay, this is the thing they do. And honestly, when they score late to get it to, what, 23-20 or a three-point game, yeah, it's like, okay, are they going to do this today? Yeah, I think the way that Caffrey was playing, there's reason to be encouraged. I still believe that it's a playoff-caliber roster as it stands right now.

If these people are all on the field week 17, they ought to be talking about what they need to do to get into the playoffs or having already gotten into the playoffs. The best concert you've been to lately or that you're planning to attend? The only thing I saw was Peter Frampton a couple weeks ago, went to see Frampton in the Jason Bottom, whatever he's called in the Led Zeppelin cover band he's playing with. And it's actually really cool, on a serious note, not that the rest of this hasn't been serious, but Frampton's battling a degenerative neuromuscular disease. He doesn't know how much longer he's going to be able to play guitar. And at the end of the show, which was full of great Peter Frampton songs and everybody loved them, he's sitting there basking in the applause of the crowd. Everybody's cheering for him, yelling, having a good time. And he kind of holds his palms up to the sky and he says, You people heal me. And I thought that was pretty profound.

I mean, you didn't have great expectations, didn't know what Peter Frampton was going to be like, but it was both a great show and a moving human moment. It's Darren Gantt on Twitter at Darren Gantt, lover of music. Great on football as well from ProFootballTalk.com. Darren, we got football tomorrow night.

Looking forward to it. Thanks for doing this. Yeah, man.

That's Darren Gantt. Good to chat with him, as always. And we will be at Panthers Buccaneers tomorrow night. The drive brought to you in part by our friends at Pie Guys Pizza and More. Learn more about Pie Guys, PieGuys.com. But if you already don't know about the Grand Slam Pizza, where have you been? It's it's our pizza and it has a Texas Pete based chicken and bacon on top.

The Moravian sugar cane pie is perfect to cap it off with. And I like accessing it with wings. Some of the best wings you'd find at a pizza joint around here in the triad. It's not just a pizza joint, though.

Like I said, there's a lot of different options there. Salads, sandwiches, and it's it's all made with love. I think is the best way to probably put it, because it's a place that's right here, home in the triad, locally owned in Clemon. Keneman Village Commons right off of Lewisville, Clemons Road.

It's Pie Guys Pizza and More online at PieGuys.com. It's going to be a late night tomorrow night. 820 kickoff time for Panthers Buccaneers. And I already know if Monday wasn't enough overreaction for you. Can you imagine what Friday show is? If the Panthers lose to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and they lose both their games at home to open the year by God. And everything's going to fall apart. The world might not make it to Friday.

You might have to go and buy milk. I don't think about it. Well, you got to think about it. You got to think about it because you've got to prepare your heart to see. This is something I always had to do when I was emotionally attached is welcome all outcomes.

So that way you protect your heart, protect your heart. I tell that to NC State fans all the time. You're getting very excited, maybe a little too excited, but protect your heart because you know, you know that the home loss to Wake Forest is coming at the end of the year. You know, that's about to happen in NC State.

It just happens in football. And Duke basketball fans, you know, just protect your heart. So when Grayson Allen shot lips out and you lose or Coach K decides not to go to Zion Williamson, the final play against Michigan State, protect your heart.

All I'm saying is just protect the thing in your chest that keeps you alive. There's a Super Bowl halftime performer that has been rumored today, a rumor with the Super Bowl halftime show that's been swirling all day today. I'll tell you who might be performing at the big game next on the drive.

We'll get to the top 10 bucks in a second. The big story of the day Antonio Brown and the civil lawsuit has been filed against him. The Patriots have been practicing getting ready for a game this week, which means Bill Belichick and Tom Brady both went to the podium. And of course, they're going to be asked questions about Antonio Brown. Tom Brady, just moments ago, asked if he had any comment on AB, said no, and then said, why not?

Things that don't involve me, don't involve me, end quote. And we don't have official confirmation that AB is staying in Giselle and Tom Brady's house. Giselle is the one that runs that house.

Let's just make that known. If you watch the documentary that was done on Tom, the series there, you could see she is the power figure. And Tom is completely fine with that because he loves her that way and loves her so much. But you think Giselle really wants this Antonio Brown stuff in her household?

I don't know. I feel like there's something there, but Brady isn't given that. Bill Belichick, this is the closest I've ever heard a reporter to pinning down Bill Belichick. But just know you can't see the visual here. You just hear Belichick.

When he tries to follow and pin him down, Belichick is giving this reporter the death stare that looks, I would imagine, like staring into the eyes of Medusa. Actually, you did. No, you didn't. You didn't answer that question. You just said, I'm not going to answer that question. That's not answering the question.

This shit just went back and forth. The reporter should be like, no, you didn't. Like, if you ask me. No, that guy.

I can hear from a million miles away the PR staffer jumping in here. Like, if you ask what my favorite sandwich is and I say, I'm talking about sports here. No, but like, can you explain like why you're not answering that question? I just answered the question. No, you didn't. You didn't say what your favorite sandwich was.

You just said you're going to move on, which isn't an answer to the question. What do they expect? I mean, it's New England. They've only been doing this for 18 years. I mean, they should not be shocked. They are masters at this.

They are. But it's uncomfortable. It's already uncomfortable. And he's been on the team for three or four days. Let's do the top 10 list on Twitter at Sports Hub Triad. John Curry, Wake Forest director of athletics, will join us in 10 minutes. It's time for my top 10 bucks.

Oh, yeah. Desmond Johnson, Arthur, welcome to the proceedings. Top 10 bucks. It's his first time.

Sorry about that. Tampa Bay Buccaneers facing the Panthers tomorrow. Top 10 bucks. Number 10. My number 10 buck. Uncle Buck.

I forgot about that for some reason. I don't know why it was at my home my entire life. Never watched it one time. It just collected dust.

Wow. Uncle Buck. Now, I've seen Uncle Buck before. I just didn't watch it on VHS.

Is it my go-to? I didn't think it was a good movie. Like, what's your favorite John Candy movie? Huh. He's not even in it for like five minutes, but probably National Input's Vacation. Wow. Really?

Yeah. I'd probably go with the generic planes, trains, and automobiles. I never really got into John Candy movies, to be honest. Have you not seen planes, trains, and automobiles?

As a long time ago, and I was a kid at that, so I probably didn't understand half the movie. My number nine buck. Number nine on the Top 10 list. Ray Allen. Ray Allen was nice as a buck. He was out there dunking on people.

Like, people forget. He wasn't just a three-point shooter. I think his time with the Bucks is probably his most forgotten stop. I think people remember the Sonics, and they remember, obviously, the Celtics in the Heat years because he won championships there. What's most forgotten might be his stop in Milwaukee, and that might be when Ray Allen was at his best.

There's a chance of that, which is probably the most interesting part about Ray Allen. Oh, and that he was Jesus Shuttlesworth. How could I forget about that? Number eight. My number eight buck. Joe Buck. People don't like Joe Buck? I like Joe Buck. Why do people hate Joe Buck? I don't know, but people don't like him. I see him all the time. They think he's kind of smug. I think that's the thing. Him and Chris Collinsworth.

I see them the most. Oh, no. Chris Collinsworth's bad. I'm like, what's wrong with Chris Collinsworth? He's fine. Chris Collinsworth's the best color analyst in football. He is. There's nobody better than Collinsworth.

I don't think there really is a second. What about Romo? She's going to say, what about Romo?

No, Romo is still so raw at it. There's so much he doesn't know what to do, but he does magic tricks. That's what he does. Like, the way we look at it, it's like a magic trick. Like, hey, I'm going to pull this rabbit out of my hat.

I'm going to say this team's going to run a slam. Chris Collinsworth gives you legitimate analysis, and he has the slide in. He slides in next to Al Michaels on TV at the beginning. He's the best color analyst. He's the best color analyst in football. Here's a guy.

NFL. Here's a guy. Here's a guy. Number seven. My number seven buck. Mike Allstatt.

I have him on my list, actually. Well done. Yeah. I got like eight of them on here.

I'm trying to pick up the slack with the air nut. He's usually really good. Mike Allstatt is my favorite Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Me too.

There's no one even remotely close. I really like John Lynch, too. Nah, I hated that dude.

Oh, wow. Yeah, I hate for like all the bucks. I mean, they're in the division of the Panthers. What was the name of that receiver? White guy, number 83, like slot wide receiver. Jerrigan or something like that? Isn't that right? Oh, this is going to... Joe... Joe Jeravicious, yes. Yeah. Did we just become best friends?

I think so. Number six. My number six buck. Buck Cherry. Did you not listen to Buck Cherry? Buck Cherry. You don't know Buck Cherry?

Why? They're one of those Bad 2000s bands that sang Crazy B Word. They also had I'm Sorry.

That does not ring a bell at all. Like an emo 2000s band that was around with Fall Out Boy and Yellow Card. I remember Eagle Eye Cherry. Yeah, kind of like Eagle Eye Cherry. I remember their twins. They were Eagle Eye Cherry about five years later. Oh, okay.

That's unfortunate. Yeah, that's who they were. Number five. My number five buck.

Blackbeard. That qualifies. That's a buck. Yeah, he's a buck. He is. Pirates are buccaneers.

Interchangeable. Number four. My number four buck. Buck Showalter. Ah, I got him on my list too.

Had to be there. He's a former Orioles manager, right? Yes, he is. He's not managing right now. They probably could use him. The Orioles could use more than Buck Showalter.

I promise you. Maybe like 1988 Cal Ripken out there. 1988. Wasn't that the year the Orioles started Owen 21? Oh, gosh. My bad.

Thank you for bringing back those memories. Number three. My number three buck. Buckwheat.

Well done. I didn't even have that on my list. Buckwheat. Is that Eddie Murphy's best character on SNL?

No. I always liked the Mr. Rogers parodies. I forget what it was called.

Like when he was one. I think it was Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. I don't think his name was Mr. Rogers.

It was just done with an urban slant. Mr. Robinson. Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood.

That's what it was. Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood. I'd go with Gumby. Gumby's very good.

I'd probably go there. He didn't really have that many characters, really, when you think back on it. His time was so short on the show. Number two. My number two favorite buck. The buck stops here. Got a buck!

Gonna wait for some time. Famous words of what president? Who got it?

Which of you two know the words? Who said the buck stop here? Harry Truman. Nailed it. I'm a history nerd.

Arthur knew that too, though. He was just being modest. Number one. My number one buck. Knuck if you buck.

Got a buck! There's no song in the history of music on this planet that will make me, Joshua Daniel Graham, act a fool and be more likely to get into a fistfight than knuck if you buck. Is that like the white people's fight anthem? It is.

Okay, because it seems like it is. Knuck if you buck. I got Spectrum Center's DJ to play it right before tipoff of Duke and Florida State in the ACC championship game, and everybody was rejoicing. So they were taking the floor. You can go back and look at the broadcast. As they're taking the floor, knuck if you bucks play.

And all of us on press row are just looking at each other and just vibing back and forth like we're about to jump up and get into a fight, jump on the floor, and act a fool. So if I'm in a Walmart somewhere and knuck if you buck comes over the intercom, I need to keep my head on a swivel and watch out for all white people. No, no, no. And Target.

That's right, yeah. If you were in Target. Target. Be careful.

Be mindful. I had a couple you did. A hundred bucks sent in. That's pretty good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was on the outside look again.

What else did you have? I am shocked that Buck Nasty did not make this list. Buck Nasty. Voted the year 2000 most hated player according to the player hater's ball.

Yeah, of course. Bill Buckner, Bucknell. Bucky Dent. Bucky Dent was on the outside looking, and actually he was in the first cut. Ah, Buck Rogers. Oh, yeah. Buck Rogers. And then Lou Alcindor. Very good. I couldn't include more than one Buck, and Ray Allen made the cut over Lou Alcindor. Sure, listen, man.

You can do whatever you want. That's a good point. Where is attendance right now? Thank you for that. Where is attendance for North Carolina Wake Forest at this present moment? 443 Wednesday afternoon. Wake Forest Director of Athletics John Curry will join the show to tell us next. As Wake Forest Director of Athletics John Curry just spelled out on social media. We are 49 hours and 15 minutes away from Wake Forest football hosting one of the bigger games I can remember in Winston-Salem and Dave Clawson's tenure. It's North Carolina coming to town for the first time in a long time.

Conveniently, John Curry now a guest on the show. And I want to get to what you guys were doing earlier this morning a little bit later on in our conversation, but I want to start with a couple housekeeping notes here in relation to the game on Friday night. Where are you at last time you checked today when it comes to ticket sales for Friday night's game, John?

We're making great progress, Josh. It's been hot and heavy. I really salute our ticket office staff at Bridger Field House. And obviously with, you know, Carolina's coming off a couple great wins. We're coming off two great wins.

Great national interest and certainly regional and city interest. So I haven't seen the report today because I've been running around quite a bit, but I know we've made great progress and we're probably a couple thousand tickets away from selling out. Do you expect this game to sell out?

You know, we didn't, Josh. As of last week, actually, you know, we didn't expect it to sell out for a number of reasons. But, heck, it's turned pretty hot and we're expecting a very large walk-up. I would really, really encourage fans to go ahead and buy their tickets today or tonight on the Internet or tomorrow. Use the print-at-home feature to go ahead and have tickets in your hand or come by the ticket office at Bridger Field House. Plenty of parking there you can get in and get out, you know, between 8.30 and 5 today and tomorrow. And then they'll be open certainly on Friday.

But really, it's going to be better to go and get them. And we do anticipate one of the larger walk-ups that we've had. And so we just want to make sure that everybody has a great experience. We gave away two pair of tickets yesterday on the show. And Dez was just we got we had phone call after phone call after phone call of people who were just interested to get tickets to this football game.

And then I did the wake zone last night with Chris Lee on WXII and the feedback we're getting about this game. It's just so much excitement on both ends of the spectrum. Of course, Wake Forest fans are jacked up about the Tar Heels coming in. But Mac Brown, North Carolina, very excited as well. But looking at the Friday night games, do you think that has hurt this already not being a sellout or even the first game not being not reaching the 30,000 threshold?

Do you think Friday night hurts you a little bit? Well, you know, first of all, let me just say that, you know, tickets are forty five dollars is our entry level price for this game. So if you think about the cost of, you know, world class football, this is our five two undefeated schools. It's a reasonable price. And so I would encourage people. A lot of people don't know that that's the price. I think it's much higher.

So continue to come to GoDeeks.com or call us at 7583322. So Friday night is not our optimal night to play college football. You know, we said that repeatedly, Josh, Saturday is the day our we are in a partnership agreement that is very significant to our institutions. It does call for some Thursday and Friday games, just like the Big Ten and the Big 12 and the Pac 12. You know, Friday night presents some obstacles for some. Certainly has an impact on high school football and vice versa. You know, we've got families on our team whose carneys, you know, are split between their high school playing son and their college playing son.

And we recognize that that's not optimal. On the other hand, you do hear from people that they can't come on Saturday morning because their kids have Little League football games or Little League soccer games or softball, whatever it is, or they got to work on Saturdays or during the days. And in the evening is palatable. We do recognize at 6 p.m., you know, leads right on the rush hour or rush minute, as I like to say here in Winston-Salem, because everything is so easy in Winston-Salem. So we do ask people to plan ahead and get to the stadium, you know, as early as they can. And for that, you know, we've got the I'm a Fan Zone, opens up at 3 o'clock, free band. Tomorrow is Watchtower, which is, or excuse me, Friday is Watchtower, which plays a lot of Dave Matthews tunes and we got beer trucks and games for the kids and all that kind of stuff. Were you satisfied with the crowd for the opener?

I thought it was great. And I heard so many great comments from people about the excitement of that historic event with Winston-Salem State's Red Sea of Sound band. It was a really special night and our team was excited to see the fans. It was the largest.

You may have read this in my From the Quad letter, which we sent out for you earlier today. It was our largest home opening crowd since the NC State game in 2011. It was our largest student crowd since Notre Dame in 2011, and the second largest number of students to enter the game in 12 years.

So those are really awesome, awesome statistics. We had a record opening night for concessions, which helps us. All things considered, it was a wonderful night. And certainly, I appreciate Coach Klossen making sure the game was really close all the way right down to the end to keep people captivated and entertained.

I was probably about 15 or 20 steps away from you in the final stretches of that game. Fair to say that nerves were maybe setting in just a little bit. It was maybe a little too dramatic for John Curry's mind.

Well, you know, I recognize you're going to win some and you're going to lose some, but it's a heck of a lot more fun than that. John Curry's on Twitter, at John underscore Curry. He's Wake Forest's director of athletics. We were talking to Coach Klossen at his press conference yesterday, and he made no bones about it. He said he wants to play North Carolina more often, and he doesn't want it to be once every six years on the ACC rotation. That's why this game is a non-conference game between Wake and North Carolina, because he believes these programs should play each other regularly. Short of the ACC going to a nine-game league schedule, is there any way the conference can have North Carolina play Wake more often? Well, at this point, the divisional play with the 17 divisions and the crossover is fairly well established.

As you know, those things are really hard to put together with so many competing interests. But absolutely, it would be my priority as well, as Coach Klossen said, to play North Carolina more often. Heck, I would love to play some of the other rivals that we have, you know, historically from the original ACC, you know, whether it's Virginia or whomever, more often.

Bubba Cunningham, in fact, I talked to Bubba today to make sure he was all set coming into the game, Friday's great friend. And, you know, as are opportunities to do that more, we'll look at him. Have you guys already had discussions about furthering this series beyond what's on the books? We've had a brief, hey, you want to talk about this? Yeah, let's talk about this. We just haven't gotten into any kind of detailed conversation. So I think there's an openness.

But as you well know, it requires, you know, it takes two to tango. It requires a lot of things, the match updates and all that kind of stuff. We're scheduled out. I don't have it in front of me, but we're pretty much scheduled out with a couple exceptions for the next eight or nine years. So we'll continue to evaluate what opportunities may arise. Would you be in favor of a nine-game league schedule?

So, yes, I would be. But I also understand the position of others in the conference who might not be. You know, we had a nine-game schedule. We had a full round robin of the Big 12. It was wonderful for fans.

It was also really hard. In the Atlantic Coast Conference, you know, we have a requirement that every school play another Power Five team. And this is that game for us this week in addition to the conference schedule. To go to nine games would impact potentially schools like Georgia Tech or Florida State or Clemson that have an automatic crossover or not a crossover, but an automatic Power Five rival like, you know, South Carolina, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Georgia. And you would have some years where, you know, if you had a nine-conference game schedule, they're playing that nine-conference game schedule, plus, you know, Georgia Tech is playing Georgia, plus there's going to be a rotational when they also play Notre Dame. And so all of a sudden you're into 11 Power Five games in one non-Power Five game. And so I understand why there's concern about that from some school's perspective.

On the other hand, you know, part of what makes college football great is competition and community and robberies, and I would default towards that, which is I would prefer adding another conference game to the schedule. This morning I saw you put out a tweet. It was pretty much what I started my day with. And seeing what you were doing out at the stadium this morning, it is the 18th anniversary of 9-11. Tell me a little bit about what event you had today. Well, it was an event driven by the Department of Military Science and the Winston-Salem Battalion of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, the ROTC. So one of the things I've learned since I came here is that Lieutenant Colonel Ringhuysen, who was there this morning and I did a little tweet with her this morning, the ROTC battalion is a joint effort of, or jointly, joints together with Salem State and Lake Forest and failed, which is really cool. I didn't even know that until I got here. But this is driven by the military science folks in ROTC, and we marched 2,997 steps, recognizing the victims of the terrorism on 9-11. And it was an awesome deal.

It started at 6 in the morning. And we had our basketball team, baseball coach Jerry Haas, and men's golf was out there. We're out there.

The volleyball team was out there. It was an awesome event, and I would just challenge people in our community. 9-11, 2020, 6 a.m., it is a really, really cool community event. We've got to continue to make that thing bigger and recognize the servicemen and women who protect our country.

And there were firefighters there from the Wichita Fire Department that were doing the climb in their full protective fire suits with oxygen tanks on their backs. It was just a really, really cool community event at BB&T Field. John, thank you so much for doing this. I hope it's a tremendous crowd yet again on Friday night. We look forward to being there. Look forward to seeing a great crowd. Come early, have a great time, and enjoy college football at its finest.

Thanks so much, John. That's John Currie, Wake Forest Director of Athletics. Earlier in the week, as the dekes are getting set for North Carolina, it's a big game already, but I can only imagine what it's like for that family.

Think about the parents. Apparently, Mom's going to be wearing a Sage Surratt jersey, Wake Forest jersey, while Dad's going to be wearing a North Carolina jersey. A brother's going to be flying in from the Air Force to attend the game, and Chassuratt was saying that he's going to sit in the North Carolina section, so there's some representation there for the visiting Tar Heel. But Sage has been fantastic the last two games, and he had an excellent freshman season, too. And with Kendall Hinton out of the lineup for this week's game, he's going to be leaned on heavily, which means there's opportunity, with him being in the slot likely in Kendall's place, he could be lined up against his brother, Chassuratt, who switched positions from quarterback to linebacker and was excellent in Game 1 against South Carolina, leading North Carolina in tackles. The Tar Heels are 2-0, Wake Forest is 2-0.

It's a massive game. So, of course, we were looking forward to speaking with Sage Surratt. Here's how that conversation sounded. So, Sage, this is your first opportunity to go up against North Carolina. We'll get to your brother in a minute, but in-state matchups, what does that represent? You know, I think every year, since we don't get to play UNC every year, it makes more of the state championship on the line between the four schools, on the line even more. I think it's a great opportunity for us to open up between the state schools is a big win.

I think it's an opportunity. I think it's the first time since 19, I can tell you the date, that we play all three schools at home. 1921.

1921, okay. That's a long time. So, this is exciting for us as a school and a program to be able to do this. Is it a different experience playing on Friday night? I know these are things that we react to because it affects schedules and people have to work during the day, but as a player, is it different at all?

A little bit. Now we're starting to kind of get accustomed to Friday night games, especially the last two, so it's not as different considering the past two weeks, but overall in general I think it is, especially with the rivalry on Friday night. So, it's definitely going to be different, but it's still football at the end of the day. Sage, I was a soccer player and in high school, probably my favorite athletic experience was getting a chance to play against my brother, and it was such something we talked trash during the week. At the high school level, that's something we look forward to. Now you're playing at Wake Forest, your team is 2-0, and it's an in-state game. It might be a sold-out game with North Carolina, and it's your brother playing defense. Where's your head at during the week? Do you talk to him during the week?

Yeah, I've talked to him. It's definitely been some sibling trash talk going on. Dragon rights is definitely up in the house, and pride for the schools is on the line as well.

I think it's definitely going to be fun playing against them. I would say whoever wins this game is going to be able to talk about it forever. As far as what's on the line, I think that's what's really going to be on the line between us, just between the two of us. This doesn't go into effect Thanksgiving dinner, is it?

I don't think so. It'll probably be brought up during Thanksgiving dinner, especially since the end of the season. We're probably going to hear more from it after the outcome. Growing up, give me the story of the most competitive you and your brother was, whether it's football, Monopoly, or board games.

Anything stick out? There's a lot of competitive pieces, a lot of competitive stories we've had. I'd probably say the most intense one we've had is probably two years ago. We played one-on-one basketball at the YMCA that we grew up in. I think we both had game point. It started off with a shooting game, and I won the shooting game.

After that, he wanted to play one-on-one because he didn't obviously want to leave the gym without a win somehow. I think it was a tie ball game. We didn't even get to finish the game because we kept fouling each other before somebody else would score. We didn't even end up finishing the game.

That's probably one of the most competitive moments we've had. Let the record show, Saied Sarat, better basketball player than Chas Sarat. Do I have that right? I think I can say that. You talk to him, he's probably going to say I'm a better scorer and that he's a better point guard. I can give that to him. I'd say he's a better point guard than me.

But a better basketball player, I think I own that title. Last thing for you, we're talking about you guys. You guys are the actual competitors. You get to affect the result. Your parents don't. Where's their head at? Especially for my mom, I think it's going to be hard to see Chas trying to hit me and stuff like that. That's going to be hard for her to watch.

She just doesn't want anybody to get hurt at that point. It's probably going to be tough on them in the stands. It should be noted, Chas told me in Charlotte that if he gets a shot, he's going to hit you. How do you feel about that?

I know that for sure. He's told me that before. Any chance I come across and I get to make a miss, I'm probably going to do that. I'm probably going to let him know about it later. I think that's going to be fun.

Good chance. Have some excitement during the game. Thanks for doing this.

Enjoy the moment on Friday. No problem. Thank you. That's Sage Surratt.

That is Sage Surratt. It was funny that he mentioned what his brother's been texting him. He knew that he was going to try and take shots at him and whatnot. That was brought up to Chas yesterday evening. Chas' response to that, he just makes it known that he might have to send a message being the older brother in the equation.

I think it would be pretty good. I'm going to try to lay him out if I can. My teammate's been asking me if I'm going to hit him or if I'm going to go hard or not. I'm going to try to lay him out. I think the first time I see him out there, I probably smile just because he's going to be 10 yards away from me in the boundary. But once we get into the game, I think both of our competitors will take over. We'll be just trying to win and play hard.

This is going to be so cool. Friday nights, these two were teammates in high school and they haven't been on the same football field together since Chas' senior year. And you go back and look at it, Chas had 40 or 45 touchdown passes to Sage, their career together. Chas was asked if they ever played against each other in any setting, organized sports.

He said maybe once in AAU basketball their teams played maybe one time, but other than that, no. So on a football field, this is the first time. And what makes it more interesting is that Sage is on offense and Chas is on defense. This is just a story of the line thrust into the middle of what is already a compelling, important game. A game that I think is the most important Wake Forest home football game of Dave Claussen's tenure.

Or at least it's the most highly awaited one he's had. This is a game that we've circled. These teams don't play each other that often.

And North Carolina is good. They have the coach as a Hall of Famer. They have a quarterback that everyone's excited about. They're getting top 25 votes. Meanwhile, Wake Forest has gone to bowl games three consecutive years and they've won those bowl games. They don't get any love. They beat a quarterback with a grassroots Heisman campaign who's going to be a first or second round draft pick in the NFL on a team that was 11-2 last year. They beat them and they go on the road, unlike North Carolina who hasn't played a road game yet. Granted, it's against Rice.

They take care of business. They're not getting any love. Nothing for Wake. So there's a chip there for Wake Forest that I think doesn't exist with Wake.

Or excuse me, with North Carolina. That's why I like the Deacs to win. I usually don't do score predictions, but since Chris asked me to last night, I was in the XII studio doing the Wake zone with him. I gave a score. I gave thought into what I think a score is going to be. And I think North Carolina, they're going to have moments where you think, okay, they're going to do this.

Here it is. 3-0 start. Adjustments and coaching will get Wake Forest through.

More depth, more experience, playing in bigger games. Wake Forest is going to win, and they're going to win by double digits. Wake Forest 31, North Carolina 21. The Drive is brought to you by our friends at Twin Peaks Restaurant, Haynes Mall Boulevard, and Winston-Salem.

You can find them, a great sponsor of the program. Perfect place to watch games. We're going to be, I'm going to be going to four games in four nights. Four games in four days. North Carolina and Wake Forest is the second leg of that. Panthers, Tampa Bay, tomorrow night. And then taking a plane to Baltimore to watch East Carolina play at Navy. I've never seen a game at Navy before. And also, this is going to be the first time I watch East Carolina in the stands. My entire time as a student, I've been to every game, every home game that four years.

But never watched a game in the stands at Dowdy-Ficklin Stadium. And then on Sunday, do a little scouting. After this Thursday night game for the Panthers, they play the Arizona Cardinals on the road and Kyler Murray. Kyler tied against the Lions. They're going to be facing Lamar Jackson and the Ravens who had a big week in week one. So I'll be at the Ravens and Cardinals too.

Four games in four days. And I guarantee you, all of those games I just mentioned will be on at Twin Peaks Restaurant Sports Hub. The Sports Hub's local sports lodge. The place you should be visiting. Haines Mall Boulevard eats, drinks, scenic views.