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. I don't care what sport you're talking about. In the first week of the season, I'm usually pushing against overreactions and the idea of must-win games. Even in college football. And while Wake Forest doesn't need to beat Utah State in order to have a winning record.
trying to get their fourth consecutive winning season, which would be a record. Friday night is going to indicate just how special this deacon season. is if they win the game I think they're going to win eight or nine games. I really feel like this is one of Dave Claussen's most talented teams. In fact, I go as far to say they are the most talented.
It's either this team or 2016. They won eight. And Clausens. Fourth year. Three consecutive winning seasons the last three seasons.
You had John Walford, it was his final year. Greg Dorch's first season. A lot of very talented players on that roster, but this team's more accustomed to winning. than that team was. Remember, most of them when they entered Wake Forest The team Had back to back Losing seasons, winning six games, their first.
Two years. It's different now. The expectation is to go to bowl games, to win. Even if that's not the case. Case nationally, and even to some regionally.
That is the culture at Wake Forest.
So, if you win against Utah State, who won 11 games last year. I think it's eight or nine games for the Deeks. We're looking at This game already getting close to selling out. Last year, none of the games sold out. Even Notre Dame and Clemson.
John Curry, who's going to be a guest on today's show. He comes in. Very aggressive in trying to sell tickets for football and promote this program that's had a lot of success and deserves that attention. They're very close. If they sell it out.
It's going to be a great atmosphere. At BBNT Field. but it also further stresses the importance of the game. It's hard to build momentum in this state for college football. There's only two places here in North Carolina that doesn't need the momentum year after year.
Probably NC State and Appalachian State. But then again, App State's been good for so long? That Fans expect every single year for the Mountaineers to be strong. We haven't seen what it looks like. Really, when is the last time we saw Appalachian State having a down year?
We don't know what it looks like.
So, really, the momentum has never stopped. From Jerry Moore.
So maybe it's not even Appalachian State. Take East Carolina for an example. They used to pack $45,000, $50,000 for most of their games in Greenville. Partly because there was nothing else to support out there in eastern North Carolina, but there was a culture for football.
Now that things have been bad for them the last three years? Even as things start to improve and things are optimistic, they're looking at getting excited about twelve or thirteen thousand season tickets, which is a lot different than where they were with Ruffin McNeil and Lincoln Riley at the helm. Most Programs in the state of North Carolina. Followed those same rules, that you just need to build momentum. and capitalize When your team is at its best.
You've got a great home schedule this year. In addition to Utah State on the Friday night, you got North Carolina, Duke, NC State, all three of them coming into BBT Field.
Something that hasn't happened in Winston-Salem. Ever The last time Wake Forest has hosted those three teams of football, it was 1921.
So literally. A hundred years ago. The last time. Those three schools came to Winston-Salem. You beat Utah State.
You sell out North Carolina. You sell out NC State. You might even sell out Florida State and Duke. You probably start the season 4-0. Looking at the schedule, At Rice should win that if he beat Utah State.
North Carolina. That game's in Winston-Salem. The deacons have more talent. That should be 3-0. Elon, 4-0.
You're looking at If you lose at Boston College, let's just say that hypothetically. You got Louisville, Florida State, NC State in a row. NC State and the Florida State games coming off a buy. There's a realistic situation. Where you have a seven and one Wake Forest football team.
That is realistic.
Something you can see this year happening. But it doesn't. If you lose to Utah State, Dave Clausen. has made that known publicly and within the The Wake Forest football program, they're not overlooking Utah State. In his first year, Utah State.
Gave them the business. Few years ago, Wake Forrest returned it in kind. It was 29 to nothing in halftime, I believe. a few years ago.
So this was Dave Clausen yesterday. Talking about what What Utah State presents. You know, I'm sure You know, at times I may be accused of you know, kind of inflating what a team is. These guys won 11 games and they got a Heisman Trophy candidate back. at quarterback.
They are a really good football team. This, in my opinion, is probably the toughest opener we've had since I've been here in terms of the quality of the team. A lot of what he says is true there. In terms of this being the most difficult. opener he's had in his time and Winston-Salem.
There isn't much competition for that. They lost his first game against UL Monroe in 2014, 2015. They faced Elon, Won that in a route. Beat two lane. Twice.
and beat Presbyterian. Yeah, I don't even think it's hyperbolic to say that this is the biggest opener Wake Forest has had, the most difficult opponent the Deeks have played coming out of the gate. He's also right that Utah State has started a grassroots Heisman campaign. For quarterback Jordan Love, who has these gaudy numbers that he's put up. I still believe Wake Forrest should win the game because.
I don't believe Utah State is even the class of the Mountain West Conference. Boise State owns that conference. Air Force, I'm hearing a lot about. Utah State, they're working in a new coach, Matt Wells. He got poached after the Aggies won eleven games.
Also It's easy to point out Jordan loves the quarterback. And that's true? Also your left tackle's coming back, but those are the only two players coming back on offense.
So you lose four offensive linemen, your starting running back, your best wide receiver. You got seven players back on defense, and they have a really good front seven. I'm interested to see how Wake Forrest's offensive line is going to hold up. But Wake is just a more complete football team. They should win the game.
If they lose, I really feel like the momentum might be lost. At a place like Wake Forest, you need to have momentum moving forward. John Curry, I think, knows that. That's why he's putting all the eggs into the basket here. And if you win this game, man, you're really set up.
If you lose, It might be a five or six win season for Wake Forest. I don't see them winning less than five games. But if you win this one, the table is set for a magical year. Maybe not like 2006 with Grove, but eight or nine wins for the Demon Deacons. That's not unrealistic.
In fact, I'd go as far to say. That's what's going to happen. John Fokey going to be a guest on today's show. He's the voice uh the radio voice of the Charlotte Hornets. And I have no interest in talking to him about the Charlotte Hornets.
It has a lot more to do with the fact. Rod Boone wrote a story from The Athletic today. And John Fokey with this time. Being the play-by-play voice of the Minnesota Lynx in the WNBA, when they won one of their titles, Prince apparently invited. The team to his home, to Paisley Park and John Fokey.
was one of the people that got to attend.
So I want to know what that's like. What that was like going to Paisley Park, going to Prince's home.
So that's The main reason why we want to chat with Mr. Fokey. Also, we still got to get to know the guy because he is the new radio voice. of the Sharwood Hornets. Last night was episode four.
Of hard knocks. It was an amazing John Gruden episode. There are two things that stick out to me from the John Gruden episode last night. He was just a star. This line might be the best line.
He's ever delivered, but since we can't get sound cleared from HBO, I have to do an above-average John Gruden impression in trying to deliver this line. They're playing the Green Bay Packers in Winnipeg. And they're coming onto the field. And you know, usually when you play in a different country, they have natives like lined up giving high fives. Kids, you see it in soccer games.
You have kids that walk out with the players as they Listen to the anthem that come out onto the pitch before a game.
Well, it was kind of like that. In Winnipeg, there's a line of kids high-fiving the Raiders as they come onto the field, and John Gruden clearly doesn't know how to act around kids. Because he sees this one kid, he says, Hey, how's it going? How's it going? And he high-fives another kid and says, How's it going?
Nice freckles. Nice freckles. Nice freckles! Who talks about? Under what circumstances?
Is it okay to point out nice freckles? If someone pointed out my freckles I would instantly become insecure. Even if someone said nice freckles. Doesn't John Gruden have freckles? Yes, he does.
So what if John Gruden, young John Gruden, was insecure about his freckles growing up, got teased as a boy, wanted to give this young lad some encouragement by the freckles. But if somebody says nice freckles to you, just in passing, you're probably internalizing that. As oh my god, he noticed my freckles. Like, if you have a blemish, I'm not going to walk past you and say, nice blemish or nice mold. Do you have blemish?
Just don't do it. I do have freckles. Where? Where are they? You're looking at your arms.
Where are my arms? You don't have them on your face. No freckles on my face. Are freckles considered blemishes? It's an excellent question.
On Twitter at Sports Subtriad. Let us know. Our freckles blemishes 3367771600. The second thing Gruden did. He did this a handful of times yesterday.
I think he believes it's a magic trick. to count down from a hundred to one By threes. He did it a couple of times where he's just standing there, and it's almost like someone doing a magic trick, counting down. 100 to 1 by 3s. Do you think you'd be able to accomplish this, Des?
Yeah, I'm I'm an adult. I think so. But you have to do it very quickly. That's the point. I mean, rapid fire, John Gruding going 197, 94, 91.
That's ridiculous. Right. Is it ridiculous? To go that fast through the whole thing? Yeah.
I don't think that's ridiculous. It's not hard at all. With no practice? Like, if I'm focused, I feel I believe I can do that. Mm.
All the way to one. How fast is it really a magic trick? No, he did it wicked fast. Like, he'd be done, he'd be done in 30 to 45 seconds. I mean, if I'm being methodical and just going, you know, 97, 94, 95.
You are an adult, but he. Made it like a magic trick going 100 to 1. In fact, I might even test the callers on that too. Can you count from 100 all the way to one very quickly? We'll time you.
It has to be less than 45 seconds. Oh, that's impossible. I don't think it is. That's no way. I feel like I could do this right now.
In 45 seconds? Yeah. You gotta stop watching. I gotta focus. I'm ready.
Are we gonna do this right now? Yeah, I think we are, because I don't think this is physically possible. I'm not looking at your pad neither.
Well, no, I don't. Yeah, you don't have to write it down? I don't have it written down. You think I have on my notepad $199? Don't accuse you of cheating.
Really? I don't trust nothing. Don't you write them down.
Okay. You got to time it? Yeah, 45 seconds. All right, you're going to hear just when I start. Yeah, when your time is up, you're going to hear a.
All right. Just uh when I start. 197, 94, 91. 88, 85, 82, 79, 76, 73, 70, 67, 64, 61, 58, 55, 52, 49, 46, 43, 41. Uh f 38, 35, 32, 29, 26, 29.
Yeah. twenty, seventeen, fourteen, 11. Eight, five, two. How much time has he got? That's 26 left on the clock.
Thank you for that. Wait, what were you looking down at? Yeah, I'm a little skeptical. Yeah. Looking down at the piece of paper?
Yeah, what's on the paper? Look at it. It's all right. It's just notes. There's no 100 through one on this piece of paper.
Oh, okay. All right. You were looking at it like you were like. I'll tell you what's written down on this piece of paper. You ready?
Yeah. Coming up. Arguably, North Carolina's most important pro athlete ever. Made history or made news really today. Keep it here on the this is the sports hub at AM 600 AM 920.
Serious talk. Talk, talk, talk. And I like it.
Now back to the drive with Josh Graham. I really enjoyed this story today. The Athletic Carolinas, Rod Boone of covers Hornets basketball for the Athletic, did a QA with the new radio voice. Of the Charlotte Hornets, John Fokey, who's now kind enough to join us here on the Sports Hub as we are. The Triad's Home For the Charlotte Hornets.
And I still feel like we're into getting to know Jon Fokey's stage here, as you've been with the Hornets for a month or so now. What can you tell us, John? About your first run-in with Snakes since moving here from Minnesota. Yes, it was really interesting. My wife and I and our dog were sitting out on the back porch.
I think we were just having coffee in the morning and hanging out, and I'll suddenly notice the dog was over. kind of slip in between like our little fence area and the neighbor's fence area. And my wife is just like, you know, kinda hollered at him, like, George, get over here And and we looked, I was like, What what? He like what was he doing wrong? And we just saw a snake kind of poking its head out underneath the um The gate that goes to the neighbor's patio.
And so we're like, whoa, you know, this is like. In Minnesota you have snakes, but uh not this type of a snake. It was different from what we're used to. You know, it wasn't your classic like gardener snake, it was something else.
So we hustle the dog into the um into the house and we went in there and you know, tried to figure out what kind of a snake it was, and then my wife sent me back out there to get rid of it. And so, uh, not really knowing what to do, I just kinda went out there and flailed a rake at it a little bit to try and Spook it, and I did nothing to scare this snake at all.
So eventually, you know, we figured out that it wasn't a poisonous snake, nothing happened to the dog and everything, and that was good. And, you know, after a couple of hours, we went back out there, it was gone. took to Twitter and kind of crowdsourced some Home remedies for snakes, and we've got a ton of uh hilarious and fun answers and everything. Seems like, you know, it's one of those things where everybody's got their own remedy.
So. Learned a lot and connected with a lot of folks that way. And luckily, you know, we haven't seen it since, although I will say. Every time I step back out that patio, that's the first thing that I check before we go take a seat out there. I have a ton of questions about this.
John Fokey, you can follow him on Twitter at JW Fokey F-O-C-K-E. I think every North Carolinian has had an experience like the one that you're describing. For me, when I was a kid, I remember a black snake came rolling across, and I just happened to have a rake or something in my hands, and I just hacked it to pieces when I was five or six years old.
So I guess I didn't see many snakes, but I was never fearful really of them. But. What remedy did you like the most when you outsourced Trying to get some information, some knowledge on how to prevent snakes from being in your yard or on your patio. What did you come up with?
Well, there were a ton of them. I think the one that stood out the most was take hair from your comb and sprinkle it around, and that will deter the snakes. There were some fun ones like somebody said go back out there and you know, take care of it and then put it on a a stake, you know, in your yard to scare off and and send a message to all the other snakes. And uh there are a ton of them, I think like cedar chips or wood chips, you know, sprinkle those around.
So Uh there were a ton of them and you know it's kind of like uh like I said to Rod, you know When you tell someone, Oh, I've got a cold, everybody's got their remedies. You know, do this, or if you have the hiccups, you know, drink drink water upside down, or put a pencil on your On your upper lip and drink water that way.
So it was fun. It was fun just. Everybody with all their different remedies for how to get rid of them and how to keep them away. But in the end, you know, we've just been lucky that it hasn't come back. I couldn't convince my wife to pull the hair out of her cold and sprinkle it around the backyard.
So we're just crossing our fingers every time we come out. Prior to becoming the new radio voice of the Charlotte Hornets, you were the play-by-play voice of the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, one of the best franchises in that league. And apparently, according to you in the story, when you win, when you won one of the titles, the Lynx did. Prince invited the team, yourself included, to his home, to Paisley Park. What was that like?
Yeah, it was incredible. I mean, that's kind of what Prince was known for. You know, he was throwing parties all the time and opening the doors of Paisley Park studio for sometimes he'd put on a show in downtown Minneapolis, and then he'd go back out to Paisley Park. They'd open the doors and Prince would continue to play until five o'clock, six o'clock in the morning.
So you heard about these legendary parties and Prince is a big basketball fan. He played growing up In South Minneapolis, and was a big Timberwolves fan, big Lynx fan, supported both those franchises and During twenty fifteen, as the Lynx were battling the Indiana fever, Prince was at game five and he was following along. There was a great play at the end of game three in Indiana. Where Maya Moore hit the game-winning shot, and Prince tweeted about it. And so he was all in on that team in 2015.
And so after the team clinched the championship, at home for the first time. Their first two titles were both won on the road. They clinched in Minneapolis and word kind of trickled out, oh, Prince is going to invite everybody out. And you thought, no way. But then, sure enough, when I got over to the after party, they were like, yo, Prince really is inviting everybody over.
Like, our staff is on a list on it. Paisley Park.
So, if you can find your way out there, and it's kind of a ways out of downtown Minneapolis.
So, hopped a ride with one of the guys I worked with, and we ended up out there, walked in. I'm I would say maybe there were 60 people there at that point. And Prince is just up on stage with a band playing. And I mean, you're standing, you know, right at the stage watching him go to work. It was incredible.
I think I left. around four thirty, quarter to five in the morning. And it was like, you know, dwindling down. There were maybe like twenty, twenty five people there at that point. But Prince walked offstage.
And so I was like, okay, party's over.
So me and the guy I came with went out, we hopped in the car. A couple of my other buddies were waiting To decide whether they were going to call an Uber or call someone to come pick them up or something. It turns out while they were waiting, Prince came back on. He just like took a little break, got a bite to eat, came back, played for another forty-five minutes.
So it was amazing. I mean, it was just incredible. It was just a really a surreal kind of evening overall because you're watching Uh, the team, the players, you know, Prince invited them up on stage, and the players are up there dancing. And yeah, you're just like, wow, this is incredible. And you know, the timing of it too.
I mean, Prince passed away in April of the following year, so that was October 2015, and he passed away in April of 2016.
So Yeah, I was just really, really lucky to be a part of a moment like that. You know, before he ended up passing away. Right, John, there are a ton of questions we have in very limited time.
So, limited time, but I have a million questions just very quickly. Was he e did you ever offer uh get offered pancakes? You know, I did not, but if you take a tour of Paisley Park now, it's like a museum. It says on there that the Prince invited the team For pancakes.
Now, I didn't go with the team. I went separately. I wasn't on the bus.
So maybe there were pancakes for them, but I did not get any pancakes. No. Did you ever see Prince's studio? I have in the when I took the tour. I mean, the whole thing, you know, we were in.
Like an area where he puts on shows, and then there's studios behind there, and there's multiple studios.
So Paisley Park is a pretty big complex. And when I took the tour, you go through a couple of the studios. I'm not sure if there's more or like if he had secret studios, but definitely been in via the tour a couple of those studios. How close did you get to Prince? I mean, he was up on stage and I was standing right there in the front row, so just a couple of feet away.
I I I will say too, I was standing next to the speaker for a while because I was just mesmerized watching Prince, and it was so loud I felt like I couldn't hear for a week. I mean, ears ringing all the next day and just felt cloudy for a couple of days after that from how loud it was. But yeah, just standing right at the front of the stage and just watching him go, he play different instruments and His backing band was superb. I mean, it was. It was amazing, man.
It was really amazing. Last thing for the play-by-play voice of the Charlotte Hornets, John Fokey. Kind enough to be with us here on the Triad Sports Hub. We were talking about with Cam Ward signing a one-day contract with the Carolina Hurricanes and retiring. We were thinking about the most essential, most important North Carolina professional athletes, and we were trying to figure out.
And it's good, I think, that you're just coming in with open eyes to what the Charlotte Hornets are coming from the outside a little bit. We were talking about Larry Johnson and Alonzo Morning, and, of course, Kimball Walker, who some view to be the best player in franchise history. When I phrase it. Most important player in franchise history. Who do you go with first?
Yes, it's interesting because I think from the outside, you would jump to a Larry Johnson, Alonzo Morning, a Glenn Rice, those types of players. But their time in Charlotte was very short when you actually go back and look at it. And then you start to think about guys like Del Curry and Muggy Boak, as guys who spent the bulk of their careers here and really helped bring Charlotte from an expansion team through becoming one of those teams that competes for a playoff spot. And then I think you jump to Kimball Walker as well because in terms of longevity, in terms of being an all star and during his time here in Charlotte, helping to get the team to the playoffs for a couple of years and becoming the face of the franchise and then obviously the all-time leading scorer and all those things that go along. With what Kemba did on the court and off the court.
So I think you could make a case really for. those guys. And I think, again, we jump to the Larry Johnsons and the Alonzo Mornings because that team was so popular at that time. But their time in Charlotte was shorter lived than some of those other guys.
So I think when you put together a Pantheon, certainly those guys would be in it. But as far as the longevity piece of it goes, I think you look to the Kimball Walkers and the Dell Curries and the Muggsy and those guys. It's John Fokey on Twitter at J.W. Fokey, the new radio voice of the Charlotte Hornets. Read the story by Rod Boone and the Athletic Today QA, getting to know John Fokey a little bit more.
Thanks for doing this, man. Absolutely, good to talk to you. You've got it. That's John Fokey once again. Good conversation to be had when you think about the most important.
North Carolina professional athletes, if you take away the college coaches and figures that we all get to know and have known for many years, if we just limit it to Panthers, Hurricanes, Hornets. NASCAR. Where do you go with that? The drive brought to you in part by our friends at Twin Peaks Restaurant. Good place to watch games on any day.
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Next on the drive. Wait. Still can't. Go out! This is the Sports Hub at AM 600, AM 920.
Now back to the drive with Josh Graham. Yesterday's show could not have ended any better than it did. Except that this was a walk-off home run.
So I don't want to explain all the ins and outs of radio, but we have to be very precise at the end of shows when we. that is talking. Otherwise There is this thing called a hard network out that. If you continue talking into, it'll go straight to commercial whether or not you finished your sentence or your thought.
So I knew how much time I had left to work with. It was two outs in the bottom of the ninth. The dash hadn't had a hit. Or hadn't had a run in 35 or 36 consecutive innings. They were down 5-0 in the game.
And you can hear it on my voice. I'm just bummed out because the game. has been a bummer for the Dash. We were out at BBNT ballpark and I thought there was no way what happened was going to transpire. Gosh, it's a race.
We got, what, 50 seconds left in this show? Yep. 50 seconds? Oh, the game is going to be a second swing. We got two outs.
It's the bottom of the night. Craig Didalo's at the plate. Will it be a first pitch swinging? Will this game end? Before our show does.
Oh my gosh. Wow. Salem Red Sox. Over the Winston-Salem Nash as he's digging in. We're going to have time for one pitch.
Is Didalo gonna let us finish this game? While we're on the air. Let's find out together, friends. Pitch! And he takes it inside.
But it's caught a strike. Oh, no, no. I got a gut feeling the Dash aren't going to win this one. Partly because they can't score. Don't give up, hope.
Lake Forest AD John Curry will be a guest with us tomorrow. Craig Dina Logis hit a shot to right. It's deep. It's back. It's gone!
Get home, Rod, I'm not kidding! We'll talk to you tomorrow! And that's it. And that's how the show ends. And scene.
I had. Three seconds to spare, maybe. with that home run being hit. Perfect timing. How was the play-by-play?
Can you just isolate it when I started to describe the home run? Is this Good play by play or Could it have been better? Craig Dina Lojus hit a shot to right. It's Steve. It's back!
It's gone! Get a home run! I'm not kidding! We'll talk to you tomorrow! I'm coming for you, Joe.
Joe Weil Coming for you. How's my bleep taste? Answer that question for me. And that's a perfect segue. Two.
My favorite sports beef of all time, which has been reignited By Kobe Bryant. He was on a stage last night talking about Shaquille O'Neal. And if you got Shaq's words in your mouth, They better be nice words. And they started out being nice words, but at the end, not so nice by Kobe. You know a guy at that size generally guys at that size are a little timid and they don't wanna be tall.
They don't want to be big. Man, this dude was He did not care. He was mean. He was nasty. He was competitive.
He was vindictive. I mean he was Yeah, I wish he was in a job. I would have had 12 rings. Yeah. I would have had 12 rings.
Did you clean that up? Yes, I did. Oh, come on. You could have just bleeped out the bleep, the F-bomb. It adds to it.
We were pressed for time at the time. Yes, 12 bleeping rings. 12 bleeping rings is a different connotation to it than 12 rings. He is right in terms of.
Well, no, he's not right. It's an opinion. We don't know if he's right. No, I mean, he.
Well, let me finish what I'm saying. He was right in the fact that. Shaq was probably the most dominant player of my lifetime. Like, I can't think of even Jordan, I can't think of any other player. That could just Teams could not stop him.
Like, you people were triple teaming this guy. Orlando Magic Shaq, early Lakers Shaq. Like he There's no, I can't think of anybody in my lifetime that was as dominant as 2019, Shaq. Who responded to these comments on Twitter by saying, You would have had twelve if you passed the ball more, especially. In the finals against the Pistons.
Hashtag facts. You don't get statues by by not working hard. Shaq says. I don't blame him. That's the biggest critique on Shaq that he was out of shape in some seasons.
Kobe trying to fan these flames that have arisen. Tweeted out earlier today, there is no beef with Shaq. I know most media want to see it, but But it ain't gonna happen. Ain't nothing but love there and Am We Too Old to Beef Anyway? Hashtag.
Three peat. Don't buy it. I'm sorry, don't blame the media for what you said. You're the one that said, if the guy's in shape, we would have won 12 bleeping rings. That's a criticism.
You said that. You thought that we weren't going to talk about. In August on a Wednesday? Kobe Bryant? Saying that they would have won 12 rings if Shaq was in shape?
Even though less than 24 hours later, Kobe cleared it up in that. It wasn't meant with the money. He's blaming the media. Oh, the media trying to create this. Really?
You said that! You could have just been nice, Kobe. You could have just been nice and not thrown in the thing about Shaq not being in shape. And oh, yeah, we would have won 12 if not for him. Has Kobe been nice?
Right. Like ever. Right. I don't know if it's in the mindset. Don't blame us for doing our jobs.
We wouldn't be talking about this today if you didn't say 12 bleeping rings. I do like how they turned this on Dwight Howard at the end. Have you seen this? Because this is still going on, like right now. Big number 39.
Yeah, they'll be wearing thirty-nine with the Lakers this year. 39? That's the weirdest number for a center to wear. But essentially, all it's been was: he's like, I want to wear 12. Here's thirty-nine.
Okay. Carmelo's like, I'll wear forty-eight. Give me sixty. Sit down, man. I'll wear eighty-two.
Give me a number, please. Any number. I'll wear any number. Just give it to me. Boss made 99 work.
Well, Dennis yeah, Dennis also made a Broadsville work, so It's my favorite sports beef ever. I'm just trying to think of sports beefs that are better than this one. In the NBA, you had that series with LeBron and Deshaun Stevenson, which was a lot of fun, but Deshaun Stevenson isn't as good of a player. No. Obviously.
Lance Stevenson and LeBron. That was fun for a little bit. LeBron hates Stevensons. We've learned that. I believe he's back on the score.
I think Soldier Boy was involved with that Deshaun Stevenson LeBron beef. Go back and look at the history of that. I vaguely remember something with Soldier Boy in that beef. Yeah, now that you mentioned that. It was LeBron's right-hand man was Jay-Z.
Deshaun Stevenson's right-hand man. Fittingly was Soldier Boy. Which is fitting. It's equal. It is equal.
Yeah, it's equal. Yeah. LeBron Soldier Boy is. Exactly. Or I guess.
Deshaun Stevenson is to LeBron. What Soldier Boy is to Jay-Z? That. That checks out. That totally checks out.
All right, we need to get to the second batch. The second of three. This is the best of Joe Wiles calls from the second half of the year. The audience sending in movie lines for him to work in to his play-by-play on Dash Broadcast this year. And here's how it sounds.
But Michael Papirski was the star collegiately with the LSU Tigers. Here's something about the Tigers. Tigers love pepper. They hate cinnamon. Before Connor went out of the eighth inning, just walked around the ballpark to check things out.
You see the great crowd? Essentially telling Connor, if I'm not back in five minutes, just wait longer. This is a tough situation for Andrew Berett. Second and third, one out. And.
He doesn't want to lock up the dash in a loss, so Z coming out, essentially asking, do you want to go to jail or do you want to go home? Get a great Thirsty Thursday crowd on hand. They've been trying to wheel the dash this entire ball game. Try to rally the home team. Listen to them.
Children of the night. What music they make. Blackman fooled on that breaking ball. Giving a look out to the mountain as if to say, I have fallen for you like a blind roofer. See if he doesn't fall for it this time.
Outside, counted 2-1, but it's hard to predict if rain will come through this area with the forecast. Listen. I didn't invent the rainy day, man. I just own the best umbrella. Yeah.
Excellent work as always from Joe. A reminder, we're going to be broadcasting Actually, no, we're not going to be broadcasting from Kickback Jacks tomorrow. We're just going to be having our own show. Des, it's like, wait, this is happening? I didn't know that.
See, we have people who come by and say hello at Kickback Jacks every single time we do the show, but I'm doing a show and I don't have time to meet everybody and just hang out.
So we're going to have a watch party, hang out for Clemson, Georgia Tech, 8 o'clock kickoff time. And we'd love to see you at Kickback Jacks, New Garden Road location in Greensboro. We're just going to be kicking back. We're going to probably give away some tickets as well to North Carolina Wake Forest in a couple of weeks. We'll have other prizes on hand too.
So tomorrow, 8 o'clock, be at the Kickback Jacks, New Garden Road location in Greensboro. We'd love to see you. You are listening to WSJS Winston-Salem, WCLG Greensboro, WCGL. WPC and Burlington, WMFR High Point. Those signals making up the triads sports up.
Ready? One, two, three, four! You're on the drive with Josh Graham. Let's go! The Sports Hub at AM600, AM920.
Friday can't get here soon enough, can it? We are Two hours. or make it two days, three hours. 43 minutes away. From opening kickoff for Wake Forest football, the Deeks Basing Utah State to open the year.
In 15 minutes, we'll give away a pair of tickets for this game. But we're now being joined by the Director of Athletics for Wake Forest, John Curry. And I want to get through a couple of practical things with you in regards to ticket sales because I know this is something you've been following and pushing for the last few months since becoming the Director of Athletics, taking over for Ron Wellman. How close are you today to a sellout for this game?
Well, Josh, we get a little bit closer every moment because we still have people that are buying tickets. Regardless of whether or not it's a sellout, we will have we've already sold more tickets For this opening night, than any opening game since 2011. That was an NC State opening game in 2011.
So we'll have a great crowd. We'll be closing in on 30,000, and we've got a lot of exciting elements to go along with what should be a heck of a football game between two really good football teams. What would it mean to you if you sell out game one? You know, it's obviously another milestone, but I believe we've already reset the bar, so to speak, and I've had wonderful responses from people around the community. They like seeing the renewed emphasis on the grassroots messaging.
I'm hearing a lot of people who have taken advantage of our fan ambassador program to buy tickets to share with people at their church or at their kids' school or whatever.
So those things are exciting. We've got a great freshman class at Wake Forest that will be storming onto the field to open the gates with a lot of our student athletes from other sports.
So it'll be a very special night. There was some concession news yesterday that there's going to be a permanent Chick-fil-A stand inside the west side of BBNT Field. Is there anything else different? We can expect in and around BBT Field in terms of the game they experience, we'll see two nights from now. Yes, I believe you'll see a lot of awesome things that while we're talking about technical stuff, we do remind our fans that we are a clear bag policy, just like every other major sporting event nowadays.
We have made the decision that we will now do a metal detecting screening of all patrons at Wake Forest events. Again, that's pretty much ubiquitous now at major college stadiums. And that, of course, is for the security and safety of our fans.
So those are a couple new elements from a security standpoint. We do encourage people to get To get to the gates a little bit earlier so we can get through that process and get everybody into their seats in time for the pregame festivities and all that. This is a conversation that really fascinates me. What. People in leadership positions, like you, a director of athletics at Wake Forest, what kind of things they have considered as ways to enhance the game day experience?
We saw, I think it was at Tennessee, where they are looking at check-ins during the week of the game, and you might have different seats depending on where you want to be in a given week. And we've also seen, I think, apps that see the line, the bathroom lines, the concession lines, so they know the right time to leave their seat at a given point in the game. You can, like, maybe order the mascot to be somewhere for a small fee. Are there things like that that you've considered that you'd be willing to share? Sure.
Many of our fan enhancements, and again, Josh, our goal is to have the best fan experience in the state of North Carolina. We're really fortunate because we're in the wonderful city of Winston-Salem, and we've got nice highways that continue to get better. We've got great parking around our stadium. We don't have 80,000 people at our stadium, which means you don't have to worry about dealing with 80,000 people when you come to our stadium.
So it is a great place to get in and get out.
Some of the other amenities that we've added, in addition to, you mentioned Chick-fil-A, obviously, we've added some cooling fans and cooling zones inside the stadium. And then you'll see a renewed emphasis on customer service and welcoming fans to Wake Forest. Outside the stadium, pre-game, beginning at 5 o'clock. You know, we have an 8 o'clock kickoff. Beginning at 5 o'clock, we have the Big Daddy Love Band providing a free concert for fans.
There are quite a few fans that come, maybe coming for the first time, and that'll be a great place to relax and unwind. There'll be kid games and the Lowe's Beer Den out in that area, which will be just adjacent to the deacon statue on the west side of the stadium. It's always exciting then to see the bands, marching bands come. The deacon walk into the stadium about an hour and a half before the game. And of course, This is a historic moment for the City of Winston-Salem and for Wake Forest and for Winston-Salem State because the Red Sea of Sound, which is the number one Division II band in America, is going to join us for the game and participate with the Spirit of Old Golden Black in the Halftime Show.
And so it's going to be a real treat for everybody that's attending the game from around our community. And it sounds like you're you're being very proactive in trying to enhance the in-game experience. You're talking about some of the things that are going to be outside the stadium and inside the stadium as well. This summer, I think it was Pat Fitzgerald at Northwestern Northwestern was talking about ticket sales at attendance going down across college football, and he cited cellphones and kids being in their phones as being the primary cause of it. What do you make of those comments?
And what do you think might result in these figures we're seeing across the country?
Well, you do have a decline in student attendance at many places. At Wake Forest, we actually have pretty good scan ins in terms of the number of students Relative to our student population, it's actually a very high number that actually entered the stadium. You know, certainly students and young people like to be entertained, so we've got to keep things going. We're fortunate we have a really good football team, and we're playing an excellent football team with a quarterback coming in from Utah State who is rated as one of the top two or three quarterbacks in the 2020 NFL draft. One thing that will be another element that is going to be really fun to have is we've added on replays when there was an official review on the field of a call.
Starting Friday evening, what you see in the stands on the Bob McCrary video board, which is obviously a beautiful structure close to all the seats at BBT Field, what you see on the video board during that review will be exactly what the replay official in the official ACC replay booth upstairs is looking at.
So as he or she is toggling back and forth between different camera angles and rewinding and fast-forwarding and all that kind of stuff, that will be on the Bob McCrary video board in real time. And so we all know that sometimes we kind of grimace when there's an official replay because it's going to take two or three minutes. But now fans can actually see what the referee is seeing or the replay official, which is another way to stay engaged during those breaks. That's really neat. John Curry with us here, Wake Forest Director of Athletics.
For more information for tickets and such, godeeks.com is the place to go. It is Utah State Friday night, 8 o'clock kickoff time. Last Thursday, a week. I guess from uh tomorrow. It was the ACC network launching.
And obviously, we've talked about before, John, the importance of this network relative to funds that get brought into athletics and what it can mean as a fundraising arm in a sense. What have you been most pleased about just early on in the launch of the network?
Well, let me mention that in about 35 minutes, Wake Forest women's soccer team, currently ranked 23rd in the country, 2-0 on the season, will host on the ACC Network main channel. We're hosting Santa Clara, who is the 15th-ranked team in the country.
So, a great opportunity right now for people in Winston-Salem, a little after-hours business special to come over to Spry Stadium and have a cold beverage and watch some great women's soccer. And that game will be on the ESBN channel, excuse me, the ACC channel. And right there is one of the neat things about what the channel is now. There is a home for a person that cares about sports in the ACC to come home and flip on the channel, and boom, I'm going to the ACC channel to see what's on in the sports and the schools that I care about the most. And this is one of those opportunities tonight for ACC fans everywhere that really spotlights our university and the community.
Dr. Jerry Punch is here to be. The sideline reporter on Friday, and Dr. Punch is actually a graduate of the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. And so I know he was touring around town looking at the new downtown, Wake Downtown, and the Innovation Corridor, and then getting a lot of film and all that kind of stuff to be able to showcase on the ACC network broadcast of the Wake Forest football game on Friday.
So the network launch is off to a good start.
Now there's hiccups because there's technology involved. And, you know, for instance, my mother down in Charlotte, she's a Spectrum subscriber. And I called her on Sunday to let her know I was going to be on Mark Packer and West Durham show on Monday morning because I figured she'd want to watch. And she called me later that night to tell me that she had learned that because she's a Time Warner legacy account, she had to. She had to upgrade her service with charter.
So she went through that process. And so I'm sure some of our fans are experiencing some of those hiccups. But once you get it going, it is really cool. And again, from the league and ESPN, we actually had an ADs teleconference with the ACC and the ESPN officials early this morning. We are doing very well in our distribution and continue to have great momentum in those areas.
I was one of those people, like your mom, too, that had a Time Warner legacy accountant. Had no idea I did. And then it was just one of those things where you call someone, it was very simple within 10 minutes. They flipped it across to Spectrum's main channels, and you had the ACC network. And it is a neat thing, John, where you have the network is going to be on the basic packages within the footprint of the league.
So North Carolina, South Carolina, and many other states as well. That seemed like something from Commissioner Swofford and also network executives that was a very important thing to get done. Yes, and I salute Rosalind Durant, who's leading the efforts for USPN, who actually lives down in Charlotte, and great friend. Commissioner Swafford, Dean Jordan, they had this vision and executed the strategy. And our distribution on the ACC network is already far better in terms of the number of households that have the ACC network nationwide.
Our distribution is far better than the Big Ten channel distribution was when it started in 2007. We have more subscribers and more viewers in the Pac-12 network, probably by two or three times. Um so you know you got great you got great growth. And then as other cable systems feel the pressure uh where people you know threaten that uh you know they're going to drop and go to Hulu or drop and go to YouTube T V or drop and go to to uh Direc T V, um you'll see more um More carriers come online. Good luck with the final push, John.
Thank you so much for doing this. We'll see you Friday night. Thanks, Josh. We'll see you out here at Spry Soccer Stadium in thirty five minutes. And let me just say, our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Spry family for the loss that they've recently suffered.
So Sacker fields tonight. All right. Thank you so much for that, John. See ya. That's John Curry on Twitter at John underscore Curry.
This is where the magic starts. You're on the drive with Josh Graham. Show drive the Sports Hub at AM 600, AM 920. Uh It's time for my weekly. Top 10 list.
Top ten deacons in honor of the season opener on Friday. John Curry trying to push people to buy tickets. This is our way to help do that. By doing the top ten list. Top 10 deacons or church names.
Names that connote church things. Getting a lot of tweets at Sports Hub Triad. It's a lot of fun to play at home, right? Like, if you're in your car, Aaron, this is something where you can try and guess in your car. If you're somewhere else, you can tweak.
Don't be tweeting and driving now. You can guess what's on the list. I mean, that's the experience you get when you listen to these types of things. You go through each one and you have some in your head that you think's going to be there. Isn't that how you listen to it?
Yeah, let's have it.
So how many do you have written down that you think's going to be on the list? I got five.
Okay, and do you write them in order or do you just write them? Five, five names on a paper. Five random ones. Des, how many do you have written down? I have one.
Okay. Top ten deacons and church names. Hit the bougie music. Top ten Deacons And church names. Number 10.
My number ten. Deacon. Chris Paul. Oh, man.
Okay, I see what you did. Oh, you did? Yeah, I see what you did. You figured that one out? Yeah, that was pretty good.
I was talking to Connor O'Neill at the press conference yesterday, the Wait Forest press conference. He covers Wait for the Journal. And. He was telling me when he met up with Chris Paul for a story that CP3's phone number is always going to be a 336 area code, he says, because 336 is home. That's a pretty neat thing.
Number nine. My number nine deacon and church name. Church Hill Downs. Shorts on backwards, shorts on backwards. That's a bucket list item to go to Church Hill Downs.
I hear it's just the biggest party. That and the freakness stakes. I'm from Baltimore, so I should be. go into the brickness sometimes. Didn't think you'd throw a place in there.
Do some betting. Do you have sports bucket list items? Ugh. Watching Duke Carolina had both The Smith Center and at Carmichael. Not Carmichael.
That would be a fair list item. Good luck with that one. They are playing at Carmichael this year. I forgot who they're playing. It's not Duke, but they're playing somebody.
I think it's Wofford. I think they're playing Wofford, yeah, but they're not playing Duke inside Carmichael. I think those days might be familiar. That would be awesome if they did. No.
Yeah, man. That'd be great.
Well, there's no way it would ever happen. Why? They go to that high school in Durham all the time and play over there at Cameron's gym. You're asking North Carolina to turn down money. Her point.
Number eight! My number eight Deacon or church name. Dean Smith.
Well, bro! Was that Doc Rivers doing a Kobe White impression? I think it was.
Well, bro. Uh Incredible. Number seven. My number seven deacon or church name. Arnold Palmer.
What's there to think about? Oh, I don't. I don't. You're not good. Nope.
I don't know. What? Drawing a blank. Arnold Palmer. It's like the greatest Wake Forest.
What? Oh, how about that? Yeah. Gloss on me. Number six.
Gonna move off that very quickly. Number six. Top ten deacons are church names. Paul Christ. Where is old Paul Chris these days?
Wisconsin. Ah. Paul Christ. He's got a good football team this year. I don't know if that team's going to win the division.
It's like too bad they're in the long conference. Every year. Wisconsin's just there. Football and basketball, they're just there. They're never gonna win at all, but they're just gonna be there.
They're like cheese. Right, they almost did. They almost got Duke. They almost got him in the championship game, but then Grayson Allen was like, oh, yeah, you're Wisconsin. That was his one-shot and moment.
Yes. Like for his life. Oh no. I think after that he had plenty of shiny moments. He almost had one right at the very end.
He had a shot just lip out against Kansas at the very end of regulation that would have sent them to the final four. Yeah, I don't think the song's called Almost Shining Moments. Oh, all the tripping up. That's a shining moment in its own right. Tarnished moment.
Oh no no, it's still shining. Number five, my number five deacon or church name. Priest Holmes. That's a good one. I like it.
Sean called that one from a mile away on Twitter. Yes, that's a microphone desk. My headphones are too big. Nope. Yeah.
Priest homes. Quality. One of my favorite players in the 2000s. I love those Chiefs, Steve's with Holmes, Larry Johnson, and also the human. Uh highlight stick.
Or human joystick. Human joystick. I can't remember his name or his correct nickname. Dante Harrison. I was thinking about the human highlighter.
It's dead. Yeah. Arrives somewhere else. Let me tell you something, Josh Graham. The human joystick.
It was a pretty good human highlighter impression. The human joystick. Gosh, Dante Hall was so excited. Fantastic. A lot better than D'Angelo Hall.
Would it put like three years and then suck disappeared? He went he was around. He played the St. Louis Rams after he left Chief. Oh, magic was gone.
Number four. My number four deacon or church name. Tyler Cameron. Shorts on backwards, shorts on backwards. Tyler Cameron.
Just because he was on The Bachelor? Really? And the Yeah. Much like Arnold Palmer a deke.
Well, I know he was a deacon, but when he was there, was he really? Enough to be in this list. Tyler C. Tyler C. is in my top 10 deacons.
If he wasn't on the bachelor, this wouldn't be happening. It's a great list where Tyler C. is higher up. on the deacon list than Arnold Palmer and Chris Paul. Fantastic work.
Tyler C. Just so dreamy. Number three! My number three. Deacon or church name.
Jesus Shuttlesworth. Fried chicken and beer. Yeah. That's my favorite Spike Lee movie. Biblical name.
Yeah, no bleep. Ha ha ha ha. My favorite church name And definitely, actually, no, it's my third favorite, as we're establishing here. But It's my favorite Spike Lee movie, He Guy Gang. And the scene where Ray Allen's playing against Denzel.
At the very end, oh It's one of those scenes that I will, I don't care where I'm at, I'm not leaving the room if that scene's on. I'm gonna finish watching that team. A long movie, too, man. That's like one of Spike's longest movies. No, I think Malcolm X is a little longer.
Oh, yeah, Malcolm X is like six hours, two DVDs. Yeah, you got a good point. Number two! My number two Deacon or church name. Cecil Newton Sr.
I know who he is. I don't know. You don't know what he does? I don't know. Is he a minister?
Yeah. Really? What you out there doing? You're playing son of a preacher man coming into this segment. Auburn played Alabama.
What's that supposed to be? Auburn played Alabama when Cam Newton was there. And the guy who chose the music at Alabama got fired because he played Dusty Springfield.
Son of a preacher man. And then play Take the Money and Run. I remember playing Take the Money and Run, yeah. They played both. Yeah.
Back to back. Because they were essentially saying.
Son of a preacher, man. Yeah, it was funny until they took the money and run. It was funny until they spotted Auburn, spotted him 24 points, and then came back and beat him at home. That's right. Crushed their dreams and everything.
Cecil Newton Sr. In my list. That day is the reason why there are Cam Newton haters. I really honestly believe that. That day.
Nah, I think the story leading up to that game, too, with the. Background: There are still people out there who hate Jameis Winston. because of the stuff he done with the college, just like I think there are people out there who hate Cam Newton. Think Yeah. Yeah.
Number one. My number one. Digger. He can jump. Whoa, bro.
That was who I had. I figured. I hate making my list so predictable that Dez gets it. Minister of Defense, number one. I know that stays with me.
Minister of Defense is Reggie White. Oh, what was his name? His name was what? What was his nickname? Deacon Jones.
Deacon Jones. Deacon is a nickname. That's not his actual name. Oh, I thought he had like a moniker or something, like a. I don't think so.
If he had the helmet slap. He did have the helmet slap. That was his move. That is illegal. That wouldn't hold up in 2019.
Lab on the play. How many yards do you think a good helmet slap would get you? 15. Would Deacon Jones helmet slap Carly Lloyd? I don't want to get myself in Desmond Howard like trouble.
from the past weekend. Reggie White was actually one of the ones on the outside looking in. Did he put Minister of Defense in there? It was close. Yeah.
And was close to have. the Minister of Defense. Same thing for Catavius Caldwell Pope, Corin Elder. Corn helder. What else do we have?
Well, it was a reach. It was like his last name. Elder. Elder. Oh, wow.
Drew Brees is a saint. What about Collection Kaepernick? If we did a list, nah, I was going to make a joke if we did top 10 Saints, but I'm going to save that one because it actually is very funny. Keep it in your back pocket. Yeah, there's definitely one, but I don't know if people would actually get it.
Screw it. If we did top 10 Saints. Number one would have to be Dorothy Mantooth. Dorothy Mantooth is a saint. Those who get it, get it.
Those who don't, don't. That's fine. On Twitter, Brett Wrightson, Looney Tunes, Pepe Le Pew. Like that? Yep, yep.
And there are people mad that Tim Duncan's not number one on the list. Oh, Yeah, it's a big uh Well, no, I obviously thought of all the deeks. You put Chris Paul and Arnold Palmer on there. And Tyler C. Yeah, you put Tyler Cameron on there.
You didn't put Tim Duncan. Tyler C. is so good. Touchdown, Jesus. Wow.
Notre Dame. That's good. They're not in the ACC, though, so I couldn't put touchdown. All these rolls. Jesus.
In the top 10. Do everything else. Uh At a Star Wars joke. What's the Star Wars joke? In a Galilee far, far away.
Uh-huh. Saint Nick Bosa. Oh, wow. I like that creative. Like, you twist them around and like.
Sean right. The Nigerian Nightmare Kristin Okoye. Nice, yeah, yeah. It works. Yeah, actually, that's pretty good.
Pain and Leviana bale. Able. Turn his microphone off. Yeah, I'm going. I'm next out.
A reminder: we're going to be out tomorrow at Kickback Jacks for Georgia Tech Clemson. Come by, say hello, eight o'clock. We're going to be hanging out. Yeah, sure, why not? Take some calls.
Uh Clemsa, Georgia Tech. Tomorrow. Be there. We'll have a set of North Carolina Wake Forest tickets to give away. And of course, we'll probably have some kickback Jax gift cards.
So tomorrow, Be out at the New Garden Road location in Greensboro. We're just going to be hanging out for the Clemson Georgia Tech game. We'd certainly love to see you. In Greensboro. Very quickly, let's just get.
To a call before we take it to the house. Tomorrow we're going to be sharing with Darren Vought. In addition to that. We're going to be catching up with former Panther now with the ACC network, John Beeson. Joe Weill will be a part of tomorrow's show.
So, tomorrow is set to be a lot of fun. We're going to take it to the house. Dax. This is where the magic starts. You're on the Drive with Josh Graham.
Show drive! The Sports Hub at AM600, AM 920. Um It's time for my weekly. Top 10 list. Top 10 deacons in honor of the season opener on Friday.
And John Curry trying to push people to buy tickets. This is our way to help do that. By doing the top ten list. Top 10 deacons. Or church names.
Names that connote church things. Getting a lot of tweets at Sports Hub Triad. It's a lot of fun to play at home, right? Like, if you're in your car, Aaron, this is something where you can try and guess in your car. If you're somewhere else, you can tweet.
Don't be tweeting and driving now. You can guess what's on the list. I mean, that's the experience you get when you listen to these types of things. You go through each one and you have some in your head that you think's going to be there. Isn't that how you listen to it?
Yeah, that's how that's happening.
So how many do you have written down that you think's going to be on the list? I got five.
Okay, and do you write them in order or do you just write them five five names on a piece? This time I just got five random ones. Five random ones. Des, how many do you have written down? I have one.
Okay. Top ten deacons and church names. Hit the bougie music. Top! Ten Deacons And church names.
Number 10. My number 10. Deacon. Chris Paul. Oh, man.
Okay, I see what you did. Oh, you did? Yeah, that's huge, did you? You figured that one out? Yeah, that was pretty good.
I was talking to Connor O'Neill at the press conference yesterday, the Wait Forest Press Conference. He covers Wait for the Journal. And. He was telling me when he met up with Chris Paul for a story that CP3's phone number is always gonna be a 336 area code, he says, because 336 is home. That's a pretty neat thing.
Number nine. My number nine. Deacon and church name. Church Hill Downs. Shorts on backwards, shorts on backwards.
That's a bucket list item to go to Church Hill Downs. I hear it's just the biggest party. That and the freakness sticks. I'm from Baltimore, so I should be. go into the brickness sometime.
Yeah. Didn't think you'd throw a place in there. Do some betting. Do you have sports bucket list items? Uh Watching Duke Carolina at both.
Uh, the Smith Center and at Carmichael, uh, not Carmichael. That would be a market list item. Good luck with that one. They are playing at Carmichael this year. I forgot who they're playing.
It's not Duke, but they're playing somebody in Carmichael. I think it's Wofford. I think they're playing Wofford, yeah, but they're not playing Duke inside Carmichael. I think those days might be familiar. That would be awesome if they did.
No. Yeah, man. That'd be great.
Well, there's no way it would ever happen. Why? They go to that high school in Durham all the time and play over there at Cameron's gym. You're asking North Carolina to turn down money. Her point.
Number eight! My number eight Deacon or church name. Steen Smith.
Well, bro! Was that Doc Rivers doing a Kobe White impression? I think it was.
Well, bro! Okay. It's incredible. Number seven! My number seven deacon or church name.
Arnold Palmer. What's there to think about? Oh, I don't. You're not good. Nope.
I don't. What? Drawing a blank. Arnold Palmer. The greatest Wake Forest.
What? Oh, how about that? Lost on me. Number six. Gonna move off that very quickly.
Number six. Top ten deacons are church names. Paul Christ. Where is old Paul Chris these days? Wisconsin.
Ah. Paul Christ They've got a good football team this year. I don't know if that team's going to win the division. It's like too bad they're in the strong conference. every year.
Wisconsin's just there. Football and basketball, they're just there. They're never gonna win at all, but they're just gonna be there. They're like cheese. Right, they almost did.
They almost got Duke. They almost got him in the championship game, but then Grayson Allen was like, oh, yeah, you're Wisconsin. That was his one-shining moment. Yes. Like for his life.
Oh no. I think after that he had plenty of shiny moments. He almost had one right at the very end. He had a shot just lip out against Kansas at the Vary into regulation that would have sent them to the final voice. Yeah, I don't think the song's called Almost Shining Moments.
Oh, all the dripping up. That's a shining moment in its own right. Tarnished moment. Oh no no, it's still shining. Number five, my number five deacon or church name.
Priest Holmes. That's a good one. I like it. Sean called that one from a mile away on Twitter. Yes, that's a microphone desk.
My headphones are too big. Nope. Yeah. Priest homes. Quality.
One of my favorite players in the 2000s. I love those Chiefs, Steve, with Holmes, Larry Johnson, and also the human. Uh highlight stick or human joystick. Human joystick. I can't remember his name or his correct nickname.
Dante Harrison. I was thinking about the human highlighter. It's dead. Arrives somewhere else. Let me tell you something, Josh Graham.
The human joystick. That's a pretty good human highlighter impression. The human joystick. Gosh, Dante Hall was so exciting. Fantastic.
A lot better than D'Angelo Hall. Would it be like three years and the inside disappeared? No. He went he was around. He played the St.
Louis Rams there, T the Chiefs. Oh, Magic was gone. Number four. My number four deacon or church name. Tyler Cameron.
Shorts on backwards, shorts on backwards. Tyler Cameron. Just because he was on the Bachelor? Really? And Much like Arnold Palmer.
Gary Young. A deke.
Well, I know he was a deacon, but when he was there, was he really? Enough to be in this list. Tyler C. Tyler C. is in my top 10 deacons.
See, if he wasn't on the bachelor, this wouldn't be happening. It's a great list where Tyler C. is higher up. on the deacon list than Arnold Palmer and Chris Paul. Fantastic work.
Tyler C. Just so dreamy. Number three! My number three. Deacon or church name.
Jesus Shuttlesworth. Fried chicken and beer. Yeah. That's my favorite Spike Lee movie. Typical name.
Yeah, no bleep. Okay. My favorite church name. And definitely, actually, no, it's my third favorite, as we're establishing here. But It's my favorite Spike Lee movie, He Got Gang.
And the same where Ray Allen playing against Denzel. At the very end, oh. It's one of those scenes that I will, I don't care where I'm at, I'm not leaving the room if that scene's on. I'm gonna finish watching that team. A long movie, too, man.
That's like one of Spike's longest movies. No, I think Malcolm X is a little longer. Oh, yeah, Malcolm X is like six hours, two DVDs. Yeah, you got the point. Number two!
My number two Deacon or church name. Cecil Newton Sr. I know who he is. I don't know. You don't know what he does?
I don't know. Is he a minister? Yeah. Really? You were playing son of a preacher man coming into this segment.
Auburn played Alabama. What's that supposed to be? Auburn played Alabama when Cam Newton was there. And the guy who chose the music at Alabama Got fired because he played Dusty Springfield.
Son of a preacher man. And then play Take the Money and Run. I remember playing Take the Money and Run, yeah. They played both. Yeah.
Back to back. Because they were essentially saying.
Son of a preacher, man. Yeah, it was funny until they took the money and run. It was funny until they spotted Auburn, spotted him 24 points, and then came back and beat him at home. That's right. Crush their dreams and everything.
Cecil Newton Sr. In my list. That day is the reason why there are Cam Newton haters. I really honestly believe that. That day.
Nah, I think the story leading up to that game, too, with the. Background. There are still people out there who hate Jameis Winston. because of the stuff he dealt with the college, just like I think there are people out there who hate Cam Newton. Think Yeah.
Yeah. Number one. My number one. Digital. Dick and John.
Whoa, bro! That was who I had. I figured. Okay. I hate making my list so predictable that Dez gets it.
Minister of Defense, number one. I know that stays with you. Minister of Defense is Reggie White. Oh, what was his name? His name was what?
What was his nickname? Deacon Jones. Deacon Jones. Deacon is a nickname. That's not his actual name.
Oh, I thought he had like a moniker or something, like a. I don't think so. If he had the helmet slap. He did have the helmet slap. That was his move.
That is illegal. That wouldn't hold up in 2019. Lab on the play. How many yards do you think a good helmet slap will get you? Mmm, 15.
Would Deacon Jones helmet slap Carly Lloyd? I don't want to get myself in Desmond Howard like trouble. from the past weekend. Reggie White was actually one of the ones on the outside looking in. Did he put Minister of Defense in there?
Yeah. Yeah. It was close to have. The Minister of Defense. Same thing for Catavius Caldwell Pope, Corn Elder.
Uh cord holder. What else do we have?
Well, it was a reach. It was like his last name. Elder. Elder. Oh, wow.
Drew Brees is a saint, so. What about Collection Kaepernick? We did a list. We did a list. We didn't have to put them up at that point, right?
Nah, I was going to make a joke if we did top 10 Saints, but I'm going to save that one because it actually is very funny. Keep it in your back pocket. Yeah, there's definitely one, but I don't know if people would actually get it. Screw it. If we did top ten Saints.
Number one would have to be Dorothy Mantooth. Dorothy Mantooth is a saint. Those who get it, get it. Those who don't, don't. That's fine.
On Twitter, Britt Wrightson, Looney Tunes, Pepe Le Pew. Like that? And there are people mad that Tim Duncan's not number one on the list. Oh. Yeah, it's a big uh Well, no, I obviously thought of all the deeks.
You put Chris Paul and Arnold Palmer on there. Tyler C. Yeah, you put Tyler Cameron on there. You didn't put Tim Duncan. Tyro C is so good.
Touchdown Jesus. Wow. Notre Dame. That's good. They're not in the ACC though, so I couldn't put touchdown.
Oh, these rolls. Jesus. And the top ten. Do you have anything else? Uh Got a Star Wars joke.
What's the Star Wars joke? In a Galilee far, far away. Saint Nick Bosa. Oh, wow. I like that creative.
Like, you like twist them around and like. Sean writes it. The Nigerian Nightmare Kristin Okoye. Nice, yeah, yeah. That works.
Yeah, actually, that's pretty good. Tain and Levy on the bail. Abel. Turn his microphone off. Yeah, like a maxed out.
A reminder, we're going to be out tomorrow at Kickback Jacks for Georgia Tech Clemson. Come by, say hello, eight o'clock. We're going to be hanging out. Yeah, sure, why not? Take some calls.
Uh Clemson, Georgia Tech. Tomorrow. Be there. We'll have a set of North Carolina Wake Forest tickets to give away. And of course, we'll probably have some Kickback Jax gift cards as well.
So tomorrow, Be out at the New Garden Road location in Greensboro. We're just going to be hanging out for the Clemson Georgia Tech game. We'd certainly love to see you. In Greensboro. Very quickly, let's just get.
To a call before we take it to the house. Tomorrow we're going to be sharing with Darren Vought. In addition to that. We're going to be catching up with former Panther now with the ACC network, John Beeson. Joe Weill will be a part of tomorrow's show.
So, tomorrow is set to be a lot of fun. We're going to take it to the house. Dax. Mm-hmm.
Whisper: parakeet / 2025-07-04 16:29:27 / 2025-07-04 16:31:21 / 2