You Don't Have To Do This

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, what you scheduled this game.

He's interviewed Matthew McConaughey. And he's taken on Big Blue Nation. He's just completely taken the wind out of my face. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. Welcome to a Thursday Drive WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where in a couple different regards, last night was not a good night for the Atlantic Coast Conference. If you were still holding out hope for Virginia Tech's tourney hopes after they lost at home to Boston College last week, losing to Georgia Tech last night, that's a death nail. Then there's Virginia, the other Virginia school, who as the seventh ranked team in the country beat Louisville.

That's not much of a story, but it was only by three points. And the Cavaliers once again revealed some flaws that aren't exactly features you usually see on a title team. So even at the risk of upsetting my wife, a UVA grad, this is what I believe about the Virginia basketball team.

This is where I believe they are. They should still be the favorites to win an ACC title. But they aren't a national championship contender.

And here's why. First off, the free throw shooting. It's become a real concern. When I was sitting next to Sarah Bradford at the game in Winston Salem that Virginia played, she was wanting to pull her hair out at how many free throws Virginia was missing. And I was thinking, I've watched Virginia all throughout the year. At no point did I really pick that out as a flaw for them. Maybe this is a one-off. But you know, when you have a friend of yours that points out something about somebody, points out a blemish, points out a flaw in them, and then that's all you can see every time you see that person, kind of like the Austin Powers mole situation.

Mole, mole, mole, mole, mole. Ever since that day in Winston, all I could see is how bad Virginia's been at the line. And they should, it could have cost them their last two games. Last night, they missed seven of their 16 free throws against Louisville. They should have lost to Duke because of the free throw shooting. Only nine of 22 from the line in that game, they missed 13 of their 22 free throws. Nationally speaking, they are 222nd in college basketball from the line at 70%. That's 14th in the ACC. That's the worst percentage for a Tony Bennett Virginia team in nine years. And really, this matters because of the math equation at Virginia. They run a slower pace, slower pace equals fewer possessions, fewer possessions equal fewer points, fewer points equals smaller margins where teams are going to be closer to beating you and an added emphasis on hitting free throws, scoring at the free throw line.

So that's one piece of it. The second thing is this, they are more three point reliant than I've ever seen Virginia. They are averaging about 23 point attempts a game.

That's the most under Tony Bennett. And the reason why is because they don't have a dominant big as much as I'd love to see Jayden Gardner's from my hometown outside of Raleigh and went to East Carolina for a few years, be that guy. And he's a pretty good player. He's not a dominant interior force. He's too small for that.

He's 6'6, he's 6'7. Virginia doesn't have that dominant interior force offensively. So they're having to shoot the ball and they're only shooting it 37, maybe 38%.

But the 20 attempts per game is the thing that you circle. The three teams that averaged at least 18 attempts at Virginia 2011, 2018 and 2020. The 2011 team finished 17 and 16. The 2018 team lost to UMBC in the first round, the 2020 team, we never know.

They didn't get a chance to compete because of COVID. So this team, they're in line to win the ACC. This is not a national title contender. They're like an old Big Ten team, more consistent throughout the year because they have more veteran guys, they run a system, they recruit to it. So winning regular season titles, Virginia does that a ton. But for every regular season title team, you have a team that underperforms in March because they have low ceilings, lower margins, smaller margins of winning games, and they become outmatched when March rolls around. So while Virginia, still, they were my pick to win the ACC in the preseason, and I stand by that, I think they're going to, they're not the team I would tab as the team with the best shot to win a national title in the ACC. I'd say that's Miami. I'd probably take Duke over Virginia just because of the up upside. I think those teams have better national title hopes while Virginia right now is ranked in the top 10 and is still probably going to win the ACC.

That was my takeaway again from watching Virginia win in such tight margins when they probably should have won by a whole lot more. On Twitter at WSJS radio, that's where you can chime in on the show. You can watch us on Twitter, on Twitch, on YouTube. Will Dalton is the executive producer of the show, taking your calls at 336-777-1600.

B. Dot's going to be in here later this hour. He's the sixth man of basketball. WD, I watched Star Wars, the last Jedi last night. I think I understand why it's so controversial among you nerds, but I don't really know. I'm not completely sure.

Well, we'll be finding out next hour if you really know why. At the movies, we'll do that around 4.30. WD has acquired a couple cauliflower chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-A. If you don't know, Greensboro, Charleston, South Carolina, and Denver are the three test markets in America. Chick-fil-A is unrolling this week the cauliflower chicken sandwiches. So WD is going to try it. I don't know if B. Dot's going to. He's already said on social media that he's not going to eat that.

So we will see. When the Carolina Hurricanes host the Montreal Canadiens tonight, when the Canes host the Canadiens tonight, they're going to retire Cam Ward's number 30 and send it up to the rafters. Former Consmite trophy winner MVP of the 2006 Stanley Cup run, career wins leader for the Canes in net, his induction into the Hurricanes Hall of Fame. It's just another reminder of how good we have it here in the state of North Carolina. There are the life reasons why North Carolina is so great.

Tell your friends that North Carolina is terrible so they don't move here. We got two great cities. We've got mountains. We've got beaches. But from a sports perspective, we have these great college teams that we follow.

And professionally speaking, we've got it pretty good too. And Cam Ward being inducted is just a reminder that even though pro sports here in the state of North Carolina is essentially just 30 years old, think of all the great things that we've seen over the last three decades. The Canes, they've been the NHL's best expansion success story of the last 25 years. Canes came into existence in 1997. There have been, I think, six other expansion teams after the Canes came into existence in 97, even though I know the Canes aren't an expansion team I'm talking about. They moved from Hartford to North Carolina. So we are kind of counting that. Same goes for Atlanta, who then turned into Winnipeg and other teams that have moved around too.

You get the idea of what I'm talking about. Behind Cam Ward, they won a Stanley Cup in 2006. There are 11 franchises still in the National Hockey League that can't say that.

Canada has not, all the teams in Canada combined, have not won a Stanley Cup since 93, 30 years ago. So the Canes winning a cup and going to another Stanley Cup and right now having the second best record in the NHL and set to host the outdoor game in a couple of days, it's pretty good to be a Carolina Hurricanes fan right now. And we've had legitimate legends for this organization, including Cam, Rod Brind'Amour, Glen Wesley, Ron Francis.

They're all all-time great players. And I feel similar about the Canes that I do, the Carolina Panthers. Hear people complain about, oh, the Panthers have been a 500 franchise.

It's a 500 sport. The Panthers came into the league at the same time as the Jacksonville Jaguars. Name the Jacksonville Jaguar who's been an NFL MVP candidate. The Panthers had Cam Newton. Name the Jacksonville Jaguar that won defensive player of the year. The Panthers are going to get another hall of famer in Julius Peppers inducted next year. Name the skill position player who was among the best and might be a hall of famer in Jacksonville.

I'll wait. The Panthers had Steve Smith, had tremendous, I mean, Luke Kuechly. Just think about what they've had over the last 25 years. And you've had two Super Bowl appearances. Cleveland Browns would like one of those. They've been around a lot longer than Carolina and has never experienced that.

So sometimes you've got to count your lucky stars and look at some of the great things that we already have rather than looking at the things that you don't. But bringing it back to Cam, he's always, Cam Ward that is, he's always going to have personal significance for me. In November of 2005, I grew up outside of Raleigh, small town of Youngsville near the city of Wake Forest. And a childhood friend of mine named Logan Bennett offered me tickets to a Canes Maple Leafs game. It was right after the lockout. I'd never been to a hockey game before.

I was 13, 12 or 13 years old. And the Canes got to win that night. And they started their backup goalie that night.

They won that game. I was hooked immediately on the sport. I wanted to get autographs after the game. So I wait out in the cold with my friend Logan and we're waiting to get some autographs. And I remember he was telling me, Josh, you're going to want the autograph at the starting goalie. You don't want the autograph at the backup goalie. I know he won the night, but you're going to want the starting goalies autograph.

No, no, no. I wanted the autograph of the goalie that won that night. And it was 21 year old goaltender Cam Ward, who was a backup to Martin Gerber. And at the end of that season, Gerber leaves after falling behind two games to nothing in a series against Montreal and the Canes play in Montreal tonight. And Cam Ward then won four consecutive games. And then he went on the run and he's from just outside of Edmonton. And at 22 years old, they faced the Oilers in the Stanley Cup and Cam Ward was magnificent. They won that series. And I was hooked on hockey. One of the two teams that I fell in love with, the Hurricanes and the Baltimore Orioles. And Cam Ward is a big part of the reason why that is.

Had a chance to meet him and associate with him a handful of times since then. An all time great guy, a great ambassador for the Carolina Hurricanes. So having him in the building tonight, right before the outdoor game on Saturday, it's a great time to be a Carolina Hurricanes fan. Do you think Tuesday night was a fluke?

I mean, I feel like everything happened for a reason. You know, that needs to happen for us to get to where we're going to. How is Caleb Love be doxing with us? And to be clear, that was after the Clemson game and before Miami. So clearly, I think I agree with Caleb that the Wake Forest game was not a fluke.

We'll talk more about the Tar Heels in about 10, 15 minutes or so. But I do need your assessment on my use of fluke. Flawless.

That was my first time hearing it. That was flawless. Like, that's how you use it. See, he didn't even second guess it. That's how it has to be used to be effective where they're not thinking you're doing a bit or something like that.

You're just having a conversation, you know what I mean? And that's how Caleb took it. Like, it was like, yeah, like, nah, we needed that to happen. It wasn't fluke.

I mean, great job, Josh Graham. We've got another incentive for people to participate in grammar school today. Are you bribing again this week? If somebody is wanting to help me out, Yellow Card is celebrating 20 years of their hit Ocean Avenue with May Day Parade story of the year.

Oh, I like story of the year and this wildlife. They're all going to be in Charlotte on July 18th. We got two pairs that we're giving away. One to whoever is willing to help. You don't have to actually give me good advice. But if you do, that's a that's a play. You don't even have to get the point.

They just have to call and just say anything. That's how desperate he is. Oh, my gosh. The desperate you reek of desperation. Three, six, seven, seven, seven, one six hundred.

I'm probably going to need help if you want the Yellow Card tickets. That's the way that you earn them in this segment that we call grammar school. Josh Graham has his own way of speaking a lot of love, a lot of love, a lot of love, a lot of love.

And just when you think it can't get any worse. Josh is going to attempt to learn B Dot's vernacular. I'm going to put one in the air. It's time for B Dot's Grammar School. B Dot free game during game postgame brought to you by Heritage Hardwood Floors.

When it comes to flooring, they have no ceiling. Listen, I was there. OK.

Yes. At Winston-Salem State University. And what did I see? That beautiful floor. I stood on it, Josh Graham.

It is gorgeous in person, too. I'm scrolling through my look at this, Josh Graham. Let me see a picture.

Oh, boy. Look at that floor. Look at those dance moves. Is that Zay?

Who is that? That's just the students. They go crazy on it. Look at that floor. Yeah, it looks nice.

It's amazing. Heritage Hardwood Floors. Thanks for singing it.

My voice is low. Heritage Hardwood Floors. Got bars. Thank you, man. Heritage Hardwood Floors for sponsoring grammar school. You already know homes, businesses, churches, gyms, just like Winston-Salem State University. Jesse and Catherine at Heritage Hardwood Floors can get you straight.

And their tagline says it all. It says, when it comes to flooring, they have no ceiling. Yeah, I can hear it now that you've got a bit of a hoarse voice. Is it because of Monday? It's because of work. There wasn't a lot of cheering to do on Monday. No, it's just been nonstop work.

And the fact that it wasn't a lot to cheer about made me have to do more work during those timeouts to try to get the crowd engaged. So yeah, I got a caustic question for you. Let's do it. This is a review question. The hurricanes they're putting into, they're inducting a player into the Hall of Fame tonight. They've got an outdoor game in a couple days. Name a Carolina hurricane. I knew you were going to do that.

It's a review question. They have a hockey player not named Wayne Gretzky. Patrick Wong. There you go. I'll take that. I'll take that. I'll take that. Let's go. He's outstanding. Thank you very much. Okay.

I just play him on a video game, I think. But nevertheless, on to the main event. All right. Here's your word that you have to use in regular conversation during an interview. It was a hit at your wedding. Ten toes down. Ten toes down.

So ten toes down means you're like locked in, right? Like you're standing on that. Either you're standing on that.

You can use it as an I'm standing on it. I'm ten toes down. I'm solid.

I'm solid. Or somebody has been with you. This person has been with you.

W.D. has been ten toes down with you for years now. So a performance can be ten toes down. No, a performance would not be ten toes down. Somebody can be ten toes down because of a great performance.

Correct. You were solid tonight. Like you was locked in. You were ten toes down. Like Jordan Miller was ten toes down on Monday for Miami. I don't know why you keep wanting to use Miami Carolina.

That's just the first one that came to mind. That would not go well. So if I'm at NC State Carolina on Sunday and baby T goes off and I'm like baby T, you were ten toes down. That's a good example of making love goes off. You know what I mean? Yeah, either way.

But no, you wouldn't use it like that. You wouldn't say oh baby T, you were ten toes down. You would say if baby T had like ten assists and they were to his big and say yo, he held you down tonight. Every time you gave him the ball he dropped the bucket. He was ten toes down.

He was solid tonight. Okay, I like that. You see what I'm saying?

That's what's up. Like when Armando gets a double double. Like you like oh yeah like yo yeah yeah like that. You was getting all them every time Caleb was feeding you was just going crazy. You was just Caleb was your man tonight.

He was ten toes down tonight. Yeah, that's my bro. You know we solid. We gonna stay down. That's my bro. I got it. Ten toes down. What's the I'm gonna try and work that in the hockey locker room. Yeah. Saturday. Yeah.

That's what you got to do. Cross sports with it Joshua Graham. I don't think there's a lot of um what's the word I'm looking for for hockey. It's uh caustic.

Very caustic. So anyway what's the first word? When y'all told me that we was eating cauliflower chicken grease sandwiches today from Chick-fil-A, I put some letters up and I'm gonna ask you what those letters are Joshua Graham. The letters were Y G M A T W F U. One of those words.

I can't say there's no chance that there's last two. One of those words you cannot say on there. I know this one. One of those words you cannot say on there.

I know this one. Believe it or not. You got me all the way bleeped up. You damn right you did. You damn right you did. I was hoping you would get that one.

I've seen that one enough. You damn right you did. If you think I'm eating a cauliflower chicken grease sandwich from Chick-fil-A. You got me all the way. All the way. All the way.

That's like with mustard, ketchup, chilies, slaw, onions. All the way. What does it mean if the block is hot? The block is hot. Oh the block is hot? Yeah.

336-777-1600. Why did you sit up in your chair, go to the microphone like you knew it. Like you were smiling like oh the block is hot.

And you definitely had no clue. You guys like yellow card? I do wonder if it's a Venn diagram. One side is people that know the answers to these questions. Other side, fans of the band yellow card. What the, how, how wide is the middle of that Venn diagram?

777-1600. You have no idea who yellow card is I bet. I have no clue.

Can you play like one piece of yellow card to give B. Dot a taste maybe? Possibly. That Venn diagram circle is real small.

The block is hot. That was it. That was y'all saying help. Help. Help.

I have an idea of what I think it is. Do you? I do but I want to go to the phones. Who do we got? Keenan and Winston. Keenan you're going to yellow card.

Keenan help me. Whether you like it or not. What does block, what does it mean to be, the block is hot? Hold the yellow card.

I don't need that. But my boys in an earlier life used to say if the boys were around right, if I roll up and they were out they would let me know prior that the block is hot. Meaning cops are around. Oh I like that.

Thanks Keenan. That makes a lot of sense. The block's hot.

There's cops around. Is that your final answer? Yeah it makes a lot of sense. That's absolutely correct. Thanks Keenan. Lil Wayne has a song too called the block is hot.

I didn't know that. I love Lil Wayne. Yeah that was in the 90s though when he was with the hot boys. The block is hot. The block is hot. Hot hot. I don't know a lot of the hot boys stuff I think we've established.

What's the last one? Cuffing season. Yeah.

It's already passed right? What's cuffing season? Oh it's like especially when it's cold you're wanting to get together with, if you're single you want to find your lady. That's right lock it down. When are the months of cuffing season? I'd imagine it's like no earlier than October and no later than probably March. This guy's learning some stuff. Give him the bells. Give him double bells, extra points because he knew exactly when cuffing season was. Cuffing season starts in October and it ends actually yesterday February because that's when love is up now. Now it's time to start getting to the spring.

Now we're about to be cutting up. It's time to be outside. Hot boy, hot girl summers.

No shirt summer. That's how we rolling. Good job Josh Graham. Four and O today. I'm gonna give you an extra bonus point with the bonus one you got.

I like that. That's been grammar school. It stinks. I'll tell you that right now. It smells really good in here. I don't know what you're talking about.

No it does not. WD has grabbed a couple of cauliflower chicken sandwiches. For those who don't know, there are three markets in America that Chick-fil-A is debuting, essentially test trialing, a cauliflower chicken sandwich in. Charleston, South Carolina. Denver, Colorado. Greensboro.

Somebody said it's in Winston too, but I don't know. Whatever. WD grabbed a couple of cauliflower chicken sandwiches and B-dot has one in front of them here.

You can watch our stream on YouTube, on Twitch, on Twitter if you want to see this. What's happening? WD and B-dot are about to dive in, but real quick, how are we feeling about it? I'm a little upset. Where are the sauces? For a sandwich? And it's got the stupid pickle. I always get mine without pickle. I don't like the way the pickle is. I eat the pickle separate. I do eat the pickle separate, but they're always so warm and warped.

I don't really like that. I need some Chick-fil-A sauce. Are there any sauces? There are no sauces? We have no sauces?

What is this? Well see, I thought about getting Chick-fil-A sauce, but I'm like, well we need to taste the sandwiches. That's right. We can't distract from the flavor. Well see, that's what I'm upset about. I don't like the way it tries to resemble a freaking chicken sandwich. I don't like that. I don't like the way it tries to be deceptive to your palate and to your brain.

That's the point though. No, no, no. Don't try to trick yourself. Eat the damn food that it is. This is nothing but cauliflower.

See, that's why I don't like they do the little wings, the little buffalo wings, but it's really just buffalo sauce on cauliflower or something like that. No, don't try to trick yourself. To be clear, before you take a bite, your mind hasn't already been made up, right? You're gonna go into this with an open mind and open heart.

What is my open mind and my open heart? Are you asking me am I gonna have an open palate? Like, am I gonna go in here expecting to taste something good? Should I be expecting to taste a chicken sandwich?

No expectations at all. It could be good. Are you open to the possibility that that first bite's gonna be pretty good?

I am open to the possibility that this first bite could be good. However, it's not chicken, but they drop it in the chicken grease. Exactly.

That's so stupid. It's cauliflower disguised as chicken. Yeah, I don't like the disguise.

I don't like the deception. At first, I thought it was gonna be the chicken with cauliflower, but I knew what was up. You knew it was a fried cauliflower sandwich. Okay, on the count of three, get your first big bite in here. It has to be a big bite? It doesn't have to be a big bite, but just take a bite.

Three, two, one. Oh, you didn't even swallow it yet. I'm not gonna swallow it. I'm not gonna swallow it. Come on, swallow it.

It's that bad. It's like, what is it? What's it have at the Chinese place? The egg rolls. It's an egg roll. That's a good analogy.

I like that. You don't like egg rolls? It's like an egg roll sandwich. Like a fried egg roll sandwich.

That actually sounds pretty good, personally. You picked it up, you might take another bite. No, I'm not.

I'm just trying to push through. W.D., what do you think? Yeah, what do you think, W.D.? I got my second bite in right now. Your second bite? No.

I think he likes it. I thought I would. I like cauliflower.

I like chicken sandwiches from Chick-fil-A. No, I can't do it. No, I can't do it. See, man, like. I do the egg roll. That's exactly what it is. It's like an egg roll. Like a fried egg roll in a Chick-fil-A sandwich bun. It's so misleading.

It's so misleading and it's so not right. And then to cook it in the chicken grease. This is important, though. See, we are all fans of Chick-fil-A around here. Love them.

We love Chick-fil-A. But they ain't gotta do this. Well. They ain't gotta do this. I'm about businesses taking swings, though. Remember when ESPN, a year before the iPhone came out, did ESPN the phone and we were thinking, oh, this might actually be a good idea. And then the iPhone made it a five million dollar investment that essentially went up in air. I like businesses that take swings.

So this might not work. This is valuable information. This is valuable data to the folks at Chick-fil-A who need to know whether or not this is a good idea or not. You don't look so betrayed. I am betrayed, man, because they try to deceive you, man. It look just like a chicken sandwich, man. And this is the equivalent of like going to the strip club.

What? And you're in the strip club and you see that girl like she's gorgeous. And you know, she go to college and she got a banging body and you just talk to her.

She got great personality. Well, I just tell her and you be like, baby girl, listen, you don't have to do this. You don't have to do this. That's what I'm telling Chick-fil-A. You don't have to do this.

You're already successful. You don't have to take your clothes off and show cauliflower. You don't have to do that. You already established. We already accepted the fact that you won't even open up on Sundays.

Like we let that ride. You ain't got to do this. Chick-fil-A, you ain't got to do this.

Strip clubs open on Sundays? Yeah. Okay.

Just checking. W.D., how are you with the sandwich right now? His is gone. W.D. is licking his fingertips. Did you just bite your finger?

We always still got some. I was like, Jesus. How do you assess it, W.D.? So I think it tastes like an egg roll and a chicken sandwich like combined in one. See? Not a chicken sandwich. Don't you throw chicken on there. Nothing about that tastes like chicken except for the grease. That's it.

Fair. See? There's nothing about that chicken. It didn't even have a chicken consistency. As soon as you bit into it, it fell apart in your mouth like a damn egg roll would. Kind of got chicken consistency. Maybe on the outside. Yes, the bread or the fried grease around it. That part. I kind of like it.

There you have it. That's been a review of the cauliflower chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A. You ain't got to do this Chick-fil-A.

We've got a couple more pairs of tickets to go see Yellow Card in July if you want to go see them in Charlotte. The next time you hear this sound is your cue to call in and win. I think you might actually recognize the song if you heard the chorus.

If I could find you now, this past forever. That's when I recognized it. Something like that.

A lot of music variety on the show today. Master P. Make them say. Somebody Google that and make them say, that's that five. I know all the words to that. That's great stuff.

I have a Star Wars review that we'll do in a few minutes. While we got you, the last thing while we have you here. B Dot's the sixth man of Carolina basketball. You had a story with a Tar Heel legend. Couple of run-ins with a Tar Heel legend the last couple of weeks.

What can you tell me about that? He might have to not come to any more games because ever since I've seen him at these games, we've been losing. I don't like that. At the Wake Forest game, I sat in the bleachers in the stands right behind coach Larry Brown. We were just chopping it up, having a good time. I was fussing about why we weren't playing more of our bench and he was agreeing with me.

It was just fun conversation. At the game Monday, I'm on the court and I have to make a hit up in the stands. As I'm running up in the stands, people are shouting B Dot, B Dot. I'm looking around, I'm trying to greet everybody that calls, whatever. There's one voice that keeps calling me from behind B Dot. I turn around and it's freaking coach Larry Brown sitting in the stands and he's calling me.

I walk over to coach Larry Brown. I'm like, yo, what's up, man? He's like, man, I had to come see you in person. They said, you do a great job.

I'm really enjoying myself on. I said, that's awesome. I said, are you getting loud over here? He said, yeah, yeah. I asked the people around him. I said, is he getting loud over here? They said, yeah, he's doing.

I was like, all right, man, because I don't care nothing about them hall of fame or none of that. You got to be loud when you come in here, buddy. And then we just laughed about it. And that was it. Did he call you B Dot? He did.

And he called it right. Like he didn't say B Dot. Oh, he said B Dot. Yeah. I was, I was fully expecting him to do the B Dot. Yeah, nah. Those are the people that read my name and see like my social media.

And then they see me with the hat on at the game and they say, hey, B Dot. Were you happy to see Coach K back at Cameron? Gosh, man.

If there's anything that I want it more. What's the Duke to lose where K sit right there again? Oh, him and his wife. Oh, man. At least three people came up to me at Cameron that night and were like, we better not lose this game.

We better not lose this game. And it got tight. It did, boy. And I'm talking about I got excited about it. I got robbed.

But nevertheless, now I did see Coach K and bitch and I ain't gonna front. I did. I got to host an event at the Emily K Center. How'd that go? It went very, very well.

Get a chance to run into K. No, no, no, he wasn't there. But the staff there was super dope. What they're doing for the community in Durham, especially for the people of color in Durham. Big shout out to Coach K and Emily K Center's wife center over there, man. Like I do give props to that. It was really a good and they got some nice, nice stuff going on over there. If you're in that Durham area, you know, Tar Heel fan or not, if you have kids that, you know, looking for college and things of that nature, you should check out the Emily K Center.

Anything you want to promote? I know you got a lot going on this month. Just I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either, man.

We're doing very well. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't.

Neither is in 14 pilot schools in Forsyth County and Guilford County this year where they're actually introducing the content to the curriculum in the schools for Black History Month. And it's just history facts that I didn't know. And I just share them under the idea of I didn't know.

And maybe you didn't either. So I'm really enjoying that. And by next year, I hope we can get that joint all across the country. That's a really neat thing that you do. And thanks, brother.

It's not a surprise. You've turned things that are little, just ideas and make them bigger things and make them meaningful, too. So it's something I always admired about you.

Appreciate you being in here. I'm probably going to probably going to cut that in half and see if Sarah Bradford likes it. I know she's really into cauliflower. Yeah. So the fact you only took one bite out of it. Sorry. No, that was for you. Oh, yeah. So we're going to make the most.

We're going to make the most out of it. He warned us. I did. He warned. I told you with the letters. I told you with the letters. Got me all the way.

Lettuce, mayonnaise, mustard, chili, ketchup, bacon, all the way. Because I was wrong about my Super Bowl pick. I had to watch a Star Wars movie of W.D.

's choosing. And he told me there's a controversial Star Wars movie amongst the nerds. It's called The Last Jedi. It's one of the newer Star Wars movies. So I watched that movie last night, W.D. I watched that movie. And Dot, I got to go review that. So I'll let you go, brother. I'm about to be in the car listening.

All right. I'll give you my review of Star Wars, The Last Jedi, the nerds at the movies next. If the Philadelphia Eagles won last week, we'd be reviewing Hoosiers, which W.D.

hasn't seen. But because the Chiefs won instead, I lost a bet. And the bet was that I would have to watch a movie of W.D.

's choosing. We all knew it would be Star Wars related. He didn't want to choose one that I had already seen. And I watched all three of the old trilogy movies.

I watched the three in the 2000s as well. Seen a couple of the new, newer ones. Rogue One. I forget the first one, what it was called that J.J. Abrams did. The Force Awakens. Seen that.

So W.D. told me there's this controversial one that's divided the fan base, divided the nerds of Star Wars fan called The Last Jedi. Have you seen that?

I said, no. Well, that's your movie. So now we're just turning the segment on its head where I'm the one that's telling you about the movie that I had to watch.

And W.D. 's asking me about it at the movies. Unless you're talking about freaking Oscar nominated Golden Globe award winning movies, movie one has taught you well. Star Wars movies are not at all Josh's thing. I don't get it. You want cocks at swine?

But that's about to change because I'm absolutely sick of it. Josh Graham. Seamless editing. Oh, yeah. All right.

At the movies. W.D. take it away. Yeah. So this is the most controversial Star Wars movie.

Really? So this is the one right after The Force Awakens that you have seen. So I was kind of worried you hadn't seen some.

I'm glad that was the case. So what did you like the most about this movie? I'll be honest, W.D., I was expecting not to like this movie at all because I am not a Star Wars nerd.

I am not somebody that generally watches a lot of these. I want to say comic book movies, but that's not what this is. Really, it's just these massive franchises that they continue to just mass produce movies for. But what I liked about it is it was a movie that had something to say. It was about letting go of the past, which Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker both said at one point. It's what the movie was about. And I think that was a message from the director, Rian Johnson, to Star Wars fans themselves. And I didn't expect the movie to have something to say because of Rian Johnson, who also is the same guy who directed the Last Knives Out movie that I didn't really like too much because I didn't think it had much to say and it was unimaginative. But this movie, it was a message to Star Wars fans.

It felt like, hey, we're not just going to sing Star Wars karaoke here. I'm not just going to hit the same beats that we do in every one of these movies. I'm going to do something different.

And you know what? I'm going to off Luke Skywalker. Oh, I'm going to, I think enough years have passed that I can spoil the movie at this point. I'm going to take some shots at Han Solo. Going to do that in this movie. I'm going to have a black lead actor. I'm going to have a woman who's a lead in this movie. We're going to think Star Wars a little bit different than normal.

And I'm going to tell a story about letting go of the past and kind of embracing the future. That's what I thought this movie was about. And I respect it. It's something I like. I didn't expect to think much while watching this movie. Well, what did you think was the contract?

Like in your own opinion, like what did you find? Like, I bet you they didn't like what happened with Luke Skywalker. That bingo. They didn't like that Luke Skywalker died that way. They didn't like that Luke Skywalker was kind of an old curmudgeon grumpy old man. That was my sense.

And like, why do we have these leading people that we don't really know much about? I bet you that's things that they don't like, but I feel that actually was the point of the movie. Yeah. I mean the main thing that a lot of people didn't like about the fact that Luke Skywalker was portrayed that way is because Luke in the originals was always very heroic and very like never give up.

I mean, even more camel said in some interviews like during the movies, like he doesn't Luke doesn't give up and it was very like the Jedi need to end. And so that was probably the number one thing that split the fan base. Do something different. That's it.

Let go of the past. That seemed to be the message of the movie. Also, I would personally say the best thing about this movie cinematography in this fantastic. I could care less about cinematography. You want things to go over people's heads.

Oh yeah. I really liked the costume design and the cinematography. You want to get really into the movie stuff that makes people make their eyes glaze over. What did you not like about this movie?

I mean, I could do obvious things. Like it was 15, 20 minutes too long. I could do, you know, the fact that Darth Vader isn't in this movie. It's like, well, he's dead. Like a Harry Potter movie without I know, but figure it out.

So I'm saying it's, it's a made up world. Figure it out. Like figure out a way to get Vader in there. It's like watching a Harry Potter movie without Voldemort. Well, Voldemort's dead. Well, guess what? We're going to make a movie that's a prequel that has Voldemort in it.

That's what we're going to do. Anyway. The thing that I probably didn't like the most is there was very little to do for a lot of great actors in this movie. So like the pink haired commander, Laura Dern, not a lot for that character and Laura Dern's an amazing actress. Uh, I think about Benicio del Toro, who's this, um, uh, code breaker.

Not a lot for Benicio who is one of my favorite actors too. And then an actor, I didn't, I was surprised to see him in this movie who is from one of my favorite rom coms ever about time. Uh, what's his name? I think it's Dom may Gleason maybe something like that. Dante Gleason, Dom may Gleason. He's the redhead ginger or he was general Hawks. That's who he was. Oh, I was surprised to see him in here and I could have used more of him getting some character development.

Not a lot for that. And you would expect there'd be more character development for a movie that's two and a half hours long, but alas, not so much. What was the best quote? There's only one option here. It's become a meme. It's become like a GIF that people use all the time. More.

I want every gun we have to fire that man. Yeah, that's the best quote. Yeah. Okay. Rotten tomato score.

This is now, this is audience. Yeah. So I bet you it's a little bit mix.

So I'll go 67 42. It surprised me that much. Yeah. So that's been at the movies with me, JG.

So much fun. Star Wars and such. I don't dislike Star Wars movies.

I don't dislike the series. Like I said, I've watched all of them, but not, I don't like them enough to rewatch them. I've maybe rewatched Harry Potter a few times. I've never rewatched any of the Lord of the Rings movies.

Haven't done that. Like those movies. Sir Bradford, big Harry Potter fan, right? That's why I rewatched the Harry Potter during COVID. We did it across an entire week.

We rewatched all those Harry Potter movies. I want to start our next conversation with a couple of staples from the city of Atlanta or from the state of Georgia. Probably the better way to say it because I've got here a gift for Wes Durham, who you know from Cartersville, Georgia. He's the voice of the Atlanta Falcons. You know, his work with the ACC, you know, Wes B Dot was in here last hour. I'm glad I can see you now on our stream on YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter because Dot, last hour, had, he tried the test trial, if you will.

Chick-fil-A in Greensboro, in Denver, Colorado, and Charleston, South Carolina is trying out a cauliflower chicken sandwich. Dot wasn't the biggest fan of it, so he saved you half the sandwich, Wes. No thanks. Pass. Thanks, Dot.

Appreciate you. Yeah, it's just a gift. I told B Dot that. You know what, the selfie with you and B Dot and my son last Saturday was far more appetizing than the cauliflower Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich. Is that what that is? That they're marketing in this? Okay, great.

They're just trying it out to see if it's successful or not. I thought the selfie with you and Will and B Dot was far better. How cool was that for Will to be back in that building in that contract?

Yeah, I mean, look, it's funny the alignment of the solar system a little bit. You know, I joked with him last week before he went to the game. I said, don't take your Deion Thompson jersey to Chapel Hill this weekend.

He goes, oh, that's right. I had a Deion Thompson jersey when I was a kid. Yeah, you did. Your grandfather bought it for you.

Chapel Hill sportswear. So it was because he grew up. He always used to joke with my dad, Josh. Georgia Tech was his favorite team in Carolina was second, right?

That's the way it was. And then I think I've told you the story of the Red Sox and Yankees with Will and my dad, right? My dad grew up a Yankees fan. Will was a Red Sox guy.

Because for a brief moment, he wanted to play baseball and he met Jason Veritak at a winter camp at Georgia Tech. And next thing you know, he loved the Red Sox. And so for his 10th birthday, my parents took Will to Fenway Park to see the Red Sox and the Yankees play and David Ortiz at that time was his favorite player and he had a home run over the green monster and Will was sitting on top of the green monster and the ball landed 10 feet to his left.

And the Red Sox won on the Ortiz Homer and my dad was like, you got to be kidding me. So anyway, it was cool to answer your question. Last Saturday was fun for him.

My daughter was also there with my mom, and Will's girlfriend was there. So it worked out. It was really, really cool and fun for him. And a lot of people were very nice to him, which I'm grateful for. And my mother loved it. And really, that's what mattered at the end of the day.

On the road. Did your dad and Roy Williams ever watch Yankee games on the road together? I don't think so. Not that I know, because I think when my dad became a Yankees fan, because that was the game you got when you grew up in Albemarle and Mount Holly and for Roy kind of similarly, he loved Mickey Mantle growing up. Well, and yeah, so all those things kind of, you know, brought my dad to the Yankees. And I don't know, he, he was a casual baseball fan by the time I realized baseball. And I would say that his influence to me made me a casual baseball fan. I'm not a diehard anybody fan. I mean, I like the Red Sox, because I got to know very attacking Garcia Parra and Jay Payton and Darren Bragg and some of those guys when I was at Georgia Tech.

So that made a big difference. They had already graduated and gotten away from campus, but they came back enough that I got to know him. And so one thing led to another but Matt leaders to just going to throw in great Georgia Tech players. Matt leaders was one no question. Derek Dietrich, terrific player who played with the Marlins for years. There have been a bunch of them and to share who, who actually was better friends with my wife than he probably was me because he used to hang out with the golf team. And Vicky worked in golf.

So one thing led to another there. But yeah, like to share as a guy who I talked to a lot now. You know, now that he's retired and decided he doesn't want to play TV. But yeah, it's it's a unique relationship. But my dad loved the Yankees and went to Yankee Stadium and they flashed his name up on the scoreboard and old Yankee Stadium, not the one I did the pinstripe bowl from and he got to meet Yogi Berra that day, which was unbelievable for him. And it was kind of cool in life when I could get him to be a kid.

And you know, still have the starry eyes, you know, of a of a kid who grew up in Albemarle, the son of textile workers. Wes Durham is with us here. And I think you're with me on this, we might have talked about it that people might be losing a lot of how great this season has been by getting caught up with officiating and getting caught up with a lot of other stuff.

But when you look at the standings, you've got really a great three team race at the top to try and win the league. I don't know who's going to win with a couple of weeks left to go, especially if Virginia continues to miss free throws the way that they have at the end of ball games. But then I got this stat from Brian Ives or as Seth Greenberg calls him, Sir Brian Ives about Greensboro and the ACC tournament next month. It looks like given where Clemson's at right now, it's likely that they're going to get the double by when you look at the schedule and how it shakes out, which means in all likelihood, the likely scenario is Duke, NC State, Wake and North Carolina will all play on Wednesday of the tournament in different slots, not against each other. And Brian Ives messaged me that the last time that they played on the same day and did not face was 04. That's correct. Jack hit a foul line jump shot to send Carolina home.

Georgia Tech played Duke in the semifinals and lost and the game is remembered for Ishmael Muhammad's flagrant on Daniel Ewing. That's incredible. And it's only happened here.

I'm here the rest of the half hour, by the way. Eight. It's only happened eight other times before that. So it's how much do you think the folks in Greensboro are rooting for that? Well, sure. I mean, look, it's always better when the big four succeeds, right? I mean, it's always better when the four North Carolina schools when the tournaments in Charlotte, the tournaments in Greensboro, the tournament could be in North Wilkesboro or Pufftown for any. I mean, it doesn't matter if the tournament is in the state of North Carolina, if the four North Carolina schools advance through, it's always better.

It's better from a locale situation. Just as I would tell you, we went to we went to Maryland in 2005 and Maryland lost in like the second game of the whole damn deal. And I was like, what are we doing now? Well, Virginia got beat, I think the second day. And we ended up with a championship game of Duke and Georgia Tech in a three quarter full Verizon center, which is now called Capital One, I guess or something anyway. Um, I look, I just think the tournament's gonna be really good.

I, I said on earlier show today, Josh, I think the tournament's gonna be legit Wednesday. It's gonna be really good Wednesday, because you have the four teams that you're talking about playing three of the four teams, obviously nine will not have to play on Tuesday. But the three winners from Tuesday, look, nobody just saw what Georgia Tech did to Virginia Tech. Can you rule out any of those four teams from winning the conference tournament?

Any of the teams in the state? I can't if any of them get hot? No, absolutely not. No, because they all have for whatever perceived flaws they have before in the state of North Carolina all have repairable flaws. Okay, I mean, Carolina can share the ball and shoot it better, and take better shots and get it to Armando breakout with regularity.

NC State clearly can do it. Because Jack Clark, I was impressed with Jack Clark Tuesday night. That's a big deal that people aren't talking about.

You want to talk about handshakes and all that Jack Clark being back and looking good. That's a big variable for a big game Sunday. I think Duke is playing its best basketballs the season evolves and good for John Shire and those guys. And Wake Forest. Yeah, I mean, Wake Forest is they're gonna have to have somebody other than Tyree Appleby.

Go get it for four days to win the target. Is there a guy in the ACC? He's open the shots going up that you have more confidence the shots going down when he attempts it than Damari Monsanto. Because that's the smoothest is it a two or three? Three? It's a three. Oh, it's a three. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Can't shoot.

His percentage of twos is amazing. I have no idea how that works. But it's amazing that that's I need to talk to Barry Jacobs maybe next week when I'm at Duke to see if I can get the invert on all that figured out. Yeah. Um, here's here's kind of what I'd like to do. I'd like to take Monsanto.

But I would also put baby tea in there too. I want to put Sir Quavion Smith. Look the other night when he took the the heave ho at the midcourt line at the end of the Syracuse game. In my head was like, this might be close. And sure enough, it hit the front rim, I think but no Monsanto's but see that he's he's the modern and you won't know this name.

And I'm saying this for a demographic that's riding around their car. It might be a little older. He's the modern day Brian maggot. Oh, I thought you were gonna say Vinnie Johnson.

No, Vinnie Johnson played in the league and it Baylor Vinnie Johnson didn't play in the ACC. Okay. Okay. I thought we're just talking style of you know who Brian maggot is? No.

Okay. Ma g ID Brian maggot played two years at Maryland for lefty and then transferred to GW I think Brian maggot when he came out on the floor at Cole Fieldhouse. They started chanting his name when he broke the tunnel. And then he goes on the road to Duke. And the Duke students now this is back before we had the line monitors and all the other riffraff stuff.

The Duke students would throw dollar bills out on the floor and he would stand on the dollar bill and knock the shot down and pick up the bill and put it in his pocket. I love it. That's great. It's long before the 80s. This is a 70s. And look, and he's called he's a cult hero.

Okay. He's a cult hero. The ACC there been a lot of them chubby Wells is one of them played to Clemson chubby was a cult hero Brian maggots a cult hero you get these old guys on the show a little older than me. They'll tell you about the cult heroes of the ACC that existed Jeff Crompton the late Jeff Crompton at Carolina was a cult hero NC State had some to it Bucky Waters was a cult hero at both NC State and Duke and well, I was joking RC RC Bucky Waters. I was joking with Bucky that I don't know if there's room for two former Duke coaches in the house at the same time at the same game.

I bet that was a cool scene for you to see coach Kay come back. I know there was a lot of you know, I have a better seat though. Come on.

I don't know. I think I think that's the perfect seat for him because it's 25 chair. It's a getaway chair, but also he doesn't he want it's the farthest away seat.

You can be courtside from the Duke bench. That's good. That's him.

He wanted to sit the farthest away he possibly could so that nobody can write the hovering story. That's well done by you nice. On the way out. It's been a brutal 2023 from a broadcasting perspective. We lost Tim McCarver today lost Billy Packer last month.

Jeff Charles an ECU legend, even though it was really neat last night seeing how they honored Jeff and how they won that game against Wes Miller's group with Roy in the building at men G's Coliseum. How has it hit you the last? Oh, it's just brutal Billy.

Unfortunately, I think you've been in declining health since the summer. But you never you know, you never want to script the end. You know, Tim McCarver I don't know the circumstances there other than he was terrific on the air. Somebody ran the clip today where Rivera pitched to Gonzalez in the World Series and he's talking about Rivera throws the cutter down and into left handed hitters.

So be careful of you know, looping balls into the outfield on a drawn in infield. I mean, what great call that just great foresight. Perfect. Um, yeah, really good. And then Jeff is special to me for a lot of reasons. As you know, Jeff was one of those guys who I sent out countless tapes as a senior in college at Elon. Jeff had just left Virginia Tech to go to ECU to become the voice of the Pirates and he was kind enough to listen to my tape and give me a lot of feedback and give me a lot of constructive criticism that really helped me I think kind of turn a corner. And he was one of those guys that you know, at the end of the day, I was I was grateful because July 4 1988 he called and told me Radford was looking to hire a basketball announcer in a full time position.

If I don't connect with Jeff, talk to it taught me the value of networking and how valuable networking can be in our industry in particular. And so he he told me Radford was looking to hire a basketball announcer told me who to contact I did. One thing led to another and that was my first job. So essentially, he helped me start my career by helping me with that job coming up.

And then, you know, I didn't get to visit with him nearly enough. ECU and my path at Georgia Tech or with the ACC network. My first year doing television, I was asked to do an ECU game in Greenville at men geez. And he and I were able to have lunch that day and spend some time together and we took a picture that night that I posted last Friday night when we got the word and you know, he and Debbie were just terrific people when he came to NSMA when he won North Carolina, right seem at the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame or whatever the case. I remember when he won that he shared the news with me. And he was so excited to meet Bob Costas because it was when Costas was going in and it was in Salisbury.

It was super cool. And it's Jeff's just he's that special guy. And he he made our business a better place. And he also is one of those guys who was a better person than he was a broadcaster and he was a hell of a broadcaster.

And I think it hit a lot of us because those of us that grew up in the ACC East Carolina weaves through the ACC. So you know how good he is. He also could beat all of us up in a fight. So like I I mean the you're just not ready for that type of news like a guy like a superhero.

He told me he could benchpress 300 pounds a couple months ago. He was 70. Right.

Yeah. I mean, terrific guy, just a you know, a giant in our business for not just his skill, which was immense, but also his personality and his warmth of the human being. And it also shows us that how fragile this whole deal is. And it's a reminder of how fragile this whole deal is. So you know, we're praying for Debbie and for Brit, their son and their friends and all the ECU people. I mean, I've got countless people from down that way.

You would be one included. Patrick Johnson reached out to me. He held it together last night, calling the game and Mike Schwartz afterwards. If you haven't seen the video after they came from behind, he dedicated the entire thing to Jeff. And yeah, yeah, they held it together. Well, him and Patrick King has called the game last night. Oh, that's awesome.

So good for them. Yeah. David Horn worked with my dad, who's now been a fixture in Greenville. And Henry Hinton is a fixture who worked with my dad for a couple of years. So there are a lot of ties in that area, but it's it's a hard deal.

It's a real hard deal. Wes, thanks for doing this and for sharing your stories. I hope to see who you call in. Yeah, I'm I'm at Virginia Tech on Saturday and looking forward to it. By the way, there'll be a couple of things that I know your national sports media dot org. Marcus Ginyards doing an event next Wednesday over in High Point. If people want to get information on that national sports media dot org and then I'm coming to the triad the Monday after the NCAA tournament selection to do an event for national sports media dot org.

So you can go to the details on that, too. That's fantastic. And this summer, obviously, it's not too early to try and get tickets for the event. Absolutely.

Or so Lee Corso is going in this year in addition to a lot of other greats. And I look for it's my favorite weekend of the year to be broadcasting from. So I get to talk to West Durham in person. It's great. Yeah, that's not it's good to see you.

It's the pictures. All right. Tell Sarah Bradford. Hello. Well, tell tell the cat. What's the cat's name? Clifford. Clifford. Yeah. Clifford, the red cat. Tell him I said hello. He's orange, but you're close. Well, the.