Arbys Package

He's amused Cam Newton. He's been insulted by Charles Barkley.

He's interviewed Matthew McConaughey. And he's taken on Big Blue Nation. It's time for The Drive with Josh Grant. You are on a Thursday drive WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where last night should have been a wake up call for Wake Forest basketball.

Or at least a reminder that you can't mess around anymore. You can't relax. You can't not defend for an entire half and expect to win games in the buzzer. Like they did against App State.

Andrew Carr with the turnaround shot to get it done. ACC teams aren't going to throw away inbounds passes like App State did at the end. Last night was Wake's final reminder that the schedule is about to get real really quickly.

Serious very quickly. The next four games they have. It's the most difficult stretch they have this season. You're at Rutgers on Saturday in Piscataway, New Jersey. Next Tuesday night, Duke's been sitting for the last week and a half.

They're just waiting to get back on the floor, chomping at the bit, and they're going to be at the Joel Coliseum on Tuesday night. Then you're home against Virginia Tech, who might be the second best team in the ACC. Then you're at North Carolina. All four of those games are quad one games.

The three ACC opponents you have among the four or five most talented teams you have in the conference. And you've got them back to back to back. This was Forbes talking about the schedule and the realization that, here we go, things are getting really difficult now. There's no easy games. I mean, those are over.

We had two of those at Thanksgiving, and we did what we had to do, right? We came out and played well, shot it well, beat them. But from here on out, it ain't no picnic. We've had a tough schedule, and it continues, right?

But it's a great opportunity. If you want to play in the NCAA tournament, go get you some quad one wins. Go to Europe records and win, beat Duke at home, beat Virginia Tech, go to Carolina, and here we go. You guys are talking about this.

It's how it works, man. And so they know that. But do they know they can't relax in order to win these games? Once again, the story is Wake Forest builds a lead, they relax, and they're having to steal it at the end. They entered the second half down by six. I think it was 37-31 at the half. Then Wake Forest just started defending. Four turnovers in the first five minutes of the second half. That's leading the offense. It's a 17-2 run.

And at that point, I'm thinking, this game should be over. Wake should coast from here. They have the talent to be coasting. They're up nine at home in the second half against the team that's in the 200s in the net rankings. They should have won the game going away.

But they didn't. And in fact, at the end, they should have lost the game. App State, if they just throw the ball on the other side of the floor, get fouled, or if they turn it over, force Wake into a half-court shot to try and win that game, App State, they would have beaten Wake Forest for the first time ever. In the series, they were 0-20 going into last night. Now they're 0-21. Dustin Kearns has a really good team, but with all due respect, ACC teams should not lose at home to Appalachian State.

They're not going to get away with that in the ACC. They are 4-1 in one possession games. Many of those games are dramatic when they have a lead and it slips away. The one loss was when they were up 20 last week against LSU. You can't be blowing those types of leads against these teams.

It doesn't go well for you after that happens, generally. So yeah, they stole one against Utah Valley, hitting one at the buzzer. They stole one last night, but then you get burned a few times. You're up 8 in the final 80 seconds against Loyola, Merrimount, or Mount St. Mary's, whoever they played. I forget who their one loss is too, other than the two more recent ones, Clemson and LSU. But they should have won that game and they didn't. They should have won against LSU, didn't they? It broke the other way last night where they should have lost and they ended up winning. And the big loss might be that Ty Appleby's not able to play Saturday at Rutgers.

As soon as I walked into the building last night, had three people come up to me and say, Oh man, I can't believe Ty's playing tonight. Ty's dealing with a right ankle injury. And when he came out of the game, he would go to the stationary bike and he'd be working on that. Then at the end of the game, he can't put any weight on that ankle as he's leaving the floor. Has you really concerned about what his status is going to be like moving forward.

But as I was leaving the building last night, saw him cutting up with Davian Williamson and a few of the other guys. It doesn't look like it's going to be a season ending deal. It does look like it is an injury to that right ankle. So we'll see if he's able to go. Ankles are tricky. You might be out for one game or no games, or you might be out for a month.

Hard to really figure it out, but it shouldn't be an end of year deal. And the reason why that's so important to talk about right now is, again, this four game stretch. Rutgers, Duke, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, all in a row, they're all quad one wins. Wake Forest is going to be a borderline NCAA tournament team.

And if they do really well over these next four, then you position yourself to not be sweating it out on Selection Sunday like they were earlier this year. On Twitter at WSJS radio, if you want in 336-777-1600 is the phone number. We are streaming video. YouTube, just search The Drive with Josh Graham, Twitter, Twitch. So however you're listening or watching, we appreciate that. Will Dalton is the executive producer of this show. WD last night was not at the Joel.

He was enjoying Die Hard for the first time. You ready to talk about that later this hour? I'm ready.

Merry Christmas, everybody. We'll talk about that. Certainly that's going to be a part of the conversation. Graham's gambling is in about five minutes. We've been rolling four and two last week.

Ten over five hundred for the season. Tell him to bring me my money. And there's some news regarding that guy that we could get to as well. Sam Washington from NCA&T or I guess previously of NCA&T.

Now, more on that in a little bit. We've got an NFL game on WSJS tonight. It is San Francisco visiting the Seattle Seahawks. San Francisco on Sunday blew out Tom Brady in Tampa.

That was 35 to nothing at one point. They're two games up in the NFC West. Seattle has now lost three of their last four. And they lost it home against Carolina and they were down 17 nothing in that game. So San Francisco rolls, right?

No. This is a sneak peek at one of the picks that I'm going to be giving in the next few minutes in Graham's gambling. Because I love the upset tonight. I love the Seattle Seahawks because it's now or never for Pete Carroll and this Seattle team. And I think they know it and I think they play like it. They're not in the playoffs right now. They are a half game back at the final wildcard spot currently being held by the New York Giants. They're two back, as I mentioned, of San Francisco. They can't lose this game. They lose this game and you're talking about losing four or five going down the stretch and being a game and a half back in the NFC playoff picture with a few weeks left to go. No, it is a kitchen sink game. You throw the kitchen sink at San Francisco.

You put together a great game plan. It's an opponent that you're familiar with. And especially on a short week, home field matters. Seattle has won 12 of the last 14 home games against San Francisco in the series.

12 of the last 14. Brock Purdy. This is going to be his first road start in the NFL. He's a rookie.

Mr. Re relevant. Oh, he was great on Sunday. OK, we'll see how he is on a short week on the road.

See how that works. Oh, and by the way, he's dealing with rib and oblique injuries tonight. He's listed as questionable.

So we'll see if he even goes. It might be the Josh Johnson experience. I expect Brock Purdy is going to play, but I expect he's not going to look as great as he did Sunday against Tom Brady. It's also really good timing for Seattle. San Francisco is going to be missing one of their most dynamic players in Deebo Samuel. Seattle, meanwhile, is getting one of its best players back in Kenneth Walker. Kenneth Walker, the former Deke, is going to play tonight. So when I look at this matchup, it screams Seattle.

So we're not going to ignore those signs. We're going with the Seahawks at home, pulling off the upset against San Francisco. That is one of the picks that I have. I've got four more when it comes to our picks. We've been we're 10 over right now. Four and two last week. We haven't had a losing week in about two months. The rest of Graham's gambling is next.

W.D. It's tough business when you get clowned all the time, anytime you get give picks, you make predictions, those types of things. It's especially tough when you get clowned by the the pastor of your wedding, the person who's officiating your wedding.

And even worse when it's his son that's doing so. Shout out to Crosby, who I just got a text from his dad saying, I think Mr. Josh is going to be wrong about his Seahawks pick. Tough. I mean, it's tough when you're catching strays from every corner, even from my beloved friend Crosby. Poor thing. It's tough.

Whatever shall we do? Well. He might be a fan of a pick that I'm going to give in just a bit. They're from the great state of Tennessee. Oh, so there might be something I have on that in a second. The voice of Sam Washington accents, our pick segment that we.

Yes, it's a fantastic drop. Sam Washington and NCA and T have chosen to mutually part ways, according to. A couple of outlets yesterday, Football Scoop had it first, and then it was HBCU Game Day that put it out. And for those who don't know, Sam Washington, he was a college teammate of Jerry Rice's at Mississippi Valley State, spent six years in the NFL. But what's most impressive about his resume, he's been coaching since 1987 and almost exclusively coaching at HBCUs. He's devoted his entire coaching life to HBCUs and didn't get a head coaching opportunity until the last few years with H with NCA and T and at NCA and T a 31 and 15 record. That's 67 percent of his games he won.

He's 62. So it's hard to say whether or not. It was his decision to part ways or if it was A and T's. It's another weird headline that we've seen this year. Remember Will Jones during the summer? We didn't get much information, much clarity on what exactly happened here or there.

And we don't really have much information on this as well. But the question we now have to ask, do we retire the Sam Washington drop in Graham's gambling? Do we retire this drop that we've now been playing for months since we retired the Mike Houston sound? Tell him to bring me my money. Because I have a good feeling I know what W.D. wants to do. W.D. is an opportunist to try and weasel some new sound in here. And without even communicating this to W.D.

ahead of time, I already know what Will's answer is going to be. He wants to retire it and replace it with this. J.C. Horn in the Panthers locker room. Is that what we've got to do now? Since Sam Washington's no longer at A and T, this is going to be our new drop? I mean, it almost is like two like the stars aligned on this. We're going to have the Sam Washington drop one more time. Also because the picks have been rolling, too. So keep that going until we have a bad week, then we flip it.

So this might be the last time Sam Washington's voice is on this segment because we're going to pay tribute to all the great wins he's had at NCA and T the last few years. It's time for Graham's gambling. If you're not gambling, come on now, let's talk some money. You're not trying. You are so money. You don't even know it.

But you do. Let's play some bets. I'm going to make you rich. This is Graham's gambling. Fifty five, forty five and one. But we're humble. Four and two last week.

No big deal. Two months since we've last had a losing week. You don't care. These picks are free. You're not paying anything for these picks. We're just giving you some wins.

Winners here that you can take to the window. You know, gambling were legal and everybody can have a Merry Christmas that way. Don't really love the next six days in terms of sides with bowl games. Bowl games do start tomorrow. We'll have a big bowl extravaganza next week. But there are two college games that I like over the next two days. And we start with Troy and UTSA. I don't know what bowl game this is because I didn't think the check. I just saw the match up.

But this game is a straight up game. Both these teams are top twenty five teams. They have their coaches intact.

They have most of their rosters intact. So let's go. Should be actually a decent game. This is the cure bowl from Orlando, Florida.

It'll be going on during our show tomorrow. Troy is laying a point. I'm going to take Troy.

Don't mind laying the small number. I got the team from a better conference. I got the team with a better defense.

I value that. And what should be a really exciting football game? We're going with the Trojans.

Tell them to bring me my money. Then we've got Florida. Florida has lost a lot of players, including their quarterback, Anthony Richardson, who has opted out of playing of this game.

So you can't take Florida, right? They're playing Oregon State, Oregon State. They're excited to play in this game.

They've had a great year. Oregon State is a 10 point favorite, though, throughout the regular season. Oregon State really good underdog to take. Don't know how I feel about them being a double digit favorite against an SEC team. They're looking ahead to the future for Billy Napier.

Second season. Billy Napier dating back to his days at Louisiana. Seventeen three and one as an underdog against the spread. They're looking forward to the future. They've been practicing with SEC talent, with a quarterback they expect to have for next year. I don't know if Florida wins the game, but they're not getting beat by more than 10. We're going Gators.

Tell them to bring me my money. In the NFL, Seahawks plus three and a half tonight against San Francisco. Home divisional dog kitchen sink game for the Seahawks. And it's the first road start for Brock Purdy, who's a bit banged up with an oblique and a rib. Twelve of the last 14 home games against San Francisco have been won by the home team. Seattle. I think they make that 13 or 15 tonight. Give me the points, though.

Tell them to bring me my money. You're going to hate this pick, W.D. This is going to be the pick you hear and you hate. Steelers plus three at the Carolina Panthers. We don't know if it's going to be Kenny Pickett or Mitchell Trubisky.

I don't care. Pittsburgh's the best run defense Carolina has faced in a month. And not all five and eight records are made the same. Carolina, until last week, every single one of their wins had been against teams that are terrible. NFC South teams in Denver, like Seattle was the first team with a winning record that they've beaten so far this year. And now you're going up against Pittsburgh.

That's still Mike Tomlin. That's still a team that is well coached and disciplined and have won two of their last three games. So even though it didn't work out against the Ravens last week, getting three points with a team I still believe is the better team out of the two. The Panthers are hot, but Pittsburgh puts things to a halt on Sunday. It's going to be a tight game and games like that. I want to get the point.

Tell them to bring me my money. This is my favorite NFL pick, though. The Tennessee Titans are getting three at the Los Angeles Chargers, the Chargers. Oh, they're fresh off that big win and they beat two on.

It was in prime time. Oh, the Chargers are in great shape. Perfect spot to go against the Tennessee hasn't looked great the last few weeks. The Chargers are twenty eighth in the NFL against the run, allowing about one hundred and forty six rushing yards a game. Tennessee has Derek Henry. And even though the game is on the road in L.A., the Chargers don't really have any home fans.

So I'm not really worried about that at all. This is a perfect spot for Tennessee that has covered five of its last six road games. Give me the points. Give me the Titans. I think they win outright in Los Angeles Sunday.

Tell them to bring me my money. Shout out to Coach Washington. If this is not a good week for us, we're going to call an audible and go to J.C. Horn.

Send me that cash out, fam. In review, Troy tomorrow in the Cure Bowl. Florida's playing Oregon State in the Las Vegas Bowl. Seems fitting for the segment Florida plus ten Seahawks Steelers Titans. We're all on dogs. Troy's a one point favorite.

It's essentially a pick them. And then we've got four more dogs there. Ten over five hundred, four and two last week. Doing really good about those. W.D., what's our role on the show? When Ben McAdoo talks, we listen, especially when he incorporates fast food chains and deport personnel packages. He did that fast.

Find out what fast food chain and what personnel package. Next. When Ben McAdoo speaks. We listen. And we learn, because today. We learned the name of a new personnel group for the Carolina Panthers, and you might be thinking, Josh, why is that interesting radio?

Learning what the names of these personnel groups are. Why do I even care about this? I'm not even a Carolina Panthers fan. I root for the Vikings with the Cowboys or the Steelers. Well, if you haven't been following the Panthers that closely for the last month or so, when the seasons have changed. Ben McAdoo got all excited and started running the ball a lot more. And there were formations that featured six, seven and even on one play Sunday, a formation with eight offensive linemen out there. Loading up the formation with a lot of big guys, ground and pound. They were over 200 yards rushing against Seattle. Second time this year that they've been over 200 yards ground and pound.

That's what McAdoo and Steve Wilkes want to do. Today, we learned what the name of the six or seven or eight man personnel group is. Offensive linemen personnel group is. It's the Arby's package. Here's Ben McAdoo. The evolution of the Arby's package.

So that's out there, huh? You know, Arby's package, we're going to put some, put some beef on the field, right? Put the big guys out there and let them go, let them go play a little bit. Put some big guys out on the field. Yeah. Get it because where's the beef?

Now we want some big guys out there. Very creative. How did this come to be, Ben McAdoo? You know, we don't go around giving credit to individualizing people to give credit to. You know, there's some guys in the room that are really creative.

That's certainly not me. But, but no, it was, we just try to get our guys on the field and, you know, the biggest way, the best way we can do it is sometimes come up with some creative names and they have some good fun with it. So creative. Just love the idea of Ben McAdoo, who, by the way, despite how bad the weather has been the last few days, rolled up today wearing shorts.

That sounds like something I would do. That's how he rolls. Are you talking into the microphone with your mouth full? What's in your mouth? There's a breath mint. Why are you talking on the radio with a breath mint in your mouth? Why do you need a breath mint when nobody is in that room with you? It tastes good. Maybe I wanted the breath mint for me.

You speak on the radio for a living. Well, usually I'm pretty good at hiding it. I guess it wasn't that time.

Unbelievable. At the movies with the WD is in about 10 minutes for the movie Die Hard, which we made him watch last night. Make sure you stick around for that.

You about done with that breath mint. Yeah, we're good. So we can continue having a conversation on the radio. You're paid to do this.

It's unbelievable. Ben McAdoo Arby's package. Just love the idea of him making the call.

All right, like dead serious. Let's go Arby's package. Who's got the beef? Bradley Boseman.

I could hear him saying that. Who's got the beef? Taylor Moten. That's true. Well, who's got the beef?

Nikki Iquanu. That's true. Well played. We need to come up with other formations featuring fast food chains. Maybe like a four wide receiver group, five wide out there. A lot of speed. Jimmy John's.

Oh, Wicked Fast, whatever that is. Five guys. What about five guys?

Well, if you had like a group of like five or something. Oh, five receivers, five guys, five guys. Good. Yeah. It's a formation where you only run RPOs out it. It could be a BK. Have it your way.

Oh, I like that one formation. Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one six hundred. We could do this all day. Can we? I'm going to be thinking about I'm running out of steam right now. Really? What are some other slogans that we could use? I'm loving it.

McDonald's. Yeah, I don't know how we can incorporate that. Now, we're going to need to have a Bojangles formation.

Don't know what that might be there. We might have to make our own playbook. Yeah. Then we can pitch it to Ben McEvoy. Of course.

Thank you to appreciate that. Seven, seven, seven, one six hundred. If you'd like to help us out and figure out what else, what other fast food chains could be incorporated into personnel groupings for the Carolina Panthers. Right down the street from Carolina, the Panthers is the Charlotte Hornets, where last night was a thriller for Charlotte Hornets basketball. The two teams with the fewest wins in the league went head to head, Detroit and Charlotte, and it lived up to the billing. These two teams went at it. A lot of scoring. LaMelo ball back in the lineup, but it was Detroit prevailing in overtime, which means as we sit here on Thursday, December 15th. The Charlotte Hornets have the worst record in the NBA. Yes.

All fly. Yes. Happening. And last night should be the final sign to Mitch Kupchak, to the big man, Michael Jordan, to this organization.

It's finally time to embrace the tank because how many signs do you need? Kenny Atkinson. You chosen to be your coach. He agreed. Then he backed out.

You have to go to your second option. Here's Steve Clifford. We brought him back. Then you dropped the ball in the draft. You have two first rounders in the top 15. You trade that away for maybe a first rounder next year. And you take Mark Williams when you could have had AJ Griffin all along, who's really good, by the way.

You got the wrong Blue Devil. You had a terrible circumstance with Miles Bridges. That's a bad situation. Tons of injuries at the start of this year. And then just last night, LaMelo ball comes back from injury and he gets hurt in the game. LaMelo got hurt, came back, fouled out of the game. Still banged up, though. Terry Rozier had a look from three to win it in regulation.

It was halfway down and lipped out. You lost to the team that was tied with you for the fewest wins in the NBA. Detroit. The signs are all there. Tank, embrace it, because they haven't been trying to tank yet.

That is the amazing part. Charlotte's been this bad and they're not trying to be that bad. Kelly Oubre played 40 plus minutes last night.

Terry Rozier played 40 plus minutes in the game. That is not the behavior of a coach that's trying to lose these ball games. Plus, Steve Clifford went off in his postgame press conference last night. Until we care about something besides how many points we score, we're not going to win much.

Can't play like that. I mean, we scored. Our offense was good.

That's five of the last seven games. We've been pretty good on offense. We are playing no defense, not one guy.

There's not a bright spot. We don't run back on defense. We don't guard the ball, our pick and roll stuff.

All stuff that was good. I think we were as high as like 12th or 13th in defense about 10 games ago. And we're right back to where we started ground zero. All we want to be is let's try to outscore the other teams. Doesn't work in the NBA.

Oh, it is working for what you should be trying to do. Oh, man, there's no bright spots. I beg to differ. There are plenty of bright spots. You look at the big picture. Look at the big picture.

Yeah. Charlotte needs to take it out of Steve Clifford's hands here. They need to trade some vets. Kelly Oubre is on an expiring contract. Terry Rozier, he'll be a good addition to a contender. Hayward, if and when he ever comes back, got to make some moves. Pretty much anybody on this team not named LaMelo Ball, I'm fine with them moving. And it's all worth it when you talk about a generational draft that's coming where having a top four pick will be fantastic. But having the number one pick or the number two pick in Victor Webinama or Scoot Henderson, that would change the game.

Change your organization. Don't believe me. Look at what New Orleans is right now. Everybody was talking about New Orleans potentially moving as a franchise when things went south with Anthony Davis. But with Zion and the team they've been able to put around them because of all these draft picks they got from the Lakers. And those players they got back from the Lakers, the complete getting Zion Williamson has turned that team into a contender legitimately. They have the best record in the Western Conference right now. And they picked number one in the draft just a few years ago. The draft is the Zion type of draft. That's what it is with Webinama and Scoot Henderson. Last night should be the final sign for the Hornets to fully embrace the tank.

They have the worst record in the NBA. Good. If I, you know what I would do if I was Steve Clifford? We got a pregame meal. What are we having? Arby's.

Yeah. Here's the Arby's package. Every night before game. Coach, I don't know if this is good for us. These curly fries?

The best. You don't want the curly fries, Terry Rozier? We'll put someone in the game that does want the curly fries. Kai Jones only played 14 minutes last night. What are we doing? Play young players. Kai Jones likes curly fries.

What do you got to say about that Ben McAdoo? That's true. Well played. Of course it's true. W.D.

watched Die Hard last night. And Booby. I'm your white knight. At the Boobies is next. Places everyone.

Come on places please. We're ready. Get your morning off to a great start with Jeffrey Griffin on Triad today.

weekday mornings at seven. Now back to the drive with Josh Graham. Get a slow clap going. Hashtag special shout out to the Louisville Cardinals. Doing what nobody thought they could.

Shocking the world. They won Western Kentucky at home last night. They scored 94. They won by double digits. Louisville might be on a roll going into ACC play. Got Florida A&M this Saturday. Let's see how much the win last night improved Louisville in the net rankings.

Be the team that's ranked in the top 150. You'd think that might jump you up a bit. They were number 359 with the win last night. Or before the win last night out of 363. Oh boy.

The climb begins. They're now number 347 out of 363 college basketball teams. Florida A&M is 358th. Still a gross showdown that we'll have Saturday at the Yum Center.

Then it's Lipscomb. Then it's NC State. Louisville going to NC State. I'm so excited. It's going to happen. Louisville is going to win that game in nine days. Wolfpack fans.

I hope you win it. We're hoping Kevin Keats is successful. We hope it's not a loss. But we've been doing this long enough that we could just look at things forecast them. And no, NC State should not lose that game to Louisville. But they're going to because, you know, NC State stuff. Now let's get to the main event, though.

W.D. Watch Die Hard for the first time. So now he doesn't have to sidestep conversations that are had every year about whether or not it's a Christmas movie.

He can participate in those conversations for the first time. We'll see what he thought about it as we go to the movies right now. Unless you're talking about Star Wars will be one.

You will. Movies aren't exactly Will's thing. I don't get it.

You want cups of swine? But that's about to change because Josh can't stand it anymore. This is at the movies with Will Dalton. And rather than starting with what you liked about this movie, I'm just going to ask you straight up.

Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Absolutely. Nothing's absolute about this. This is one of the most hotly debated subjects, which means there are points on both sides. It's like when people talk about some of the great political conversations such as. Or societal conversations such as pro-life or pro-choice type things. There are arguments to be made on both sides. So there's nothing absolute about it, W.D.

I'm not going to accept absolutely, but what is your case? I mean, the obvious one, it's at Christmas time. Let's just start there.

Basic, I know, but we're going down the list here. There's Christmas music playing at different points in the movie. So it feels like a Christmas movie. And not only that, but you had a Christmas decoration in the movie.

A big one. What was that? When John sent the body down the elevator and he put a little Santa Claus hat on his head and said, now I have a machine gun, ho ho. Yeah, it's a Christmas decoration machine gun is a great line in this movie.

This is a few days ago. I was with you. Yes, I said on air Die Hard. I believe it to be a Christmas movie and you're laying a good case.

I think it should be a Christmas movie, but I no longer think that it actually is, though. Really? Because somebody at the Wake Forest game passed along this stat to me. It might have been John Doe.

Don't know if it's really a stat, but it's a fact. This movie came out in July. Ah, if you if you're a Christmas movie, you're not being released in July. It's a summer blockbuster.

That's what it is. You're if if the intent on this, it's viewed to be a Christmas movie. You release the movie in November or in December. You don't drop it in July. It came out in July. It's hard for me to argue against that and saying it's a Christmas movie when the director and those who actually made the movie saw fit to drop it in July. Can you release a Christmas movie in July?

I guess you can do anything. But man, that is a very July 22nd. That is a very opinion altering stat.

1988 changed my opinion. Yeah, it's that's John Doe's got a big forehead, but he's got a big brain inside that head to yours. Yeah, that that. Are you with me now? I'm afraid I have to be.

I mean, I can't I can't lie here like that. That means something. What did you like about Die Hard? Well, I liked the part where he sent the body down the elevator with the shirt on it.

I got a machine gun now. That was what I liked about it. The part I like. Okay, so you like the line in the movie was a part in it, right? What did you like about the movie though? It had really good action scenes.

Okay. It's an action movie. Yeah, and it just it had really good action like the end like it's good. This is not good analysis, WD.

I'm sorry, but I used the part I like the best when he sent the body down the elevator. WD, if I asked you, hey, what'd you like about what the Panthers did on Sunday? And your answer was I like that one play they threw it to DJ Moore.

That was cool. I mean, it is a thing that I like about it. It wouldn't be good analysis is what I'm saying.

That's fair. What'd you like about the Panthers did on Sunday? Oh, I like that one play. No, how about you tell me about what they did about the game? Well, need some analysis here. I don't have good analysis then if that's it because that's what I wrote down in my notes. So I want to see your notes. That's what I want to see.

I'm trying to help you WD. I get it. People fire off believing you haven't seen these movies by saying what I like. I like I like this thing that might have also been in the trailer. I believe it was that in the trailer.

Probably that I don't know. I rewatch this movie not too long ago, a few weeks back. And the thing that always stands out to me about it is John McClane is a relatable action star. When you watched other action movies of the 80s, if it's Arnold, if it's Sylvester Stallone, they look like they're roided out and they have muscles that are bigger than everybody else's. John McClane looks like a normal dude. John McClane makes stupid mistakes that we all make, like taking off your shoes at some point and now having to go the entire movie barefoot. Yeah, that's tough.

Yeah, that's tough. But what it does that it doesn't really communicate so clearly, but just comes through to the movie, in my opinion, is that if you're watching it, you feel like you're going through it with John McClane because you believe you could do the things that John McClane does because John McClane looks like you. He's got a receding hairline and the middle aged guy who's having a difficult marriage. And here he is.

It is relatable. I mean, no muscles. He's kind of I mean, he does look strong, though. But you're right. He's not like the rock out there.

He's getting beat up this entire movie. Right. Shred it. But it is a nitpick that I would make sure I would never take off my shoes like he did. And I'd also if I killed somebody would take their shoes. That'd be the first thing I did, even though there was that part where I say, oh, man, this person has the shoes of a of a teenage girl has the size of the feet. So I guess there was shoes that didn't really fit that well.

I'd wear the shoes that don't fit well rather than being barefoot. Is that true, though, that when you get off of a flight somewhere and take your shoes off, it makes it better somehow? No.

Is that a thing? That's what sociopaths do. What did you not like about this movie? So when the helicopter is going ham and shooting at John and all the people, that thing had worse aim than a stormtrooper. Oh, yeah, that it is a good that that is an action movie trope that like plot armor to the max. If you had a helicopter, you would be a lot more effective. It's like when anybody ever jumps into the water, like trying to escape a helicopter in the water. Yeah, the helicopters. Oh, well, I guess we can't get them now. Oh, he's in the water. Tough.

And they always escape. Yeah. Oh, we need to talk about Hans Gruber, too. Are you a Harry Potter fan? I've never seen Harry Potter. Any of the Harry Potters ever seen? So Hans Gruber, Alan Rickman's character doesn't.

Alan Rickman, the actor, didn't mean anything to you upon watching this movie for the first time. No. Oh, wow.

You don't know who Severus Snape is. No. Wow. I mean, that's not saying much because again, it's it's me.

OK. But what is your favorite quote? I mean, this might be I don't know if this is generic or not, but and I can't finish the line.

Yippee ki yay, mother bleep. Yeah, I can't. That is the most iconic line from this movie.

I can't I can't finish it on air, but no. Yeah. Anything that Harry Ellis says this entire movie is one of my favorites. Just the perfect L.A. douchebag. That's, you know, doing coke and showing off, showing off his watch and talking about having Laker tickets. And Hans, booby, I'm your white knight.

I know you're not here to steal some women's purses. You're so perceptive. That guy. He's my favorite character.

All his lines of dialog make me laugh. The sports references in this movie weren't very good. There was the one exchange where the guy was describing the Laker game he was watching the night before.

Cream rebound feeds it to worthy over to AC back to worthy to magic. Boom. Two points. Nobody talks about basketball that way.

Could you imagine if I came in today talking about the Hornets game and I was like, Lamello gave the ball to Oubre back out to Melo over to Rozier. Boom. Two points.

I mean, it sounds like somebody just overemphasizing what they heard on the play by play broadcast. Boom. Two points or bang bang. All right.

Real quick. What do you think got on Rotten Tomatoes? Let's go with a ninety one ninety four. Ha ha. And that's been at the movies with the W.D.. Part of me likes the bad likes the part that your analysis is bad. Because it's fitting, because it's me. Well, I'm not a move. You haven't seen any of the movies, but that doesn't mean you're you can't be perceptive like Harry Ellis's character.

Unusual questions in just a few minutes. Which must mean our guy Darren that's joining the show on the phone today. You know him as a baseball guy, longtime WSJS contributor, voice of the High Point Panthers with basketball.

In fact, the last time we were chatting, you tried to warn us about how good Queen's University could be. And from Charlotte transitioning to Division one, they got a win against High Point and a pretty good team that Gigi Smith is leading right now. Tubby Smith's son High Point still pretty good record.

They sit at eight and two. And how about their next week over the weekend? They're going to be going to Trass Coliseum at UNCW.

Then they're visiting East Carolina University. My old stomping grounds, Minges Coliseum, not to be confused with Mingy's or Minges Coliseum. A lot of people mispronounce the name of that building. I've come to find out. Other than the ACC venues, Darren, are you partial to any specific North Carolina college gym?

That's a good question. You know, I've never been to Minges. I've never done a game there. Never been as a fan. That's surprising.

So I don't have a way to mix that in to this. Trask is great at UNC Wilmington. And obviously they're like High Point in that they don't have football. So basketball is the it sport.

It's what people show up to support. And especially when the Seahawks are good, that place can get pretty rowdy. I think they have a good team this year. And with a good High Point team visiting, it should be a pretty good environment. The John Pope Center is underrated. Yeah, well, and I feel obligated to mention the Quibane Center just because it's in its second year of use. You mean the Q?

As you are allowed to call it, yes. The nicest. OK, if we're talking the nicest venues, you're probably talking about the Q or maybe the place that you went to college. Talking about Char Center at Elon. Those are probably the nicest venues. If you want to talk history, Trask and Minges Coliseum, those have been around a really long time.

You know what the answer to this question might be? It might be Hulten Arena at Charlotte. That's a great place to watch a game. Yeah.

Yeah, that's a good spot. Look, man, like we're spoiled. There's so many good venues all around us. It's almost like minor league baseball. We were talking with McGee yesterday about minor league baseball. Nobody's as lucky as we are to have as many cool different ballparks than we do around here. Yeah, and not to mention some of the bigger brands nationally even in minor league baseball with the Bulls and so on.

So, yeah, it is kind of wild to think about because, I mean, there are so many. Like Gardner Webb's venue in Boiling Springs is kind of like what you would expect out of another Big South school. It's a pretty small venue, but can be a lot of fun. UNCG, folks, settle down. The Greensboro Coliseum. I know you play in the Greensboro Coliseum, but we're not.

I think they're exempt. They've got the smaller gym that they play in. And actually the one time I covered a UNCG game, I would get this filling in.

The anniversary was just a week or so ago. I was filling in as the voice of the Montana State Grizzlies or Bobcats. Excuse me. I was about to say, they're the Bobcats. Don't get them mixed up with the Grizz.

No. So for a day and a day only, I was the radio voice of the Bobcats and they beat UNCG on like a 70-foot buzzer beater. But that's the only time I've been in.

I can't. God, the name escapes me. It's the one venue that's on campus that they sometimes play in when they're not at the Coliseum. Anyways, that's a great place to catch a game, too. That was a lot of fun. One-time Montana State play-by-play man, Darren Vaught, joining us here on WSJS. Also haven't forgotten about you guys at A&T Club Corbett.

That's a great place to play as well. A lot of great venues that we have around here. That was not an unusual question. Maybe it threw you off, but it doesn't really qualify to what we usually do at about this time. So without further ado, let's get to the traditional, unconventional, unusual question. Last week, guys, everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference.

That's not right. I thought it was an unusual question and it's OK. It's time for unusual questions with Josh Graham.

W.D., you've been quiet over there. How about we get you started? Gladly. So I have a Christmas question. Of course you do.

Yeah. Darren, you know I got a Christmas question. What is a tradition that no matter where you go or have been in your life, you must do this thing to celebrate Christmas as a tradition of yours? The weekend of Christmas or sometime the week of Christmas, I need to get Chinese food. Can't explain it.

Somewhat in line with mine. Chinese food needs to happen. I haven't had Chinese food since last Christmas when we were watching the Santa Claus. And I realized at like closing in on 30 that the words, the wordplay that was in the title of that movie, I just now understood that clause was like a clause in the contract.

I didn't realize that the first 50 times I watched that movie. But anyway, I was eating Chinese food. So, yes, that's a tradition that I need to follow. That's become sort of a Christmas Eve thing for my direct family and me.

We get Chinese food. I'll say this, though, it's something that I make it a point to watch every year. It is a made for TV holiday special from the early 90s, a wish for wings that work. And it's like maybe 30 minutes in its entirety. You can find it pretty easily on YouTube, but it features Opus the penguin from the old Bloom County and Outland comic strips. It's relatively obscure.

I don't expect you guys to be familiar with it, but a wish for wings that work. It's like one of my favorite pieces of Christmas media. And we always make it a point to watch it. What is yours, W.D.? So mine is a Christmas Eve special and it also involves food. I must have a thin and crispy pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut. And I must be watching It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve.

Those two things have to happen. I don't hate that. It's a Wonderful Life plus pizza is a good Christmas Eve.

I've been doing it since I was a kid. I've never seen It's a Wonderful Life. Oh, I think you should. You and everybody else. Is that the one movie on this earth that Will has seen and you haven't? Look at that. That's not true. He's seen all the superhero movies. That's right. And every single Star Wars movie.

Yeah, I skip a Star War every now and then. OK, Darren, what's your unusual question? Have you guys ever been in a fight?

No. Define fight. I mean, what came to mind when I said it? If I got if somebody attempted to choke, if somebody attempted to choke me out who may or may not have been my roommate, I told the story before, who was a rapper that went by the pseudonym. Mikey Finesse. Put him on blast. He tried to choke me out. It ended up I didn't fight back.

I, I played possum. I pretended as if I passed out and he stopped. Does that count as me being in a fight? How have I never heard that story? I've told this story on the air before.

You playing dead as Mikey Finesse tried to choke you out. Yes, I guess that counts. And that's, you know, maybe you won. Do brother fights count?

No. Slap fighting, pushing, shoving, screaming at each other. You know, I'm a twin. So my twin brother and I went through a stretch where maybe from like 12 to 14, it was literally every day. Our sole big purpose for existence was to beat the hell out of each other. So no, those don't count. Have you been in a fight, Darren?

One in my life. And I was 14 years old and I had a friend whose grandparents lived, like right down the street from me and my brothers. And every few summers they had cousins from Texas that would come in.

And obviously they sort of get wrapped up in what we're doing, the games that we play and that sort of thing during the summer while we're just doing nothing all day while parents are at work. Now, one of those cousins from Texas just rubbed me the wrong way, man. Rubbed me the wrong way. So I slugged him and we ended it relatively quickly and that's it. That's the only fight of record that I've ever been in.

Okay. Darren, I have a sports related question for unusual questions. Ooh, sports related. Bowl season starts tomorrow. If I'm taking the college football playoff and New Year's six bowls off the table, which bowl game would you most want to visit? Like which bowl game would you most want to go to? I like the novelty of things like the pinstripe bowl. To see a football game played at Yankee Stadium would be pretty cool. Better than Fenway? That's Saturday, Cincinnati and Louisville. Fenway Bowl. See, I've never been to Yankee Stadium, so I don't know if like should I experience Yankee Stadium for a football game for the first time, right? That would be a decision that I would need to make. Liberty Bowl though, you're going to pass maybe like the Camelia Bowl in Montgomery, the one that's in Mobile, Alabama.

You're going to pass on those. Is there one in Hawaii? Oh. That would be mine.

Hawaii Bowl is a great choice. Yeah. That could be it. That might be it.

I'm a weirdo. I was thinking the Sun Bowl because I really liked El Paso, Tex-Mex food. Got there one time.

Had some best Mexican food I've ever had in my life. That and then San Diego. Old town out that way.

Yeah, but the game's not going to offer anything. Holiday Bowl's pretty good. Hanging out in San Diego. See, but you're basing it totally on city, because like otherwise it's just another game with those two. And, you know, forget Louisiana, Alabama.

No, I'm not, I got no reason to go there. I think W.D. 's got the right answer.

Hawaii Bowl. Yeah. It's just he's got us boxed out.

He's defying us to come up with a better option. Oh, you want to go to Yankee Stadium in December? You want to go to Fenway right after Christmas, or you want to go to Hawaii? Tell me.

Tell me how bad you want to watch Louisville play Cincinnati. Tell me. Okay. Darren Vaught, one last thing before we let you go. That's been unusual questions for this week.

We made W.D. watch Die Hard last night. He gave us his review earlier in the show. We need to figure out a movie for next week. Sarah Bradford says we need to give him Christmas movies. That's why we gave him Die Hard.

And now we need to find another one. Let's run through the list real quick, just to figure out what he has and has not seen. Obviously, you've seen It's a Wonderful Life. Elf. No. Wow. Christmas Vacation. What? I have not seen Christmas Vacation.

Love Actually. I don't think so. Okay.

This is this is going to be easy. Oh, for three. I thought I thought for sure I might have to come up with more, because surely Christmas Spirited Will has seen all three of those. I figured he had seen Elf. I'm not a big Christmas movie guy as much as I love Christmas. I'm not. Watch Elf.

You're not a big. Why do you why do you throw Christmas in that sentence? I'm not a big movie guy.

Fair. I'm not a big Christmas movie fan. I'm not a big any movie fan other than Star Wars. I just want to know, Will, how how have you not just like happened unto Elf this time of year?

Or Christmas Vacation. You know what? I've I hesitated because I feel like I have seen Josh hates this, but bits and pieces of Elf on TV when it was on one year. Saying I've seen bits and pieces for movies is the equivalent of saying I like a little bit of everything when somebody asks you what your favorite type of music is. Yeah.

It's a bad answer to the question. Just don't do it. It's like you've had to have like channel surfed by it on TV. I know channel surfing is less of a thing. But like man, we watched Elf. I think I was in high school and we watched it as a as a group in the auditorium one time. Like everybody's seen Elf.

Love actually is a good Christmas movie that never gets discussed in this conversation. I feel like it is. It is. I'm I'm sorry.

I'm not good. You're not going to get Elf. It's Elf. Will, watch Elf. I will watch Elf if Josh allows it.

That's got to be the one. OK, W.D. is going to watch Elf next week. There you go. There it is. That's going to be our movie for next week. Theron Vaught, thanks for your contributions. Of course, I'll see you guys.