Tell The Truth

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. I do say go Tar Heel. And he's taken on Big Blue Nation. He's just completely taking the wind out of my safety. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. You are on a Tuesday drive on WSJS News Talk Sports For The Triad, where after a pregame chat with TV Ted Valentine, I had a realization at Cameron last night. Prior to Duke facing Bellarmine, he walked up to me and said, I'm going to miss my guy tonight. I said, Ted, who's your guy? And he looked at me incredulously and said, Coach K, man. I'm like, I didn't realize you and him were tight like that.

So we're not really that tight. But then he pointed up to the rafters at Cameron, where you see the five banners there, 91, 92. Now I'm going to slip here. 2001, 2010, 2015.

I believe those are the five. And Ted said, I officiated the championship games in 91, 92, and in 2010. Wow, that's a big deal, Ted. He goes, I also did the loss to Arkansas in 1994, but I'm going to miss my guy. I noticed it after the game too. Duke wins, Bellarmine coach Scott Davenport walks into the media room and all he wanted to talk about was K. How he wished he was coaching against him. How much respect he had for Coach K, even though he wasn't in the building, even though he was not on the other sideline, John Shire was. That's what Scott Davenport wanted to talk about. He was a long time Latino assistant.

And this is what dawned on me. College basketball is missing Coach K more than Duke is. And we all thought it'd be the other way around. Boy, good riddance, he's gone. He couldn't leave soon enough.

So on and so forth. But the college basketball world is missing K more than Duke is. Duke has been ready for this for a long time. Administrators have welcomed a new voice.

They've welcomed something new, a change, if you will. They've had this succession plan put in place for over a year and a half. They've been preparing for this. They've been wanting this to happen. John Shire to take over and for the machine to keep rolling. And they were confident the machine would keep rolling because behind the scenes, John Shire was the guy landing all these top recruits.

And guess what? Without K, he's still landing all these top recruits. And it seems like the basketball coaching behind the scenes is still really good.

And the support staff is as good as it's going to be. And Duke, no program had a wider net to cast of former players and former coaches that are still in the industry to pick between than Duke did. So Duke's been ready for this for a very long time. College basketball still trying to figure out how to replace the figure that is K. He was such a great villain.

And in America, we love villains. WD is a huge Star Wars fan. The most iconic Star Wars character is who? It's Darth Vader. Yes. It's Darth Vader.

Even though he's the bad guy, we love the bad guy. You look at NBA ratings. NBA ratings spiked.

They were at their peak when LeBron joined the Heat. Why? Because they were a team everybody could root against. You're intrigued by it.

Yes. That's what makes sports fun. It makes sports more interesting. And college basketball was a lot more interesting when you had the black hat, when you had the guy you could root against. And Duke and Coach K played that role for such a long time. And now he's not there anymore. That's why it's going to be fascinating to me when Duke goes to Chapel Hill to see what the venom is like in there, how different it was than the venom that you certainly sensed when Coach K stepped in there for the last time in February.

It can't possibly be the same. That's when I first noticed the difference between Shire and K, his presence not really being there anymore. It was after Duke lost to Kansas and Indy. And usually there'd be so many people happy to jump on Duke's grave and dance on it.

Not as many people doing that with John Shire at the controls. Last night, getting to the basketball now, was Duke's best win so far. Bellarmine was a scary team.

It had Stephen F. Austin vibes from a few years ago. Experienced team, week of Thanksgiving, the students are out, sneaky game. Duke was having none of it.

They controlled the game from beginning to end. They took care of business against Bellarmine. Now they're off to Portland, leaving today, as are the Tar Heels. Up there for the Phil Knight, Duke's going to play three games in four days.

So I caught up with the captain of Duke, Jeremy Roach, to see where the team's at and what they might learn going on the road now. Jeremy, there's a chance you guys are going to play three games in four days. What can a team like this gain from that experience? This is how it's going to be in the tournament.

I mean, I mean, not day after day, but I mean, game day off game. I mean, it kind of prepares us for the tournament. What it's going to be like definitely prepares us for the ACC tournament because I mean, that's back to back to back game. So I mean, it would definitely be a good challenge for us, but we're all for the challenge for sure.

What do you know about the identity of this team? We know that takes time to shape, but what do you feel like you already know? We're deep, very deep. I mean, we got guys who can come in off the bench, whether it's the eighth man, ninth man, they can come in and they're ready to give us a spark at any time. So, I mean, I think that's, that's one big thing about us. We're very deep. I mean, very versatile. I mean, I just love playing with this team, so very good.

I think you told me on Friday, was it Darique that you were always in his ear when you missed camp? For freshmen, it takes time to pick it up. What are some of those things you tell them? It takes time and then also you want to come back and do everything so fast. I guess it's going to come, but it's a process to that.

It's a process to that. I just say, keep, take it slow. Like, I mean, this is your first couple of games back. You haven't really been practicing like that with us. So don't expect it to come the first time you get on the court.

Like it might be third, fourth, fifth game, might be the sixth games, but I mean, just keep working, keep chopping wood and he'll be all right. Are there things you don't even know about this basketball team yet that you're trying to learn? I mean, we got a lot of new faces here. So, I mean, I'm definitely learning each day, but I mean, we keep growing. Coach I uses the word, we keep transforming every day.

So I mean, that's a big time. That was Jeremy Roach in the locker room after the game, this time appreciated. B-Dot, six man of Carolina basketball in the studio. So if you think this is too much Duke talk, that'll be countered. If you're a Wake fan, we have Wake basketball tickets we'll be giving away shortly.

So we'll be covering a lot of our bases here on today's show. Getting to football though, for the second straight week, there shouldn't be much drama with the college football playoff rankings that are released tonight. The top four should remain the same, but pay attention to some of the strays the ACC is inevitably going to catch tonight, because you know that it's going to happen. There are going to be people that attach North Carolina's loss to Georgia Tech to the Clemson Tigers, who are still pretty high up in the playoff rankings. Doing so would be a mistake because Clemson has deserved to stay in the playoff mix and it should get serious consideration for potentially cracking the four. Now they need some help, of course, but anybody who says, Oh, Carolina loss, that's going to be a killer for Clemson.

Well, Tennessee lost too. And that felt like the biggest hurdle that Clemson would have to overcome. If Tennessee won its last two games, it would have been really hard for Clemson to overcome that.

If Tennessee won and North Carolina lost that game, then I would have a lot of problems. I think it might be difficult for them to get through, but with Tennessee out of the picture now and Clemson jumping them, we would think, I think the conversation changes with Clemson in Clemson's favor and in the ACC's favor. The one thing to watch tonight for Clemson to see where the committee's at on them. Oregon was at number 12 last week.

They beat number 10 Utah. We will learn how good they feel about the Tigers or how badly they feel about the Tigers if they jump, if they have Oregon jump Clemson to number eight. Clemson should be at number eight tonight, but if Oregon's there instead of Clemson, then maybe the ACC has problems.

But I don't think this committee is going to do that. Plus moving forward, a one loss ACC champ should get in over Alabama and should get in over the Michigan, Ohio state loser for one reason. Neither of those teams will be playing for a conference championship or will win a conference championship. And Alabama does not have a win that's as good as Clemson's against Florida state, or I'd even argue the win against North Carolina still when they go head to head, assuming that North Carolina beats NC state. So this is what Clemson needs to root for.

They need to win their last two games, duh. But they also need LSU to lose to Georgia in the SEC title game and USC to slip up against either Notre Dame or likely Oregon in the Pac-12 championship game. LSU, that's the easy piece. They're two touchdown underdogs already against Georgia.

So that's likely. USC, meanwhile, still has two difficult match-ups. Those are both games that I could see USC losing, even though they're going to be favored in both of them. So if Clemson wins out and one of those two teams lose, or both of those teams lose, I should say, then I think Clemson's going to get in the game.

Clemson's going to get in the four, and I think they deserve it. Really do. I think that might be where we're headed, honestly. Hey Triad, this is Rich Eisen. Catch me this evening at six for The Rich Eisen Show.

Now back to the drive with Josh Graham. The sixth man of Carolina basketball is D-Dot. He's hanging out in studio with us. And we've got video in the studio now. I see. This is something you've been bugging me about for years.

Because you've got a great brand here. And guess who got it done? W.D. Yeah.

Mr. Twitch. It does amaze me how wide-spanning the reach of this show actually is. You never know because all I see are these microphones.

Yeah. And this studio in Kernersville every day. But it hit me last night when I was courtside and Ted Valentine walks up. He's like, hey, Josh. I give Ted the toughest time every time he's in the studio.

Is that right? Oh, he knows me. There's no doubt he knows you. Oh, before the games, we'll chop it up.

And he was like, all right. Do you have favorite ACC referees? No.

3-3-6-7-7-7-1-600 if you do. Personally, not yet. I haven't really been able to differentiate them that much. Honestly, they just all wear stripes.

They're all just a bunch of zebras out there. But Ted, TV Teddy, everybody knows TV Teddy. You know him as much as you know the players. Roger Ayers and Mike Eads are probably the best.

Ron Groover's really good. But it just feels like a big basketball game any time TV Ted's doing it. Yeah. And it's all that last night. I just like giving him hell. Even when he's making good calls, I still like giving him hell for it. I do.

Like, TV Ted, he's a funny guy. Let's get to some of the conflicts that are coming up this week. Oh, my gosh. We got some conflicts. I need to know what the six-man priorities are for a few things. North Carolina basketball is playing at the same time as your Dallas Cowboys on Thursday.

What's getting the big screen? Tar Heels. Thank you. It's a good decision. Ain't no doubt about it.

Yeah, Tar Heels, first road test man over there in Portland. I got to give them all my energy. I'll probably have the iPad up with the football game on. I know what we're going to do to the Giants.

I'm not really too concerned about that. You know, a one-trick pony over there with Saquon Barkley. We shut that down.

I know we have problems with the run, but I think a switch was flipped or a flip was switched or a switch was flipped, whatever, against Green Bay. And I think we're going to bounce back. But nevertheless, I got to watch the Tar Heels, Josh.

You know that. The U.S. World Cup match against England Friday or NC State, North Carolina. And I know you wouldn't think that that would even have any, you know, interest to me on the soccer table. The British Tar Heel, he's been talking so much trash to me, Josh, that I really, really pray to God that we're going to, that we're going to beat England. However, because points are so few and far between in soccer, that's definitely going to be on the small screen.

And that NC State, Carolina game is definitely going to be on the big screen. We got weekly positivity that we're going to do in a few minutes, but you be in the six points being the sixth man of Carolina basketball, you get access. Am I? I haven't even told you, Josh. I have a problem. What's your issue? I didn't do my proper homework.

What happened? Apparently, sixth man is trademarked by the NBA. Yeah. Really? Yeah.

All different, all different versions and variations of it. So you can't be the sixth man. I can't be the sixth man. I mean, I can be the sixth man when I say it, but I can't brand myself as the sixth man because the NBA owns that. And I found out when I had a conversation with UNC discussing my coloring book. Oh, do you want to go back to being the unofficial mascot of Carolina basketball again?

I think there's a gray area where I have to be. It's amazing. We're rolling it back. It's like when the Hornets brought Steve Clifford back. Oh no, we want Kenny Atkinson as our coach. Sure. I changed my mind.

You can't be the guy. Hey, Steve Clifford, come on down. But how's that going, Josh?

They're four and 14. Hey, this is the year to do that. You want to get Victor right? Right.

We talked about this. If you want to be bad. Yeah. This is the year to be bad. You're right. Greg Popovich has a great coach. The Spurs are bad too. You know why? Trust the process.

Or Scoot Henderson, either of those two would be those types of players. But given the access that you get as the unofficial mascot of Tar Heel basketball or whatever we're going to call you now, what are we supposed to do with our drop now? We're still hitting that drop. Yeah.

Yeah, that's hard body. What types of interactions of interest have you had watching this team go through some of the pitfalls that we've seen of not playing so well early on, but then on Sunday putting some things together? Carolina has fortunately added into my contract this season when there are games as early as the Saturday tip-off, they get me a hotel room in Chapel Hill. So Friday night I stayed in Chapel Hill. I'm in my hotel room. You mean Saturday night? Yes, I'm sorry. Saturday night.

You're right. Saturday night. Saturday night. And I pulled the blackout curtains. It's complete darkness. That's how I like it when I'm in my hotel room unless Josh is there and he makes me do other things.

It's ridiculous. But nevertheless, I couldn't sleep, Josh. Like I was literally nervous the entire night sleeping. I would wake up in the middle of the night just wondering like, are the guys going to show up? Especially after Georgia Tech beat Carolina in football that Saturday night. And I was just concerned because we had not seen them really show up. We had not seen it.

And Armando was even saying stuff in press conferences that he wasn't showing up the way he knew he was supposed to. And that was discouraging to me. And I knew that this James Madison team that was coming in averaged 102 points a game and they were ready to run up and down the floor on us. So I was nervous the night before.

When I got to the gym, it was just uneasy energy on myself. I don't even know how the boys felt. Just on myself. Like I got caught up in traffic.

It was ridiculous. And when they came out in that first half, man, they played like the team that I felt like is becoming to start, was starting to understand who they are. It just felt good. As a Tar Heel fan, it felt that first half of basketball just felt good to see the shots that were taken. Even the misses, the leaky shots. Like I like him having the confidence to take those shots from the wing this season.

I really like them. You talk about Duke's freshmen. Our freshmen got some growing to do too. Like I like Tyler Nickel.

I like Seth Trumbull, but you know, they got to learn and DeMarco Dunn. He's the same. Fortunately, Carolina's not asking those freshmen to do as much as Duke's asking. Fair. Fair. Very much so. Very much so. But I like Pete getting a little bit more confident. I'm very interested to see how we'll perform in Portland. That's a very positive outlook, which I think is a great transition to weekly positivity. Hmm.

Here's what I want to do. We've got a pair of tickets to give away for Wake Basketball against South Carolina State tomorrow night. Really?

If someone can call in and tell us something good about this show, 336-777-1600, you will have tickets to go see Wake Forest, South Carolina State. And that's good. That is good.

336-777-1600. And you have to use your good voice. Yeah.

That's very important. Tell me something good. Well, my nephew, he played in his first varsity game on yesterday.

How'd that go? He's starting as a freshman on varsity. Is he dropping buckets on people's head? He looked amazing as far as I'm concerned. And they play today at six o'clock at Dudley. And I just so happen to be in town. I can see the game. That's good. We got our video stream up.

Somebody walked up to me on the field at Keenan and said they were watching the video stream. And that's good. That's good.

Yeah. And we are going to have a little bit of an extended break for Thanksgiving. We'll have NFL football right here on SJS on Thursday, some Duke basketball too.

Duke basketball on Friday as well. So we'll be back Monday after tomorrow's show. Bill in High Point wants to tell you something good. Bill, tell us something good in order to win tickets.

Talk to us, Billy. Well, Josh, I just want a huge chunk of change because you made it over three months of marriage. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks, Bill. That's good. All right.

Stay on the line. Hold on one second. How did that come to be, Bill?

I have questions. Bill, we just all kind of got a get together and said, who's going to be the first to go out? But anyway, you made it. Thanks, Bill, for having faith in me and Sarah Bradford.

Enjoy the basketball game tomorrow night. There were people thinking you wouldn't make it three months. It is amazing. Pretty simply, it just sounded like a friend of Bill's looked at a picture of me and looked at a picture of my wife and thought, ain't no way you have kicked your coverage. Charles Barkley said that the line of the year, and he was right, as he normally is. And that's been Weekly Positivity.

Positivity. I love that segment. That's messed up, man. Messed up. Not on Bill's part. Thanks, Bill. And enjoy the game tomorrow.

But whoever you did business with, Bill, just know not thankful for you. I'm putting this out into the world because I love 50 Cent. 21 questions. Probably my favorite 50 song. Really? Yeah.

Minnie man. There was in the 2000s, mid 2000s, there was this trend of mashups and there was a mashup of 21 questions, 50 Cent and When I'm Gone, Eminem. That was awesome that I used to jam to when I was in high school. Haven't been able to find it. Not even on YouTube? Not even on YouTube. Haven't been able to find that mashup.

So if somebody has the ability to find that for me, I would appreciate it. You just got to ask a DJ. A DJ should be able to mash that up for you. It's already been mashed up. I just need to find the track.

I haven't been able to find the track. B. Dot, before we go into grammar school. Yeah. Some big news in college basketball today. Did you see this?

I didn't. They have announced 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030 final four sites for the first time since the Tar Heels cut down nets in 2009, 2027 will be going to Detroit. So Ford Field will be hosting that final four. 28 for the first time ever, they're going to Las Vegas. 29, they will be going to Indianapolis, one of the most common locations. 2030, they will be in the Dallas Cowboys stadium.

Those are the four final four sites that were announced. And all I can think about is how insane a final four in Vegas will be. Just all the coaches in America are there and they're just going to be hitting the and they're just going to be hitting the craps tables.

That's it till like three o'clock in the morning. You have all the coaches. They have so much money to blow. Their seasons are already over. They're at the final four. They're together. Can't imagine that's going to be amazing.

That definitely sounds teed up. 2028. You and I maybe could be roommates together again. Nope. We'll never do that again.

Like we were in New Orleans. Never again. Earlier this year. Let's get to grammar school.

Nope. Josh Graham has his own way of speaking. In high school, he didn't play sports, but he did wear a helmet. And just when you think it can't get any worse. My English teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high. Damn.

Thanks a lot. Next semester, I'll be 35. Josh is going to attempt to learn B-Dots vernacular. I'm from the old school.

I got all the street knowledge. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying? It's time for B-Dots Grammar School. Absolutely is.

Big shout out to everybody listening and you watching on the live stream. What's happening? Grammar School.

Very simple. I have three words or phrases here for Josh. And I'm not even going to beat around the bush today. Today we have call and response.

Call and response Grammar School edition. You know, and the likes of Josh. Matter of fact, finish this, Josh. God is good. God is good.

Please tell me you know it. All the time. And all the time. God is good.

Absolutely. God is so good that he's blessed us with a sponsor for the show, man. Heritage Hardwood Floors. Big shout out to Heritage Hardwood Floors, man. I'm talking superior craftsmanship. I was looking at WSSU game. As a matter of fact, the men's basketball team, have a game tonight at seven thirty. And if you want to see some good hardwood floors, you go right over there to the CE game center because Heritage Hardwood Floors, they did those floors and they don't just do gyms, homes, businesses, events, centers, churches, wherever you need some hardwoods.

Heritage Hardwood Floors. Gotcha. I got a question for you. Thanks, Catherine. I've got questions for you. Okay.

Or I got a question for you. Caulkastic question. That isn't really caulkastic, but I've been thinking about the World Cup quite a bit.

Other than United States, name three countries that are participating in the World Cup this year. Oh, I can do this. England.

Okay. And wait, wait, wait, wait. Hold on for a second. Oh, where does Rinaldi play? Hold on.

Argentina. Rinaldi? Yeah. Rinaldo, you mean? That's what I mean.

Yeah, not Tom Rinaldi. And wait, because somebody just lost. Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia beat Argentina this morning. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Look at my boy WD impressed. Let's go. What you thought?

I could have did more too. I couldn't word it. Name three countries that are predominantly white people. That would be Poland. Wouldn't have said Poland. Denmark. Would never have said Denmark.

In Canada, Josh, or Switzerland. I'm glad you didn't put any parameters on it. I didn't. Okay, my call and respond. Call and response.

We just did God is Good all the time, so you know where we're going with this. I hate it. This is something that grannies say, okay? Tell the truth. And this is the end of the exchange. Yeah, they would say tell the truth and three other words. Tell the truth.

Yep. 336-777-1600. If you would like to assist Josh Graham whenever he throws the phone number out, it means help. I'll even bribe you. WD says we have one more pair of tickets to go see Wake Forest play.

If you help me out in grammar school, you'll get Wake Forest tickets for tomorrow night against South Carolina State. Desperate, are we? That's it.

Yeah, desperation has sunk in. Finally, when I hear tell the truth. All I think about is Will Smith fishing for an Oscar in that concussion movie. Tell the truth.

No, that's not it. Tell the truth. And you sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Tell the truth. Yeah, and kindergarten cop, which is a good movie, by the way. Ask WD if he's seen it. Have you seen kindergarten cop WD? Yep. Thank you. He's watching Tombstone tonight. Courtesy of Mike Elko, Duke football coach. You need to watch Tombstone.

Tombstone is that one. Ain't that? What's my boy to play? What's up? We got a call. 336-777-1600. Who we got? Sean and Winston.

Can you help him? This is for Wake Forest tickets if you're right. Sean, let me ask you this. You just got to respond. Tell the truth. Shame the devil. Yeah. OK, you're going to Wake Forest tomorrow tonight.

Thanks so much, Sean. Stay on the line. See, that's a real thing right there. Tell the truth, shame the devil. Now, that just means tell the truth. Be honest. Grannies would say that. They'd say, Josh, you tell the truth and shame the devil.

Tell the truth. Shame the devil. Shame the devil. DJ Khaled came up with this one, Josh. DJ Khaled came up with this one. DJ Khaled came with this one.

Yesterday's Price. I feel like I've heard this. You've definitely heard this.

What songs? It's not a song. It's something that he just says.

It's a phrase that he says. Yesterday's Price is tomorrow's what? I'm going to say Yesterday's Price. And I don't think W. Oh, W.D. 's back now. He's already back. What was it?

DJ Khaled coined this phrase. Yesterday's Price is tomorrow's I'm going to do this. Yesterday's Price is not not final. Is that your final answer? Are you going to go to W.D. for a lifeline?

Or are you going to stay right there with final? Do you know this W.D.? I don't know. That's I could tell you don't. You don't?

He doesn't know? Yeah. So just hit me with the buzzer. Hit him with the buzzer.

Yesterday's Price is not today's price. Well, that was a lot simpler than I thought. Thanks. Thanks, DJ Khaled. Another one. Give me another one.

You know what? I'm tripping. I'm sorry. That's not DJ Khaled that said that. Who said it?

It may have helped if I gave you the right name. Let me see if this is a Fat Joe said it. Oh. No, get out of here. You still wouldn't have known. Shut up.

That changes the game. Shut up. No, Fat Joe said it. I'm sorry.

Yesterday's Price is not today's price. Not DJ Khaled. If you're watching on the video stream, I leaned back there.

You did lean back. Don't get a point for it. But you can get a point for this, Josh Graham, if you get this correct. And you will be satisfactory in today's episode of Grammar School. Are you ready?

Yeah. This is something that women always say, especially in the urban demographic. OK. Women say, we come together.

We leave together. Give my man a bell right there. Give my man a bell right there.

Heard that. Give my man a bell right there. Uh-huh, two out of three today, Josh Graham. What's up, ladies? My boy Noah's late. He's too bad he's married and off the market. Yeah.

When I was single, I was the guy who was unafraid to walk by myself to a group of four or five women. Yeah. So I've heard the line.

Yeah. We come together, we leave together. Oh, you tried to take somebody. No, no, it wasn't exactly that. It was, hey, it was, let's just stick around a little bit longer, hang out, get to know each other. They're like, no, no, no. We come together, we leave together. So it was nothing nefarious, nothing like that. It's all love, man. Let's come back to the house and sit in the bedroom with me with the acid in the corner.

I've got to get your reaction to something, Dot, while I've got you here. A game just went final in the last two minutes. What, soccer? Football.

No, wait, basketball. Who? Texas Tech and Louisville.

Final score, Texas Tech 70, Louisville 38. Good one. What? Uh-huh. It's not surprising. Louisville. Louisville still does not have a win.

No, that's very surprising. And they've lost the last two by 26 and 32 points. They hit 11 field goals today, three of 18 from deep. 18 turnovers.

Why are they so bad? And I'm like, the only reason I care is because I'm rooting for Nolan. Like, I wanted Nolan Smith to go over there and do well, to go over there and do well, but my gosh. There's a Danny Manning joke to be made.

I'm not going to make it. A Danny Manning joke, what? Danny Manning coaches for Louisville? He's another assistant, yeah.

Woo. And how did Kerwin do with Texas Tech? I would like to know that. Is he going crazy? Do we know? Is Kerwin shooting the lights out at Texas Tech? No. Oh.

But Texas Tech won that game. Thanks. There you go.

B Dot. Huh? Thanks for being in here. Hey, thanks for having me, bro. Always a great time, man. That is the sixth man.

Yeah, I think. Carolina basketball, or the unofficial mascot of Carolina basketball, or just the guy that we love around here. Yeah, I'm just B Dot. At the end of the day, that's who I am, B Dot. And that brand is strong as ever, so I'll just roll with that. You don't know this, WD, but I am a big Kings of Leon fan.

Are you? Also, really great music documentaries. A lot of them tend to be fluffy ones that have come out over the last decade, over the last decade or so particularly, but there's one that has come out the last decade that I think is great.

When music documentaries are done right, they are great. And the Kings of Leon had one where somebody was following them around when they were a struggling rock band and their big hit was Use Somebody from the mid 2000s. And there's this really memorable like bass riff that starts that song. And they have footage of their bassist playing that for the rest of the band thinking that there was something and they clown them. They made fun of them saying, that's not a hit. And they were a struggling rock band. They were on the verge of breaking up because they just couldn't pay the bills and all these things. And they debated whether that song would make it on their record. And when they put it out there, it was the hit that ended up saving them.

But it was so great that they included the footage of this bassist getting crushed for the riff of a song that ended up saving the band at that point. Somebody I'm sure who appreciates stuff like this is our guy, Darren Gant that joins us now. Before we get to the Panthers and he's a hall of fame voter, he's from panthers.com.

You should watch and read his stuff. It is Christmas music season. It's about that time. How do you approach Christmas music from a timing perspective when you start listening to it? Is it traditional? Is it covers?

What's Darren Gant's approach? For one thing, it's not Christmas music season yet, Josh, because it's not Thanksgiving. Three days away.

We're three days away. We do one holiday at a time here. And until Thanksgiving and the day after, it's Thanksgiving music season, which you know of course means we should all be listening to the band. Les Waltz, come on. It's the ultimate Thanksgiving movie. And you should take part in that. I mean, hey, Friday night here at the Visualite in Charlotte Josh Daniels is doing a thing called the Carolina Waltz. They do a last Waltz tribute concert every year night after Thanksgiving.

Me and my smart friend Kelly and smart friend Ann went last year and I think we're gonna run it back. See, this is me getting too far down the line. Typical sports radio guy. Don't get ahead of yourself. Let it happen, sir. Typical sports radio guy focused too much on the future and not enough right now.

I think I should learn my lesson. Getting on to mock draft season. No, here's Matt Rule from this morning. He resurfaced, has done a number of media hits. Talking to Vic Carucci, talking to NFL network, talking to CBS yesterday, he was in studio. This is what he had to say about the job that Steve Wilks has done as the interim coach.

It was kind of a whirlwind and at the very end, I looked up and I saw Steve off to the side. So I knew he was gonna be named interim because he was waiting to come up and walk up. And a part of me was happy about that.

I wasn't happy to get fired. But Steve Wilks deserves a chance to be a head coach of the National Football League. And he got that chance briefly in Arizona, but he's a leader of men. And if this league needs one thing and a football needs one thing, we know we need diversity in our coaching hires. We need diversity in the coaching searches. And so I think Steve's done a really nice job.

I think that team, they've battled. They've had a lot of turmoil with me getting fired, but he's a steadying force and I'm happy to know him. What do you make of Matt Ruhl's comments, the ones that you've heard over the last 24 hours, and given where we're at on the college football calendar, the timing of these comments? Well, I think the one thing he said right there is absolutely true. I mean, football needs more diversity in the coaching ranks. And let's be honest, people who look like Matt Ruhl have an easier time getting jobs than people who look like Steve Wilks.

There's a lot of documentation of that. His point is correct. And we'll see. I mean, I think that, I mean, with Matt, I mean, he's out there, you know, working up another job. I mean, everybody knows that and trying to see what the next thing is for him. And good for him. I think with what he's done in college, you know, he gets back in that environment and he'll be well-suited.

So best of luck to him out here in the job search. But the larger point he makes about coaching in general is true. We'll see as it pertains to Steve Wilks, you know, and particularly with this team locally, what happens after the next seven weeks. But I think his point about the coaching profession and Steve is valid. Everything Steve Wilks has done points to the fact that he's a head coach in the National Football League. Now that we have a decent sample of Steve Wilks with this team, what's the biggest difference you've noticed from the first five games under Matt and the last six under Steve?

It's a little more, it's stripped down. I think any time there's an interim coach situation, any time there's change, the first step is to simplify things and get down to the couple of things that you can do well and really focus on that. I mean, and they probably went to a ridiculous extreme at that in the Rams game.

I mean, poor P.J. Walker was handcuffed, didn't have an opportunity to make any plays in that game. And I think they came off of that a little bit in the ensuing weeks and things got a little better. But listen, if you look at what happened on Sunday, Sunday was an opportunity to be something transformative for a team. They had the Baltimore Ravens beat. It's halfway through the fourth quarter, and it's three to three, six to three then, when Justin Tucker hits a field goal to pull ahead of Eddie Pinero. I mean, they had that game exactly where they wanted it. They defended Lamar Jackson practically perfectly.

If you don't turn it over on your half of the field and give them a short field, I don't know that they'd get in the end zone that day. And it was right there, and they just couldn't get anything done offensively, which left them upset, frustrated, and wondering what's going to be next at quarterback. And we'll see when Steve talks to us tomorrow again what he announces about that job. But I wouldn't be surprised based on it.

And he said it. He won't see Sam Darnold at some point this season. I don't know if it's going to be this week. I don't know if it's going to be after the bye, but I think based on the way Baker Mayfield's played, it's pretty reasonable to think at some point Sam's going to get shot. The rest of this season feels like it's about Steve Wilks figuring out if he is the future of this organization. That is the most important thing. I remember, I won't betray any trust, but after the first Atlanta game, the one that they lost close, a guy, a noteworthy Panthers former defensive player I was talking to, and he said that crushed me that they lost that game because every single win is going to matter for Steve in order to make a case to keep the job moving forward. We all heard David Tepper say he has to do an amazing job, fortunately for Steve.

That was a good humble brag on your part. I know you got Julius Peppers on speed dial. Yeah, you got it.

You nailed it. But you look at the remaining games. There are a lot of winnable games.

You talk about Denver this week and you talk about Detroit and Pittsburgh both being at home and you got two more division games, teams that you've already beaten earlier this year. It seems like to me, he probably, in order to have a really strong looking resume, needs to go 500 down the stretch, get to five and seven as an interim if he were to go three and three. And that should be enough given the circumstances of what he had to go through and what he inherited in that spot to justify being the guy moving forward.

Is that a fair assessment at it? We'll see. I mean, ultimately that's a decision made by one guy and he's David Tepper and unlike you and Pepp, I don't have him on speed dial and he doesn't ask my opinion on stuff like this. So we'll see and obviously it's all up to date but I think this is very much a jury of your peers section of the schedule. I mean, I mentioned this in the mailbag we published at panthers.com earlier today. There are four teams on this schedule with a combined record of 14 and 27. This is not going to Baltimore and punching up. This is the teams you're down there in the ditch with. So what are you gonna do? Are you gonna fight?

Can you find an answer offensively? And I think more than anything for Steve Wilks, I mean, you asked in the context of Steve's future and possibly being full-time head coach next year. I think these games can help. I think every day he spends on the job here becomes part of his resume because now you have an example of how you handle an injury, how you handle a win, how you handle a loss, how you handle a change at a certain position maybe. And all those things are important because if you go out and you start looking at an offensive coordinator or an assistant who's never been a head coach, you're just speculating on how he handles difficult things. You will know, okay, Steve does it like this because that's what he did in November. That's what he did in December. So I think more so than the results of the games, it's the way he handles the rest of this year. I have been impressed with the way Steve goes about his business.

Let me just say it in a way that won't get us bleeped. Steve ain't about that BS. He is going to put his best players on notice. He was asked a question yesterday about DJ Moore not being as productive, and is he getting more double-themed? And Steve just kind of, without blanking, said, well, he can start by catching the ball.

Then his numbers would be better. So, I mean, Steve Wilks is willing to put his best offensive player out on the line. And that just shows that there are no sacred cows in this herd, and that he's going to expect the most out of his best people. And I think that's a pretty healthy approach for an executive to have. I would expect, I mean, that's the way Bill Boak yells at me in staff meetings. He's like, Darren, you're the one with the most experience you make the most.

No, I'm just kidding about that part. But yeah, I mean, that's what you gotta do if you're a leader of people. You've just gotta put the most on the people capable of doing the most, and Steve's been willing to do that. A sheep of panthers.com, Darren Gamp, joining us here on WSJS. So you mentioned the Sam Darnold piece, and certainly who the Panthers started. Quarterback's gonna be an interesting storyline, heading into Sunday's game against the Denver Broncos. But on the other end of the ledger, the Broncos have some guy named Russell Wilson, who around here- Hey, remember when he was good at football?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember when people didn't think he was so good at football 10 years ago, or 11 years ago at NC State before he proved Tom O'Brien to be right. Hey, Tom, hey Russ, you need to commit to football. You need to commit to football. You could be a great player if you do so. I mean, Tom O'Brien was right, but it took him leaving NC State in order to commit at Wisconsin and have the career that he's had at- Don't make me sick, Joe Ovious, on you. I think he'll do another podcast series about this if you're not careful.

Yeah, good point on that. What most interests you as a follower of this league as long as you've followed it, about the Russell Wilson story? I think one of the things, and I sat the other week over the mini-buy after the Thursday night game.

I kind of, I was around the house working on some projects with the wife and had football on, watching it passively in the background. And you see certain things and it's like, I realize more than anything else that there ain't that many good quarterbacks left. And I'm counting Russ in that category of guys who aren't necessarily playing great football right now. I mean, when you see what he's doing in Denver, when you look back on what's actually transpired, you realize that the number of good quarterbacks is shrinking. And there aren't as many as there used to be because Russ for 10 years was good.

Russ right now looks a little bit like the bad parts of Tom Brady we've seen at points this year where it's like, boy caught up with him in a hurry. And I don't know, because when Russ was getting in the league, there was an assumption that your first couple of quarterbacks that come in the draft were generally gonna be okay. And there were probably 15 or 20 quote unquote good quarterbacks in the league.

Now I'm looking around and I'm like, there's seven or eight, nine or 10, maybe 12 tops if you're being generous. And I think he's very much on the fringes of that, to be honest with you, with the way he's played this year in Denver. So it is instructive to me that your situation matters as much as your own talent a lot of times. I mean, unless you're that special guy like Patrick Mahomes, like Josh Allen, like Justin Herbert. And I don't even know, I mean, Aaron Rodgers is still that guy, but he doesn't even look great anymore at times.

He can still make that throw, but your situation matters an awful lot. And Russ was kind of illustrative of that early in his career. I mean, he was the guy the Panthers are pointing to right now. You build a roster where all you gotta do is draft a good young quarterback and drop him into the middle of it.

Then you watch him go with all this extra stuff you spent money on. Well, next year's quarterback for the Carolina Panthers is gonna walk into a room with Brian Burns and Derek Brown and J.C. Horn and D.J. Moore and a lot of stuff. So I think he's instructive as an object lesson as much as anything about his career and of itself right now because right now what he's doing in Denver is not particularly inspiring. Darren Gantt, reading your work, that's an inspiration to me, on Twitter, at DarrenGanttPanthers.com.

You can find his stuff as well. Darren, thank you for making the time. I'll see you Sunday afternoon. Happy World Cup to you. We'll have lots to talk about between now and then.