Gas Station Hangouts

He's amused Cam Newton. He's been insulted by Charles Barkley. When some idiot in the press asked him, if you know what you know now, would you schedule this game?

He's interviewed Matthew McConaughey. And he's taken on Big Blue Nation. He's just completely taken the wind out of my city. It's time for The Drive with Josh Grant. You are on a Tuesday Drive, W.S.J.S. News Talk Sports for the Triad, where I believe it's important for everybody to have at least one person in their life that can tell them the truth.

Maybe it's your spouse to tell you that your fly is down or that you've got something in your teeth. Maybe it's a really good friend to tell you the new facial hair look you've got going on actually isn't crushing. Maybe change course, buddy. So as Steve Wilkes met with the media for the first time today as the Panthers interim coach, I want to be that person for Panthers fans today, because if expectations aren't set properly, it's easy to become disappointed when bad things happen. See, they're telling us Steve Wilkes has a chance to turn things around, that he has a chance to perhaps get that interim tag removed at the end of the year. But let's be honest about this. That's not really the case.

Here's the reality. Wilkes is not going to revive this team. And more than likely, we're about to see the Panthers enter a significant tailspin because we've seen this movie. In fact, prior to this year, we saw it two of the last three seasons. Will Daltons, the executive producer of this show, Carolina had four games after Ron Rivera was fired. They had five after Joe Brady was fired. Do you know how many wins they had in those games combined? Not a one if I recall. Zero. Zero. And all four of the games of the Perry fuel interim experience were blowout losses.

The five games last year after Joe Brady was let go. Average margin of defeat in the five games. 20 points. This is a sport where things are largely decided in small margins. Two and a half points spread.

Oh, it's a big deal that it's down to one and a half. Carolina lost. Listen to what I'm telling you. Carolina lost the last five games of last year after the firing of not a head coach, but a coordinator by 20 points on average across five games. And you want me to believe that things are going to go well after getting rid of a head coach and a defensive coordinator? You want me to believe that with a straight face?

You're going to tell me that. The college coach in that rule was that he was very hands on. Hands on with everything. That's what college coaches, they're neurotic that way. They have to have control of everything. It's why many coaches leave after just one year in the NFL.

They want to go back to college. Nick Saban, Lou Holtz, Bobby Petrino. There are way too many gatekeepers to the talent in the NFL that I don't like, that I don't have to deal with in college sports. Nick Saban, why would I go to the NFL and deal with the salary cap of the draft when I can just recruit the best players in the country and nobody can stop me?

I can get as many of them as I want. Matt Ruhl was very much in control of everything that's happened and now he's gone. The one bright spot, the one real bright spot through five games was Phil Snow's defense. And now Phil Snow's not there. Do you think something magic is going to happen with Ben McAdoo now that Steve Wilkes is running the show?

I don't know what you're seeing, but I don't see it. But Steve Wilkes is optimistic. And I guess he got to say this, but this was Steve Wilkes earlier today telling us why he's optimistic things are going to get turned around. I think the guys again realize that we have great talent within this room, within this locker room. And they feel like right now we're just not really hitting the market.

And that goes into a lot of different common denominators. So the confidence is there. We just got to find that consistency to turn it around.

Everybody needs someone in their life to tell them the truth. Hopefully, Will Dalton's that person for me that can tell me that this hat isn't really working out. Why did you wear that on TV? Is that a Merlefest hat? What are you doing, Graham? That hat's fire, Josh. Come on.

Thank you. Don't be a yes, man. I'm trying to be that person for the Carolina Panthers fans right now and telling you this is going to be the worst team in the NFL by the end of the year. Best case scenario, they're one of the three worst teams.

That's what it is. Carolina's going to have one of the top three picks in the draft. And that's good in a draft where it's quarterback deep. Carolina, they've had three consecutive top 10 picks, but never in the top five, never quite high enough to get the elite quarterback. And they were close in 20, one pick away from Justin Herbert.

This year, they're going to get that opportunity. This change really happens at a bad time because while Steve Wilks is up there saying, I don't want to talk about Baker Mayfield's injury. We'll give you the injury report tomorrow.

He answered that question that way about three or four times. We've seen the reporting and he's going to miss multiple weeks. This is the same injury I think Sam Darnold has missed seven weeks dealing with.

Joe Person said in a report in the last few hours that he got a second opinion and it confirmed the initial diagnosis that he's probably going to miss between two to six weeks. That's what we're talking about. And you already have Darnold out and he's not close to coming back and you have Sam Corral out too, or Matt Corral, excuse me. So it's going to be the PJ Walker experience just as you're going on the road for three of the next four. Playing the defending champion Rams, going East Coast to West Coast, returning home to face Tom Brady in the Bucks and Todd Bowles' defense. Going to Atlanta, which is a frisky team on the road. That's not easy.

Going to Cincinnati. They're about to enter a tailspin. This is maybe the worst team in the NFL. So don't tell me, Steve Wilks, oh, he's going to light a spark underneath him.

Okay. How's that change the offense? How's that change what's going to happen at quarterback now that you don't have Baker in there either? He doesn't have a real shot at reviving this.

That's the reality. This team's about to be really bad in the hopes that you get a good draft pick with a new coach next year and you can restart this thing the right way. Or maybe just a quick rebuild considering there is a lot of talent that surrounds the quarterback position.

On Twitter at WSJS radio if you want in 336-777-1600 is the phone number if you want in and about five minutes or so critically acclaimed for this week. Top 10 rankings and there's something in the top five that I got a feeling I might hear a thing or two about. We'll get to that shortly. Unlike the Carolina Panthers, I expect the North Carolina Tar Heels to turn the corner this season. Not going to happen with the Panthers, but with the Tar Heels, I really like what I've seen.

That's what we saw in Miami over the weekend. And I'll put it this way. This Carolina team is what everybody expected last year's group to be.

And nobody wants to say that out loud because there's still some scar tissue from being burned in 21. I took all the haters on. Oh, I picked Pittsburgh to win the Coastal. You're just hating Carolina! When everybody picked Carolina to win. And this year I picked Carolina. Oh Josh, you're just trying to jinx us.

Where are we now? We often hear it takes time for teams to learn how to win and it appears that's finally happened with the Tar Heels. They're winning on the road. They didn't win at all on the road last year. They're 3-0 so far this year. They're handling success well. Didn't do that the last two years. Followed up a great effort against Virginia Tech with a win in Miami on the road.

Have a couple of win streaks this year. And that's something we talked about with Mack Brown just yesterday. And here's what he said has been the difference. Being able to handle adversity and respond. You've got to respond to good things that happen in a game. You've got to respond to tough things that happen in a game. And there were some really difficult things in that second half that happened in Miami and the guys didn't even blink.

They just looked at each other with confidence and kept playing. And that was one thing that last year's team, probably because I didn't coach them as well, were really up and down. This year, they bounce back. The defense has produced in consecutive weeks.

That was the story of the first few weeks. Oh, the defense is terrible. And all I thought, Gene Chiswick's a really good coach. There is a lot of high-end, four- and five-star recruiting talent on that side.

They're going to get better as the season goes on. Held Virginia Tech to ten. Oh, Virginia Tech's terrible, Josh.

That's a bad example. Then you go on the road to Miami. And they hold Miami to seven points till the final two minutes or so of the first half. Shut them out in the third quarter.

Complimentary football. Carolina had that eight-minute drive keeping the ball away from them in the fourth. You know the offense is going to figure it out. You know it's there with Drake Baby and a potential Heisman candidate.

And I don't think that's outlandish when you look at the numbers. The defense, I think, is only going to get better as the season goes on. The talent's in place. And now the path to Charlotte, I think, goes through Chapel Hill. Duke lost to Georgia Tech. They're going to come back to earth a little bit in Mike Elko's first year as North Carolina goes to Duke this weekend.

A game that you could listen to right here on WSJS. Pitt hasn't looked good. Also losing to Georgia Tech.

And did not look great against that terrible Virginia Tech team. That game was also in Pittsburgh, too. A game that the Pitt Panthers haven't looked good in. Carolina's going to face Pitt coming off a bye after this week's game. And Carolina now has the tiebreaker against Miami. So it's really their division to lose at this point. This is the team that everybody thought we were going to see last year. That's what we're seeing with the 2022 North Carolina Tar Heels. As I mentioned, we've got this week's top ten football rankings in the ACC.

We call it critically acclaimed. And that's next on The Drive. Not the greatest of postseason starts for the Atlanta Braves. 7 to 1. Phillies.

Top five. That game's on Fox. Two outs.

Got it on here in the studio in about 20 minutes or so. Seattle, Houston. Game one of that ALDS is going to start in the nightcap.

You've got. Cleveland and the Yankees. You've got San Diego versus the Dodgers. On the mound, you got Garrett Cole for the pinstripes tonight. And I do feel like this is destined for Dodgers Yankees.

That's what I think we're going to get. I think Judge is going to go nuts in this postseason. I think the Yankees pitching is going to be there. We saw how strong some of the starting pitching was towards the end of the year. And even though a lot of people were focusing on Judge's record, Garrett Cole broke a strikeouts record, I believe this year, single season for the Yankees. They just have so much talent on the mound.

And I think it's strange. It doesn't feel like a lot of people were talking about the Yankees right now, which is a really strange thing to say, because that's never usually the case. But that's what I think we're going to see.

W.D. I think it's going to be Yankees Dodgers. That's what it's the matchup I've been wanting to see in the World Series for a good handful of years now.

So it would be great. Seven thirty seven first pitch on TBS. Nine thirty seven Fox Sports one San Diego versus the L.A. Dodgers. Now let's get to critically acclaimed for this week. Usually we would do it on Mondays, but some things happened yesterday that disrupted that a bit.

We'll get back to that little bit of something from Mint Street and Charlotte uptown Charlotte in about 10 minutes or so. This is our top 10 for the ACC. I don't do the full 14 teams because 11 through 14 really don't deserve to be talked about on the radio right now. No one deserves to hear about those teams currently. So let's get it started with number 10. I've got Duke here, but really, 10 through six was a challenge.

If you look at my piece of paper, I've got a ton of scribbles and X'd out points moving teams to one point to another. But I got Duke 10. They've lost two in a row now. Granted, they were both competitive games on the road at Kansas at Georgia Tech over the weekend. But as it stands, Duke's best win is against Northwestern right now. They were picked to be one of the worst teams in the league.

Maybe they're closer to that than what we thought they might be. Potential coastal dark horses after a 4-0 start. They have a great opportunity to change a lot of opinions on them, though, when they host North Carolina on Saturday night at Wallace Wade.

Number 9. Miami. They also do not have a good win. In fact, I'd probably take Duke's wins over Miami's wins currently, but I have a little bit more faith in Mario Cristobal than I do a first-year head coach in Mike Elko. I have a little bit more faith in Tyler Van Dyke than Riley Leonard, even though that was a gutsy effort towards the end of Saturday's game in Atlanta. I have a little bit more faith in Miami's talent than I do Duke. So Canes at number 9. Not in love with it, but I have them slightly ahead of the Blue Devils.

Number 8. Pittsburgh. They're still the defending ACC champs.

That has to be worth something, right? Figuring out 6-10. Again, pretty tough. I think the West Virginia win is a decent win. Battling Tennessee. If you didn't lose Keaton Slovis, maybe you knock off a team that right now is ranked pretty high up, getting set for their showdown with Alabama in Knoxville this weekend. Not super impressive against Virginia Tech. In fact, you had the block hunt for a touchdown and things were not looking good for large stretches. Again, you were at home there, where you lost to Georgia Tech the week before. Pitt is spiraling a bit, but not so much that they completely fall off the map towards the bottom of critically acclaimed. I think 8 is a good spot for the Panthers.

Number 7. Georgia Tech. It's got to be worth something. Maybe it was Jeff Collins. Maybe that was it. Brent Key. Unlocking.

See what it did there? The door for the Yellow Jackets. He's 2-0. And it's a couple nice wins. You beat Duke. You beat Pittsburgh. And they were leading much of the way against Duke. Wasn't for an 80-yard kick return.

That game's not going to overtime. Georgia Tech was in control for most of that game. I really like Jeff Sims at quarterback.

Had for a really long time. Wish Jameer Gibbs didn't transfer the Bama and stuck around in Atlanta. But when you think about it, when you look at Georgia Tech's schedule, I don't care if it was Jeff Collins or Nick Saban coaching this team. I don't know with this roster what Georgia Tech was supposed to do. Opening up with Clemson. Western Carolina, okay. Ole Miss and then at UCF.

I don't know what he was supposed to do with that. With this talent, you're facing two teams that are currently ranked in the top nine in America. That's pretty darn tough. And now they make the change and we're seeing some of that talent perform better against easier, more manageable competition. So maybe that's where Georgia Tech belongs right here in this mix. Wins got to count for something and they got a couple of good ones. They're on a bit of a roll as they get set for Virginia. On Thursday night, it's going to be the Jackets hosting Tony Elliott's team.

Number six. Florida State. The Knolls are not a great team, but they are good. They're not one of the top five teams, but they can compete with pretty much anybody in the league, which makes Saturday night all the more competitive or all the more interesting. Probably a better way to say it when Clemson comes in for a primetime ABC game in Talley.

Number five. It's interesting. I have one more thing to add on that. They just had a really tough situation of late.

How's this for the Gauntlet? Consecutive games you've got in a row, Wake Forest, NC State, Clemson. That's who you have to play in consecutive weeks. They should have won that game in Raleigh. And they got off to a good start against Wake Forest, hung in there late. FSU is not a bad team, but I don't think losing the last couple of weeks you can be rewarded as a top five team currently, given the teams we're about to talk about. Syracuse is the number five team. They're ranked. They're unbeaten at 5-0. So you got to put them in the top five, right?

Come on. Couple of power five wins. Wax Louisville the way that you're supposed to. They beat Purdue at home. Purdue is a pretty good football team.

Sure, that required a lot of craziness in order for it to happen. But the move of Virginia's OC to Syracuse, and we saw how great the numbers were for Brendan Armstrong last year comparatively to this year without him. I think it's really helped Garrett Traitor. And they have the running game with Sean Tucker and the defense is stingy as it usually is under Dino Babers. We're going to learn something on Saturday when NC State comes into the dome. That's a really, that's the most interesting ACC game I think we got this weekend. And I don't say that lightly considering you got Carolina Duke, you got Florida State and Clemson like I just mentioned. I think the most compelling game that we have on the slate is the one that was about to happen in the dome this weekend between the Orange and Wolf pack. Number four.

Here's the controversy. NC State. I've got NC State at four.

I just don't. I was talking with the Nie Schrauff about this, who's called NC State a handful of times. So WD you've seen how many NC State games in person now? Three? Three.

Yeah. I just don't see him getting there on offense. I don't, I don't see it getting better. I don't see Devin Carter got banged up. Devin Leary got banged up. The running backs are hurt even though Dave Doran said none of those injuries are supposed to be significant or keep guys out very long. Even when they were healthy, it didn't really all come together. And now that you're starting to get the injury bug too, I think that's going to be stunted and it removes any hope that I have that this is going to be better as the season goes on. At some point you are who you are and I think this is what they are offensively. The defense is great and they deserve to be ranked at the top 20.

And boy was that gutsy with Chambers and company to win that game against Florida State. But it seems like there's a ceiling here that isn't really high and they're rubbing up against it. And I think their schedule is difficult enough that there are a few more losses that are going to be coming their way.

I don't think they're trending upward. I've got North Carolina ahead of NC State. If it's close and an offensive-leaning sport, I'm going to take the offense.

I'm just going to. They're the ones. See, Devin Leary was the preseason ACC Player of the Year.

Drake May is going to win the award. See the difference there? How much do you think NC State would love any of the top three receivers that Carolina has? Or any of those tight ends that are catching passes? They would love that.

I think they would. Just give me one of them. Can I have Downs? Can I have Green?

Can I have Nesbit? Can I take any of those guys? The skill talent is just so good and the defense has been playing well the last couple of weeks. So I got the Tar Heels in at number three because I think they're trending upward and NC State's going in the other direction.

Number two. Wake Forest. The gap's not far from Clemson. It really bums me out that you can't get a rematch. How great of a rematch would that be in Charlotte if you had Wake Forest and Clemson again?

But I want to talk more about the Deacs later this hour. We'll do that before Sheena Quick joins us, Carolina Panthers insider. But it's a shame that they didn't get rid of division sooner because Wake Forest is undoubtedly the second best team in this league and probably should be ranked a little higher than 14th of them being on it.

Number one. It's Clemson. I think they should take care of FSU. You know the defense is unbelievable and DJ's turned it around, which changes what this team might be able to do when they get to the college football playoff. A real national title contender that I think with the youth is going to get better as the season goes on. Don't know if I'm going to say that about Georgia. Don't know if I'm going to be able to say that about Alabama.

So I think the Tigers easily number one there. No surprises. That's been critically acclaimed for this week. The perfect blend of sports and pop culture happens this evening at six with the Rich Eisen show. Now back to the drive with Josh Graham. Sheena Quick is going to join us in about five minutes. She's plugged in as anybody on the Carolina Panthers and I think once upon a time ran track at FSU triad product too.

So altogether, really interesting person with a ton of insight will join us in just a few minutes. But before Sheena drops by, we need to talk about Wake Forest because amid the firing of Matt Ruhl and other things that were going on, we didn't get a chance to talk about how much of a turnaround we've seen on the defensive side of the ball and what Wake Forest has become this year. A really solid overall football team collectively, not just one side of the ball. Wake Forest is a product of brilliant coaching and system. The defensive improvements are staggering.

Think about this. They allowed 56 to Army last year. The players have changed with some turnover. Army's not really good this year.

They were pretty good year ago, but the system is the system. As we've learned with Wake, the system itself can scheme its way to scoring a certain number, and that number is usually a lot more than 10. Wake Forest shut them out in the first half.

They ended up with 10 at the end, but give a lot of credit to Dave Clawson. He rolled the dice after last season. Even though the results were such, Wake Forest had its best year since 2006. They got to the ACC championship game. They ended the run for the Clemson Tigers winning the division. They rolled the dice. He rolled the dice, and it wasn't good enough defensively.

So much so that we need to make a change, and we need to upgrade. And they brought in Brad Lambert, who was the defensive coordinator on that 2016. That did a really nice job with Purdue last year, producing some NFL draft picks. And he's come in, and the defense has been better. I won't go as far to say it's been a great defensive team, but it was a great effort we saw on Saturday. And I think Rondell Bothroyd is probably going to be a draft pick in the same way that Boogie Basham was.

Going to be one of those guys that sticks on a roster the way that we're seeing a ton of demon deacons stick on NFL teams. And another thing that's a great sign of coaching. Early season weaknesses are no longer problems. The problem for Wake in the first month of the year, the first handful of games, the run game and penalties. Wake's not running the football nearly as well as they need to, haven't run the ball the same way since Christabel Smith left, and before that, Kenneth Walker. It's not as good as it should be.

This is a problem. How are you going to run on Clemson? It looks terrible against Liberty. And then against Clemson, they were running it down their throat on that last drive before you had that TFL right before overtime. They ran the ball really well in the second half of that game. And against FSU, Justice Ellison had his first career 100 yard game.

How did he follow that? Against Army, he had 96 yards. So it's coming out and Christian Turner had some big runs.

He's been proven to be a tough to get on the ground type of running bag. And Ellison's picked it up in the blocking game. So the run game has been improved. That's development, that's coaching. Penalties, huge issue the first couple of games, not an issue against Army. In the game that Wake Forest needed to be the most disciplined, they were. And again, that's coaching.

Are your problems continuing to be problems? Are you getting beaten the same way over and over and over again? Wake Forest isn't, and they're not beating themselves. That's what great teams do.

That's what well coached teams do. You see the development at Wake Forest, which is a staggering thing, but this looks like a 10 win football team. The thing that bums me out about it is that they didn't get rid of division soon enough to potentially get a rematch of the ACC Championship game between Clemson and Wake Forest.

I think the Atlantic's wrapped up. Clemson's not going to lose two more games. And that's what needs to happen for Wake Forest to get into the ACC Championship. You have to win out and Clemson needs to lose twice. That's not going to happen, but this should be a 10 win team. I don't see Wake Forest losing two more games in the regular season.

Injuries, you know, barring injuries or anything like that. So what you're looking at, maybe you finish the season top 10. Maybe you get to the Peach Bowl. Maybe you get to the Orange Bowl.

It's taking positive steps in the right direction, but Wake Forest is a product of brilliant coaching and system, and it's been a really impressive thing to watch. Somebody who else is pretty impressive is our friend Sheena Quick, who joins us here. You are a product of the ACC and of the Triad. You were from Florida State, High Point Andrews. Go Red Raiders, right? Go Red Raiders. And you're an insider for the Carolina Panthers as well.

Really do appreciate you spending the time on a busy week. Let's start here. Assuming Wilkes doesn't get the next gig, he doesn't turn it around, which seems like what's most likely considering what happened after Rivera was fired, Perry Fuel losing four games, Joe Brady, when he was fired, they lost their last five games and lost them considerably. Assuming that Wilkes doesn't get the gig, what do you think David Tepper's criteria is going to be this time around for a coach? NFL experience. That's number one.

That's what it should be. And I don't foresee him giving out any more seven-year contracts, that's for sure. But I do think that he may look outward. I think he may actually employ an agency to help him this time around.

Wow. I mean, you know he gets spicy in those press conferences whenever he has to let someone go. And so he was asked if he would get any outside input and if Scott would help. He was basically asked what factors will go into it, whose advice would he seek or actually adhere to when it comes to that. And he kind of sidestepped all of those questions and basically said that he's just concentrating on the rest of the season because there are 12 games left. It's a little different than when Ron was fired.

This season is still salvageable to an extent. And so he's focusing on Steve Wilks. He's definitely going to be looking for some NFL experience.

I don't think he's going to go the college route again. She's on Twitter at Sheena underscore Marie three shooter followed there. A lot of great inside stuff. We'll get to some of the trade target stuff in just a little bit.

But I'm interested in what you make. So a few years ago, Eric Reid joined Colin Kaepernick's lawsuit against the NFL. David Tepper owns the team. And within months of owning the team, he has the comments on NBC or MSNBC, where he said that he found the kneeling football players to be patriotic and he signed Eric Reid when nobody else would. And we're seeing with the lawsuit that Steve Wilks is a part of with Brian Flores that he had no problem promoting him to be an interim coach. When Brian Flores becomes part of the conversation, if he becomes part of the conversation to become the Panthers next coach, do you think that's even something the lawsuit against the NFL that's going to be part of the debate, part of the conversation with Tepper? With Tepper?

No, I don't. I think that he is a champion for social justice. And, you know, aside from the fan base, completely shambles over what they feel like he's done to the culture as a person. David Tepper is for social justice. He has been no stranger to speaking up on it. He's not like he doesn't come from the same pedigree as a lot of the other owners. He's just as rich, one of the richest. But he is not a trust fund.

Oil money like that's got it out the mud, self-made billionaire money. So you're not always going to, you know, make the decision that's going to keep everybody happy. He's not afraid to go out on a limb and stand by himself. He's not. You saw that in the Matt Ruhl hire, even though it did not work out. You saw that in the Matt Ruhl hire. And I don't think that the Flores lawsuit would deter him from hiring him if he feels like he's the best bit. What would Carolina have to get for Christian McCaffrey to consider making that type of move?

I just don't see them trying to trade Christians. And I mean, it's interesting that there's so much trade talk and so many so many rumors going on about him and Robbie Anderson and other guys that can be traded when there's really nothing wrong with the roster. There's no reason to start shipping players off or anything like that, because it's not a bad roster. I agree with that.

I don't think it's a bad roster at all either. I just don't know if with Christian's injury history, if you would even get anything that's worth considering. Yeah. Like you said, the injury history and the price tag, the price tag is not cheap. And when it comes to running backs, you know, we saw Todd Gurley go from the it guy to out of the league really, really quickly. That shelf life is very, very short.

And he would cost a lot. Yeah. Sheena Quicks with us here. One more thing on the way out while we got you here.

Panthers Insider on Twitter at Sheena underscore Marie three. When you're back in High Point, what are some of the spots that you have to visit? Oh, at High Point, you got to visit the chair. You know, the furniture capital of the world, you got to visit the chair. But so much has changed about the city. High Point University is doing some amazing things.

So many amazing things that I don't even know where to direct it. A lot of the places that I went in high school have been bought by the university and changed into other things. But I think that gas station by McGwen Drive is still there.

And this is the only time I would ever get a hot dog from a gas station. But I think it was called Kelly's. I don't know if it's still called Kelly's, but they have the best Cheerwine slushies and hot dogs. And I'm definitely making High Point seem like a tiny, tiny town when I say that. But just honestly, the whole city and the things that High Point University is doing there are very positive.

Let me say that. But they wiped out a lot of our old school hangout spots for sure. Yeah, I think Kelly's still is there.

Like, I think it's like located in a marathon gas station or something like that near Eastchester. But it's always good to chat with you. We need to do this more often.

Oh, yeah. On Twitter at Sheena Underscore Marie three. It is Sheena Quick, the Triad Zone joining us. Thanks for the insight, Sheena. It's appreciated. Thanks, Josh. You got it. There she goes. Sheena Quick spending some time with us. I don't think there's anything wrong hanging out at gas stations getting some food.

Not at all. When I was growing up outside of Raleigh, Youngsville, North Carolina is my hometown. What's up? And my spot. Our spot was Sheets. We'd hang out at Sheets.

Sheets is a good one. There was a Wal-Mart not too far or a Target not too far down the way. Like our idea.

This makes us sound like such losers to, I think, the youngest generation of people. But we would grab like some candy or like some food and just like walk around Target. Hey, what are we going to do for fun tonight? We're just going to walk around Target. I don't. We're going to do. I love it. I used to do the same stuff. Me and my buddy, we'd go to Circle K and we.

Yeah, we get slushies. What's Circle K? Uh, you know, the one in High Point. It's right by a Harris Teeter.

Dude, I rock with Circle K. Me too. Yeah. So I'm sure everybody. It does seem like that you hear fewer and fewer of those types of stories with the youngest generation. Like, why would we go to Sheets when I could just hang out on Oculus or online? Well, see, we didn't have that when I was in college.

I also prefer our way of life anyway. Bias though. Appreciate this correction from Buzz City, who says the Cowboys got a fifth and a sixth for Amari Cooper when he went to Cleveland. I was talking about the first time Amari Cooper was traded when the Raiders traded him to the Cowboys. That's when it was a first round pick. I forgot that he was moved multiple times, but appreciate that note. Hayes Permar joining us now from Sports Channel 8.

We're going to play skips or plays with Hayes. I'm being told it's a Matt Ruhl special. Is I just lost my job, a genre of music Permar? Definitely. It's got to be somewhere in the in the country genre, right?

But then there's also you got the. Who did the offspring? No, no, no, no.

Why don't you get a job? Is that the offspring? Oh.

Why don't you? That is the offspring. Yeah. But yeah.

So there's some I would say some country, but there's some other. Take this job and shove it. That'd be a quitting song, not a fired song.

But I'm sure there's some fired song. We'll figure out what W.D. has dug up in just a little bit. Permar we heard from Steve Wilkes earlier today and some are saying this is his shot. Maybe it's like Davos Sweeney all over again where he's going to turn this thing around and he's going to be the head coach, going to have the interim tag removed from.

And I like the story a little bit. Used to be a D.C. didn't get a real opportunity with the Cardinals. He's from Charlotte, went to Appalachian State. Seems like the kind of guy you want leading your team. But after rule was fired or Ron Rivera was fired a few years back. Oh, and for all blowouts after Joe Brady was fired last year.

Oh, and five average margin of 20 points per loss in those five games. I don't see any way Carolina turns it around, especially with the Baker Mayfield details. Any level of optimism moving forward for the twenty twenty two Carolina Panthers? No, the only optimism is that, you know, the best thing for their fortunes right now is to be terrible.

Right. The whole goal is to get the number one pick and then take that Victor Wimber may a dude or whatever and just hold on to him and let him play for the Hornet. Like whatever it takes to get Victor, we're all in. If the Panthers take Hornet's tank, everybody's taking the hurricane.

Obviously not. Charlotte, as a sport sound is taking for that Victor did probably so we can ruin his career to Charlotte. Look, the story right now, I can't get into the Steve Wilkes story again. They're destined to fail. The best thing for them is to fail. And Steve Wilkes, as good as the story it is, it's not like the inspiring coaching hire that the Panthers will need to bring back some fan interest, especially if they're going to sell off pieces like Christian Caffrey, which is rumored, but I'm not sure is that likely based on how much money he makes.

But who knows? Some people may need an offensive piece. The story is that for a long time, Charlotte had gone forward of like, we call these teams expansion franchises. Like you're an expansion franchise for a decade or so. And then there was a little bit of success going to the Super Bowl in 2003, going to the NFC championship in 96, I believe it was for the Panthers, 2005 to make it seem like may 95 to make it seem like they weren't just, you know, more about franchises, but here now we're getting into, you know, 30 years and more of about more than 30 years of the Hornets, right?

And getting onto 30 years of the Panthers and not a whole lot to show for it. And they're becoming a Cleveland Cincinnati. Oh, stop it. And Charlotte is becoming one of the worst sports towns.

Stop it, stop it, stop it. Do you know, do you know, can I dispel that notion? For Charlotte, like the Hornets, you're right. They're one of the few teams that have never been to a conference championship game, conference finals series, right?

I buy that. For the Panthers, when I heard all these people dogging Marty Hurney, oh my gosh, we've had a bad general manager and a bad owner in Jerry Richardson, yada, yada, yada, yada. You don't know what bad looks like. Like the idea that like bad, do you know what bad GMs do? They miss on top 10 picks. Marty Hurney's top 10 picks in his career, these are the only top 10 picks he had, were Julius Peppers, Jordan Gross, Cam Newton, Krista McCaffrey, Luke Kuechly, no, and then Dave Gettleman.

Oh, Gettleman was terrible. And then he helped repair this roster and get it to a Super Bowl. Like, no, when I talk about the Cleveland's of the world until this past, until like this recent spell of them going to the playoffs once with Baker and when a playoff game in 20 years, like, I mean, the Panthers just had a guy go into the Hall of Fame this year in Sam Mills, and they have a few others down the pike with Kuechly and Steve Smith and Julius Peppers. Like the Panthers, all things considered, are spoiled. Like the Jaguars are the ones that should be having that conversation. Like, tell me about the Jaguar Super Bowl. Tell me, not right now, but tell me about the Jaguar Super Bowl.

That's the team you should be having that conversation about. We're not going to have the argument, I will have the argument at a different time about how Sam Mills is merely an emotional Hall of Fame inductee and not an actual Hall of Famer. But that aside, that statue went up in 98.

That statue went up in 98, not after the cancer diagnosis. 30 years old and no Super Bowls. Two Super Bowl rings. Tampa used to stink. They won a Super Bowl.

The Saints like invented the brown bag. They won a Super Bowl. Like more recently, the Panthers are behind them in terms of like those are teams that used to be on the list. Tell me Detroit's last playoff win. Tell me Detroit's last playoff win.

I'm not saying there are teams that have a worse. It was before the Panthers existed further in line. But I'm just saying when you start coupling the Panthers and the Hornets, it starts to make for a pretty bad sports town. And that's the story that's growing right now when the Panthers are going to be, I don't know, two and 15, three and 14 this year. And who knows what's going to happen with the Hornets? Please. They went to a Super Bowl seven years ago.

Seven. I haven't looked at Twitter since LaMelo got hurt, but I guarantee you half the chatter is just that Charlotte is a doomed sports town right now. Tank for Victor feels like. Tank for Victor feels like. I do feel like. NASCAR teams should be trying to finish last so they can sign Victor as their driver and somehow we can get him in Charlotte to do something. I don't know. All right.

I can't believe I'm defending the Carolina Panthers right now, but here we are. Let's get to a special edition of Skips or Plays with Hayes. Hayes Permar is somewhat of a Renaissance man, an expert in the finer things, but he hangs his hat on music.

Loves his God and he's no friend of Satan. He was like oh six getting busy with his sticks. Been watching big Mike and Lil Trinket trip.

I just need his eye on and someone he can dunk on. Today Hayes will decide if this music is smash or trash, blows or blows. It's time for Skips or Plays with Hayes. OK, W.D., you've dug up some tracks. I hope you do a good job on this because I feel like there are a lot of interesting places you can go and you knocked it out of the park when we did the Blake Shelton edition a few weeks ago by pulling some of Blake Shelton's exes.

So you have a high mark to meet here. Where are we starting in terms of I just lost my job music? Let's start off with Bartender Song by Rehab. This is a one hit wonder.

I don't know who Rehab is. I thought that was an Amy Winehouse song. I got to admit, I don't know this song, but I'm taking it in. It sounds like I need to hear the whole thing.

Sounds a little gimmicky. You don't know the chorus of this? Give it one sec. Give it one sec. Because this was a huge hit and you have like a curse word that I hope W.D. has bleeped out.

Did you bleep out this song? This is the clean version. OK, you got the clean version. Here we go.

Per mark. This is what you need to judge right here. You know what? After hearing the chorus, I'm confirming that I don't know it and I'm changing my vote to skipping this. Get it out of here. I just had a heart attack. I just had a heart attack because I didn't know that they changed the lyric to Father's car rather than a curse word and crashed that piece of bleep to Chevrolet. I was scared. I was really scared for a second.

We're skipping. Get it out of here. Yeah. It's like when they do snakes on a plane on cable and it's not I'm tired of these mother bleeping snakes. It's I'm tired of these Monday to Friday snakes.

Yeah, there's a lot better version of that. What is the second song we're going to go with? We got to get out of this place by the animals. Is a great song. Oh, you tickled Permar.

He enjoyed this. I'm going to let it drive a great rap. People always think it like name check musicians like, you know, like people who study music. They say, oh, whoever this singer is. But I do know the song, the animals. I believe this is hearkening to Vietnam.

I believe that's the place they're trying to get out of. But regardless, this is a fanger. It builds and builds to the point where he's screaming the chorus. It's a well-produced song, well-written song. Great song. This is a huge play.

Hey, Permar. Don't know that song. Wish I did. Who was the band? That's one where you got to hear the chorus and you might recognize it.

They're all singing together. Usually I'm really good when it comes to bands or artists. Earlier today, I was made out to be like, I don't know anything about music because I didn't know who Greta Van Vliet was here. OK, well, I can learn. It's all about learning new things. David Tepper's learning things, he says yesterday.

I didn't know there was a Charlotte. That's it. Yeah. I mean, we can have all these songs live music man in twenty twenty two.

I think the newest version of the music man, if we're going to remake it, is starring David Tepper. It was close with concerts. And there's some trouble and there's some trouble in Queen City.

We always we've worked out this earlier. I could have done this for a whole segment. OK, what is the last song, though? I'm just going to play it. I don't know if this is a I lost my job, but I think it qualifies. I'll take it for all the heat that she gets for this being the only type of song she could write.

At least she does write the song. Well, that's a that's a play. I'll give that one a play. Haze Permar. Next time we visit, I expect and maybe by the end of the week, I expect a Haze Permar David Tepper music man type of cover or something like that.

Yes. With concerts. I'll make it happen.

I think we could maybe work on that. Am I going to see you at ACC Tipoff in Charlotte? You will not. I'll be there in spirit.

Have a have a beer and dance on a piano for me. I'll do that. Thank you, Permar. All right. Good to see you. Yeah, there he goes.

That's Haze Permar joining us from Sports Channel eight. Had to stop him when he started. Oh, yeah, started to get into the Cleveland's of the world. Shut up. I mean, I will put that one to rest panther fan.

This is what happens when you're in your bubble. You think things are so bad when they're really not as bad as some of the other situations, the potential like Detroit. Detroit hasn't won a playoff game since the Panthers have existed. Great example before this past year, Cincinnati had not won a playoff game since the 80s or 91 30 years.

What we're talking about. All things considered 25, 27 year history. The Panthers have played in two championship games, two Super Bowls.

Yeah. Conference championships, two Super Bowls. And they've had they've had multiple Hall of Fame players. Jacksonville, on the other hand, one AFC championship or excuse me, two AFC championships.

Never been to the Super Bowl. They got Tony Bicele. Fred Taylor, David Girard, they're not getting into the Hall of Fame. Neither is Jimmy Smith. That's what they got. The Panthers have Kuechly, Sam Mills. He said, oh, it was an emotional Hall of Famer. They put that statue up in 98, not after he had his cancer diagnosis. That's what I have to say about that.

We talked, we talked about that. Steve Smith, Julius Peppers, Kuechly, Cam Newton. Who was the Jacksonville Jaguars league MVP?

I'd love to hear about him. Carolina had one of those and a defensive player of the year. So it's not the same. Oh, Dave Gettleman was terrible. Really? Went to the playoffs in 2017, 2013, he went to the playoffs more than he didn't go to the playoffs. Oh, he's so bad.

So bad. Marty Hurney, what a disaster. Oh, he hit on Derek Brown, I'd say. And he hit on Cam and Kuechly and Gross and Peppers. In fact, those are the only top 10 picks he's had. I'm not just cherry picking.

There are no other first round picks or no other top 10 picks that he had than those guys. Never missed. You know who does miss? The general managers of really inept organizations.

They miss all the time. So spare me that with the Panthers. If you want to talk about it in the context of the Hornets, I'll listen.

That one's a little more. But, but if we're going to be fair about that, yes, pro basketball came to Charlotte in the late eighties, but are we just going to act like the five years without a team didn't happen? And then you had to start over from scratch? Are we just going to act like that didn't happen? Because I don't think that's particularly fair. If you're like, Hey, you started a team, it's there for a dozen or so years, maybe 15.

And then you're gone for a few years and you're having to start over from scratch. I don't know if that's, again, I could think of five, seven, maybe 10 examples of cities that have it worse than Charlotte. You want to do this? I'll do this right now. Cities, cities I know have it worse than Charlotte.

I kind of do want to do that. You ready? Minnesota, Minnesota hasn't been to the Superbowl since the seventies and per Mars complaining about two Superbowl appearances in 27 years. You want to talk about bad playoff losses? Blair Walsh missing that one in Seattle against Seattle. That was a chip shot. How about 98 when it was one of the Anderson kickers missing it?

I think it was Paul Anderson who hadn't missed all year, missed a kick that would have sent them to the Superbowl with Randy Moss and Chris Carter. When's your last Minnesota Twins memory? Kirby Puckett in the early nineties?

Okay. Who else am I forgetting in that town? The Wild? Yeah, I've been to a Stanley Cup. And if we're going to rope in like other pro teams, are we not going to rope in the ones in Raleigh? Charlotte sucks. Oh, we just added a professional soccer team and the hurricanes are in the state of North Carolina. They want a Stanley Cup.

Oh, but per Mars wouldn't count that. Okay. The timber wolves. What have the timber wolves ever done? So Minnesota easily worse. Detroit. I don't need to say more. The red wings.

Sure. They were great. It's been a dozen years and I don't remember anybody doing anything with the red wings in the last dozen years or so since Nick Lidstrom retired in company. Detroit is a worse sports town. Cleveland. You had LeBron, so that's awesome. We're not going to do Cleveland.

We will leave Cleveland out of this, but Cleveland is a much worse place to live than Charlotte. Can we do New York? Can we do New York?

I don't know. Rangers haven't won since 94. I think just because it's New York and you got so much money and such, the fact that you haven't had a title in 10 years since the Giants did it, I almost want to include New York in this because you have twice as many teams as everybody else. How many basketball teams does New York have?

They had been garbage up there. Oh yeah. How many basketball teams you got? And you got two NFL teams.

You got two of everything. Two baseball teams. Yeah. I'm going to include New York in this. Yankees last one in 09. Giants have been terrible until now. Okay. So we'll throw New York into this.

Now it's starting to get really hard. I don't know if Arizona. Coyotes, Diamondbacks, Cardinals, and watch me forget like a team that's really super good out there. Phoenix. There it is.

But their owner is a creep and a racist. Boom. Arizona on the list. Are we sure we can get to 10?

Probably not 10, but I've definitely more than three. Sure. So they don't belong in that conversation. There. I object to it.

I push back and there are others I'm not thinking about right now. I guarantee it. It's just a low point. That's all it is. Houston. There's one. Yeah.

Houston. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Oh yeah. Oh, but the Astros. They cheated. Yeah, they did. We're not counting the Astros. They cheated. They cheated. And the Texans are bad.

And who else are we talking about in the city of Houston? The Rockets. Gross.

Gross. The Rockets. There. We got that. Houston.

That was a good one. I can't believe I haven't thought of Houston. And I already mentioned Jacksonville. Hey, if you're going to rope the Panthers into this, we're talking Jacksonville. Yeah, Florida sports anyway. Got me fired up. I see. Yeah.