Chef Hats (3-1-23)

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 Graham.

Happy March! You are listening to a Wednesday Drive on WSJS, new stock sports for the triad, where Duke's win at Cameron last night was proof that this team is prepared for a deep tourney run a couple of weeks from now. NC State was the test. Duke passed that test.

And John Shire, he has a contender on his hands right now. And it reminded me of something Coach K said a year ago. At about this point in the season, prior to advancing all the way to the Final Four in New Orleans, Duke strung together a couple of wins. And there was a long feature story that Wright Thompson published from ESPN.

And K had a quote in it where he said, at practice, he no longer saw a younger team that he was coaching. It was chock full of one-and-done freshmen, like this Duke team looks like right now, like this Duke team has. But at a later point in the season, they continually added more and more on their plates in preparation. And time and time again, Paulo Bancaro and that group met the challenge. They were mature with their preparation. They took care of business. And K realized this was an older Duke team and a young team's body. They had learned quickly.

They had become a machine, in his words, a machine that was ready for the battles of March. The same appears to be true with this Duke team because last night had the feel of an NCAA tournament game with stakes attached to it, physicality left and right. There were a couple of scrums. Tyrese Proctor may or may not have flopped in the first half. Baby T got a technical. He got tied up in the second half with Darique Whitehead. DJ Burns is mixing it up. Both coaching staffs are trying to break things up.

It had that feel. And State is a really good basketball team. But Duke at every turn had an answer for State. Every State run was met with Duke responding. When State made it a six-point game with five minutes to go, Duke counters with six consecutive points, capped with two Jeremy Roach baskets.

State wasn't done, though. In the final two minutes, Jarkel Joiner goes nuts, hitting a few more threes. Suddenly, it's a three-point game. State fouls a freshman. Tyrese Proctor goes to the line not once but twice. Doesn't miss from the line.

Closes things out. Duke's no longer a young team. This is a team that's been through some stuff that has a lot of talent. And a couple of months ago, they don't win this game. Mid-January, they don't win this game. Maybe even a month ago, they don't win this game. Remember, NC State hammered Duke by 24 points at PNC Arena a couple months back. Now, they're beating NC State. They have chemistry.

They're healthy. 13-3 on the season in games, they have their full roster available to them. So I asked John Shire after the game about that progression, about what he's seen in this team versus a year ago as an assistant, what he saw in that team that eventually, despite it to you, made a run to the Final Four.

And this is what John said. I don't look at our guys like freshmen anymore either. We're at a point where we've gone through a lot. We've played neutral games against big-time opponents, road games, obviously here at home. And now, finally, we know each other. I love the camaraderie and I think we're there in terms of the maturity and understanding what it takes.

That's what I see, too. Other than Miami, because they're guard-heavy and there's a reason cliches are cliches because there's some truth rootin' didn't. They have those guards that can carry you through a tournament. Other than Miami, there's no team I'd give a better chance of getting to the Final Four of being a national title contender than Duke right now. That's now won five in a row, and it should be six, if not for the debacle in Charlottesville where Kyle Filipowski wasn't allowed to go to the line at the end. No team in the league has more talent than Duke does. Three, maybe four first-round draft picks on this team, plus Jeremy Roach, plus a couple of transfers, including a guy I think is gonna win six-man of the year in Ryan Young. The team has all the makings. Last night was the final test right before the calendar was set to flip to March, and Duke passed that test.

Last night was proof that they are ready to be in that national title discussion. On Twitter, at wsjsradio, if you want in. I was at Cameron, WD, Will Dalton, our executive producer. Was at Wake Forest, Boston College last night. Sheesh.

Yeah, that's the best way to describe that. We can talk more about that game in just a little bit. WD, picking your calls at 336-777-1600. On Twitter, at wsjsradio is where we're also streaming video in addition to YouTube and on Twitch. We've got Doobie Brothers tickets that we'll be giving away on today's show. 50th anniversary tour that they're on.

Your chance on social media to win tickets to go see Guns N' Roses. Darren Vaught's gonna drop by, so there's a lot for us to do. But this is some news regarding the Carolina Panthers. After connecting on the phone prior to arriving in Indianapolis, the Panthers and Derek Carr met at the combine last night. And there seems to be a disconnect between the perception the football world has of what kind of quarterback Carr is and what signing him might signal to the rest of the sport. There seems to be a misperception between that and how the Panthers view Carr.

And this is what I mean. Fans and media see Carr as a stopgap quarterback, a win right now guy. Meanwhile, the Panthers, after listening to Frank Reich and Scott Fitterer earlier today, they see Carr as a long term option for them, which is interesting because Carr turns 32 later this month. Put that in perspective versus the other quarterbacks that were not long term answers Carolina has brought in in recent years. When Carolina brought Sam Darnold in, 23. When they brought Baker Mayfield in last year, 27. Five years younger than Derek Carr. When they brought in Teddy Bridgewater three years ago, 27 years old. Derek Carr is 32 yet.

There isn't that mercenary vet short term tag that's being attached to him, as Frank Reich pointed out when he stepped to the podium a couple hours ago. Whatever decision we make is, you know, what is best, not just for this year, but you know, you're looking on horizon. You know, obviously, if you draft a guy, you're looking at a very long term horizon. If you get if you go free agent, if we go Derek Carr, I mean, the nice thing with Derek is, you know, he's going to be 32 years old.

So, you know, it's kind of prime quarterback years. So there's still a good five year window. Five years. That's an interesting way of putting it. Five years.

That's the window that we're talking about. And here's the thing. He's not wrong. Five years. It is a long time in this league. His prime.

He could play till he's 36, 37 years old. The way that he plays the position a lot different than, say, bringing in Cam Newton or bringing in Lamar Jackson even. He's a pocket passer that doesn't really age poorly.

Not at all. So you could see that guy lasting for a very long time, the same way that we saw Matt Ryan. His game looked pretty good until it fell off as he approached 40 years old. So when Derek Carr signs, whether it be with Carolina or the Jets or with the Saints, don't expect it to be a one or a two year deal. It's probably going to be three or four years.

That's what we're looking at here. Five years. It's interesting that Reich brought up that number because in the NFL, if you make it five years at a job nowadays, if a quarterback's playing beyond five years in the league, that's not viewed as a failure anymore. That's viewed as success because of how quick, how hyper speed things have become with how you better win.

What have you done for me lately? We saw it with the Eagles. Doug Peterson, he won a Super Bowl in Philly, which they never won before.

And yet he's out of a job just a few years after that. Here comes Nick Sirianni and with the new quarterback and with the new head coach, Philadelphia is playing in the Super Bowl this year. The biggest sell with Carr is this. He's a free agent. Unlike Sam, unlike Baker, unlike a quarterback, if you wanted to move up and secure one in this draft, it's not going to cost you draft picks. You want to pick up Derek Carr, you can do that. It might cost you a pretty penny. He's probably going to be looking for north of thirty two to thirty five million dollars a year.

That's probably what you're going to be talking about, if not a little bit more than that. But you're not going to have to expend draft picks in order to bring them in. And you got a lot of picks. When you bring in Christian McCaffrey or you trade away Christian McCaffrey, you trade away some other parts like you can on the cheap, build a roster around Derek Carr in addition to what you already have. By drafting these guys versus having to find more free agents. It's starting to become the best option, I think. I'm talking myself into Derek Carr being a better option than drafting a quarterback and trading up to get one.

Really, the only one. Bryce Young doesn't feel obtainable. Carolina's not going to get the number one pick. They're not going to get in front of Houston either with the number two pick. So your best hope is I really like C.J.

Stroud. I think he's worth taking. I think he could be a franchise guy, a future answer at quarterback. I don't really see it with Levis and Anthony Richardson.

There's just way too much risk there. So Carolina, if maybe the best option available is still Stroud, if you can, if somehow he falls to number three and you're able to trade up with the Cardinals to take him, maybe that's still the best option with him being on a rookie deal. But the Derek Carr option is not a lot worse. And Carr, that's a lot better option than Jimmy G. A lot better, a lot less risk than trading for Lamar Jackson.

And even though he's 32, it's a long term option compared to giving up everything that would be required to bring in hypothetically an Aaron Rodgers when he's 37, 38 years old. So that's it's a little bit different of a perception that the Panthers have of Carr versus what the rest of the football world has. Shout out to W.D. for his graphics work yesterday. Right before he watched Boston College in person face Wake Forest in college, he put the Boston College face on a tuxedo.

It was a lot of fun to make. The Grammy Awards getting a lot of attention, the Josh Grammy Awards from yesterday. And predictably, Carolina fans want every award. Nobody is allowed to win awards other than Carolina guys. Nope. They're like, we're fine with Ty Appleby being in consideration.

We understand that. Maybe Kyle Filipowski, but Reece Beekman winning defensive player of the year. No, it's got to be Leakey.

Not even close. Ty Appleby, his team's not even going to make the tournament. Armando Baker, player of the year.

Armando. Even though Joe Inardi has North Carolina as the first team out and might not make the tournament as well. Doesn't matter. Carolina guys, they need to win the award. Now, here's the thing. I would be perfectly fine if Baycott or Leakey won those awards. I would be.

No problem at all. But it's always funny to me when somebody has a differing opinion. Oh, clearly your bias is out in your ABC.

Oh my gosh, it's so clear where you stand. Because I picked the Virginia guy to win defensive player of the year. You know, the best defensive player on the best defensive team in the ACC. Well, North Carolina ranks 11th in scoring defense.

Oh, but Josh adjusted defensive percentage. The Tar Heels are actually third. OK, where's Virginia ranked? First.

Got it. Now let's do our weekly ACC rankings. It's not a joke when I say this is the most shake up we've had in one of these rankings the entire season. And that's saying something because I think the last one we did, you said that this is the most shake up where in the top five in the five through 10.

Shake up all over the place. So this is right before the ACC tournament. This is the end of the regular season. My top 10 teams in the ACC. We call it critically acclaimed and it starts with number 10, Syracuse.

Gross. It's either them or Virginia Tech. They are inseparable teams that have disappointed down the stretch, both of whom have bottomed out a bit or at least hit bottom for their standards. Syracuse blown out at home last night by Georgia Tech. It got so bad they were playing man to man.

That's how bad it got for the orange. Syracuse reluctantly in the top 10 at 10. Number nine, Wake Forest.

Without Damari Monsanto, this is where they belong. This was always going to be a bridge season, though. In the preseason, I picked Wake Forest finished ninth in the ACC and Deacon fans got mad at me. No, Josh, we're clearly a lot better than that. All I can think is this is a young team. I don't know how you can rely on so many unknown commodities, especially when they're younger than they were a year ago. And I think it's going to work out for Wake and that they're not going to have to sign six to eight dudes like they've had to the last couple of years this offseason.

I think you're going to get a lot of guys back and not as much turnover. That's why this year was a little bit of a bridge. Not to say that we're going to be bad. They were going to be fun and they were going to be competitive and right there on the borderline and making the NCAA tournament when March arrived. They played meaningful games in February. There's no doubt. But in the end, not as good as they were a year ago.

And last year's team probably should have made the tournament but was on the outside looking in. Number eight, the Boston College Eagles, Boston College. Back to back. Great wins.

Not good. Great wins. You beat down Virginia. And then you go on the road to Winston-Salem on their senior night and beat the Deacs. They were in control of that game. Shout out to Earl Grant.

It's happening again where BC got hot in March. We'll see what they are able to do in Greensboro because depending on how things shake out on Saturday, there's a chance they might get the buy. I can't remember the last time Boston College wasn't playing on Tuesday of the ACC tournament. Number seven, Clemson Tigers. They crushed NC State in Raleigh. As thoroughly as you can crush a team, especially on the road, against the team that made the tournament or is going to make the tournament. Twenty five point game at halftime, you win the game by twenty five, dropping ninety six in PNC Arena. Last night, nearly won in Charlottesville, but Virginia snaps the losing skid, figures out a way to win. Still, Clemson, it was a pretty good showing, in my opinion.

This is why I'm not done yet. This is what's interesting about the Tigers. Double buy in the ACC tournament is still likely for them. If they beat Notre Dame on Saturday at Little John Coliseum.

Yeah, they've got the double buy. They still might not make the NCAA tournament despite having a double buy in the ACC tournament, which is absurd to me. But the team they would likely get in their first matchup in Greensboro is Duke.

That's who they'd likely get next Thursday. And Duke's ranked in the top 30 of the net. So top 50 neutral site game.

That's a quad one. If Clemson wins its first ACC game against Duke. Well, then how could you leave the Tigers out when they're a double buy team in the ACC tournament and have the quad one wins against NC State and Duke towards the end of the year? Number six, the North Carolina Tar Heels. They are playing their best basketball right now, was tempted to put them at the number five spot here. Actually, you know what?

Last minute audible. We're gonna we're gonna put North Carolina up to the number five spot. Number six is NC State because the pack is dealing with its first losing streak of the season now to close the regular season. They get blown out at home and then they lose at Duke.

It's not really what you want. It's not what you want going into the ACC tournament. They don't play this weekend. So it's a full week off until we'll see the Wolfpack again in the night cap of the Wednesday slate in Greensboro.

Number five. This is where we're going to get to North Carolina again. The Tar Heels have won three in a row and the last two about as good performance as you're going to see from this team. When you talk about beating Virginia a quad one game and then following that up on a two day turnaround and shooting 14 of 29 from three on the road in Tallahassee.

Watch out for the Tar Heels. Pedigree matters. Laundry matters. What these guys did last year matters.

So these are things you've got to put into consideration when talking about what's possible for them. And that's why I'm calling the audible. A42 hot route and putting North Carolina at five. Number four. The Pitt Panthers. Right now, number one in the ACC standings. If they beat Notre Dame in South Bend tonight, they will have clinched at least a tie of first place, regardless of what happens against Miami on Saturday.

It's enough for Jeff Caple to win coach of the year, rightfully, considering where they are in the standings. But still have some concerns about some of these guys when March arrive. What's to Marius Burton going to be? What's Nelly Cummings and Blake Henson going to do? They're a top 14. They're a worthy double by team in the ACC tournament.

It's a wonderful story, but I can't move them much higher than four. Number three, which is weird to say because they beat Virginia earlier this year in the Oakland Zoo. We're going with the Cavaliers in the spot.

It's Tony Bennett. It's a team that's great defensively. It's a team you know what you're going to get are a lot of experienced guys. And after losing a few games in a row, they beat a good Clemson team last night in Charlottesville.

Really like the makeup of them. You can't count out Virginia. They're the highest ranked team in the AP poll for a reason. And they have the best wins out of conference, too. This is where Virginia belongs. Number two, Duke. Duke is second and critically acclaimed. They've won five in a row.

Should be six. They should have won in Charlottesville with Filipowski. Got the free throws there at the end. They're playing their best basketball. They're getting really good wins like the win against NC State. Can't wait to watch the game in Chapel Hill on Saturday with North Carolina. Duke has emerged into perhaps the scariest team in the ACC heading into tournament play.

Number one. But I've got to go with Miami as the most complete team throughout the season. Guys back from an only date team, an excellent proven coach in Jim Larranaga. Things I could say about this Miami team that I can't say about Duke as of right now. You've got the most complete guard in Isaiah Wong. You've got the best backcourt guards to generally win in the month of March. And from start to finish this year, Miami's been consistently one of the top teams. Can't say that about Duke. So we're going with Miami getting the nod.

That's been critically acclaimed for this week. Did I deliver on a lot of shake up in the top 10 there? Considering Boston College made an appearance first time in twenty twenty three that they made an appearance at the top ten. Congratulations to Earl Grant and company.

It's the drive with Josh Graham, WSJS. Let's take a look at what's happening at the ACC tournament in Greensboro right now. The women's tournament beginning today.

First round action tipping off with the triads. ACC team Wake Forest sixty eight, Virginia fifty seven. That started off ACC action. The Demon Deacons had Jewel Spear lead the way in scoring.

That really shouldn't surprise anybody. She had 19 points. A couple of double figure scorers for Wake this afternoon. Elise Williams had 16 as well. She's a North Carolina native.

The Deacs taking care of the Hoos to stay alive in Megan Jebia's first season in Winston-Salem right now. Second half just beginning between Pittsburgh and Clemson and Clemson's beginning to open this thing up. Thirty eight.

Twenty three. The Tigers atop the Pitt Panthers. The nightcap on ACC Network starts at six thirty, where Georgia Tech faces Boston College inside the Coliseum. They've got point spreads on this. For Georgia Tech, B.C., Georgia Tech's a one point favorite, I guess, over under one twenty four and a half.

If you're betting on first round action of ACC women's basketball. Now might be consider this an intervention. That maybe you might want to. Look inward a little bit.

Look into the mirror. Just a thought. This is a segment where.

We don't try to shame anybody. We just try to make people feel good. It's the midweek point or it's the mid way point of the show. It's the midway point of the week. It's hump day. We've got weekly positivity here.

And to try and amp up what's already one of the best segments we do each week. Your chance to win Doobie Brothers tickets. 50th anniversary tour.

They're coming to Greensboro in September. We have one pair of tickets. If you'd like to win those tickets, you got to call in and tell us something good in weekly positivity. Oh, yeah. You ain't got the lie, Craig. Three three six seven seven seven one six hundred. If you'd like to tell us something good.

And at the same time, when Doobie Brothers tickets, that just seems to be an added bonus in this exchange. W.D. Happy March. Happy March to you.

It's March. And there's no better place to experience March than right here in the Triad, where we've got ACC women's tournament basketball this week. Where? In Greensboro.

ACC men's tournament in less than a week. Where? In Greensboro. And then the NCAA tournament.

First and second round. Where? Greensboro.

That's Greensboro. Good. Who am I going to? I think David Clemens wants to tell us something. Does he want tickets to or no?

He does shocker. Dave, tell me something good. Hey, Josh. Happy March Madness. Hi. Oh, man. It's a tandem that we're speaking with right now.

Wow. JT, we're going full March Madness here. David Clemens household. We're excited for ACC tournament for men's basketball tournament. The week following that here in the Greensboro Coliseum. We're going to be betting all next week.

All the following week. We're going into degenerate mode. We're betting over unders. We're taking underdogs. We don't care. Do you have thoughts on the women's?

Do you have thoughts on the Georgia Tech, B.C. women's basketball game? Georgia Tech's a one point favorite and the total's one twenty four and a half. Give me the over. Let's go and pull for some points. Yeah.

Coast wings on the way. Yeah. It's March, dude. Let's gamble and eat good.

Yeah. Pound the over Georgia Tech, B.C. women's basketball tonight. Enjoy the Doobie Brothers. If it's Dave and Clemens wife, watch the over. There it is.

Yes. I mean, that cash. That's been Dave and Clemens. Tell me something good, W.D. Well, I'm excited because again, I get to watch this movie tonight.

I'm also I'm also going to watch the first episode of The Mandalorian tonight. And they drop the entire season or do they just do it week to week? They do it week to week. That's obnoxious. It's not like Outer Banks where they drop the whole thing. So I was kind of surprised to hear that.

It's a little obnoxious, if I'm being honest. I can't think of any shows that I have to wait a week to watch anymore. I don't have any of those. Then again, I don't really watch TV shows. Oh, wait. The only TV show I watch is one I have to wait every week for. So I take that back.

I'm a huge fan of The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. So I'm sorry. I guess I am.

One of those that has to wait from time to time. Are we going back to the phone? We are. Tim in Knoxville wants to tell us something good. Hey, Tim, tell me something good. Tim. Hi, Tim. I think maybe he just wanted to tell me something good over here and then he left. Is Tim not there?

Maybe he didn't want to tell you something. Tim! No, no. No, Tim. What does Tim have to share with us?

There's breaking news as this is happening. The Carolina Hurricanes just brought in a player that there's no chance I'm going to be able to pronounce on air. None. A lot of vowels, W.D.

I just DM this to you. Tell me how you pronounce this name that the Carolina Hurricanes just traded for from the Arizona Coyotes. His first name. You know what?

Actually, let's make this a team effort. I'll do his first name. You do his last name.

It's on your Twitter DMs. First name, Shane. Last name. Gostis Baer. That's actually pretty good.

Or I should say pretty good. Who's back? Is it Tim in Mocksville? Tim! Tim, this better be better than the Canes trading for some guy named Shane Gostis Baer. Seems pretty good. Hi, Tim.

I'm back, brother. I'm having knee surgery in two weeks. I can get out and hopefully start playing a little bit of ball again. How are you as a pickup basketball player before your knee got hurt? I was pretty good. I'm 6'5".

And when I was playing ball on a regular basis, I was maybe 215 to 225. And I was pretty decent. Kareem hookshot over people? What's your game? My game was fast cut and digging in the post like Barkley. There you go.

The round mound of rebounding. Tim in Mocksville joining us here. Have a great week, Tim. Thank you.

Thanks, brother. That makes me feel good. If we don't have anybody else to go to, we do have somebody else. Let's go to Kurt. Kurt. Hi, Kurt. Kurt, where are you calling from, Kurt? I'm in Jamestown today. OK, because usually W.D.

tells me the name of the town people call from. And I thought Kurt was just being a little Kurt with us, frankly. No, Kurt. I can expound.

Yeah. Tell me something good, Kurt. Spring is sprung.

The flowers are everywhere. And the best thing about it. I saw a butterfly today. Wow. And that's been weekly.

It's an excellent observation on Kurt's part. I saw a butterfly today. Spring is sprung. ACC basketball takes center stage in the month of March. The ACC women's basketball tournament going on right now. Wake Forest already a winner today. Clemson just wrapped up a game against Pittsburgh in an hour. Georgia Tech will be facing Boston College out at the Greensboro College. So that's something we know. But how about college baseball, where we have we will have ticket giveaways throughout the season for Wake baseball, who right now is ranked number five in the country.

Darren Vaught joining us will answer unusual questions with Darren as we do every week momentarily. But if we're going to broaden this across the state of North Carolina and Darren, you're going to be on the call this weekend for Wake baseball action that we will be giving away tickets for momentarily. Are the Deeks and my East Carolina Pirates, who, by the way, swept the North Carolina Tar Heels in a home and home over the weekend, are those the two best college baseball programs right now in North Carolina? I think, look, Wake is far and away the best, the most talented on paper.

One hundred percent. They are it team in North Carolina right now, as is indicated by their top five ranking. There are a lot of good teams, ECU ninth in the country currently, but they got they got shut out by Duke last night. I mean, that's an unusual loss for them because Duke's trying to bounce back this year. The pirates are good. They're going to be good. One game like last night does not upset that it's a long season.

The Deeks are are the best. I would say, yeah, East Carolina is the second best. But, man, North Carolina has got a chance to be really good as long as they can shore up bullpen issues. NC State has looked really good through this the this eight game start to its season. The Wolfpack could, by the end of the year, be the best team in North Carolina. We all know about the smaller guys using my air quotes like Campbell and UNC Wilmington and high points actually got a pretty decent team this year. They're bouncing back in Big South play. So, look, the long story short is there's a lot of really, really good college baseball in North Carolina.

No excuse for you not to catch some of it at some point. You had to bring up the game from yesterday. I almost don't want to mention the fact now that speaking of NC State off to a great start, Elliott Avent was on Darren's podcast, ACC Baseball, etc. with former Tar Heel Danny Graves, not to be confused with Will Graves, as we've discussed.

That's a podcast that you should listen to if you're into college baseball. Let's answer unusual questions, why don't we? 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.

This is what I want to do. Darren, do you know off the top of your head who Wake Forest is playing this weekend? I know they have Cornell and I forget the others, but I can look it up really quickly. Yeah, Purdue, Fort Wayne on Friday and then Ball State on Saturday.

So three games this weekend. If you want to go see the Deacs, all you have to do is call us up and ask us an unusual question. An unusual question could be sports related. It might not be sports related. Three, three, six, seven, seven, six hundred. It's our version of a ask us anything type of proposition here.

And if you participate, you got tickets to Wake baseball watching the number five team in the country play. And I'll give you an example of what an unusual question might sound like. Darren. There's a song by Eric Church called Give Me Back My Home Town, where in the song, he admits that his high school hangout was at the local Pizza Hut. What was your high school hangout in? I forget the name of the town you're from in Virginia.

It's OK. It's a nowhere town, rural retreat, Virginia. It's a great question because there's not many options. We have one stoplight, a handful of dairy farms. There's the local grocery store called Food Country USA that a lot of my friends worked at. So probably the parking lot of Food Country USA would be like the hangout.

Yeah. And Eric Church is from Granite Falls. So right down the way from the Triad. So I'm sure we can pinpoint what Pizza Hut he was talking about in the song. W.D., what is your what was your hangout here in the Triad?

Circle K was one. Me, my buddy, we'd go get slushies. See, I'm not even going to roll my eyes or laugh at that because for me it was sheets.

Yep. We'd hang out at sheets or like this was our idea of a night in high school outside of Youngsville, North Carolina. Hey, you want to go to Wake Forest, North Carolina, grab ourselves like a Coke or something and walk around Target? That was our Friday night. Let's just walk around Target.

No, I get it. Barnes and Noble was a night. When I was in high school, got a sheet in the neighboring town. And now that you mentioned sheets, that sort of became at that point the the new hangout. So I think sheets is a more appropriate answer for me. If you've got an unusual question.

Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one six hundred for Wake Forest tickets. Darren going to be on the call for this weekend's action. Darren, what's your unusual question? Do you guys have a movie that as a kid was scarier to you than it than it actually is now? Like if you go back and revisit and watch it again. Yes. So I introduced We're Back to someone within the past week or so. Do you guys know of We're Back? It's a cartoon movie, dinosaurs.

Yes, I'm aware. They're in a museum and they come back to life, right? Well, I think there are some scenes in that movie that were pretty terrifying to four, five, six year old Darren. Whereas now I went back and watched it and it's just kind of weird and off putting. It's not scary, but it's just I don't know.

It's just not a good movie. For me, I was 10 or 11 when the movie Signs came out, the M. Night Shyamalan movie. That's kind of a scary movie, but I remember when the alien walks across the like home video that wrecked me for a long time. It yeah, that that messed me up.

And Secret Window, the ending, the twist at the end of that movie with Johnny Depp and him eating like a corn. You stole my story. That's that. That's right.

John Turturro. Uh huh. Uh huh. That movie.

W.D. has no idea any of these people outside of the Amber Heard trial. Do you know anything about Johnny Depp? Yeah, he's Willy Wonka.

He's Willy Wonka, Darren. He's in other things. I mean, you didn't even say the most obvious one that you clearly know. Pirates of the Caribbean. Yeah. I thought that was disqualified. Jack Sparrow is disqualified. Yeah. I thought that was the most iconic role.

Yeah. One of my favorite. I'm not going to be pretentious and say, oh, you don't know fear and loathing in Las Vegas.

I'm not going to do that. Oh, you're not into what's Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow. Public enemies. Public enemy. Public enemy is a group. Public enemies is a movie with Denzel.

I mean, what's your movie titles? It's so funny. He's watching Friday tonight, Darren.

He's watching Friday for the first time tonight. Oh, good. OK. No, that's a good one. What's your unusual question, W.D.? Well, I actually have a nomination from our good friend, former producer of this show, Robert. Oh, my goodness. Robert Walsh was always he used to have like on his notes app. Uh huh.

Like a dozen more than that. Unusual questions that he just go back anytime he'd think about it. Now that he's not here anymore, I can say this out loud. Probably not when he was here, when he was under the influence. He would come up with ideas for unusual questions and just write them down in his notes app. So I'm fascinated to know what question he might have. He asks, why do chefs wear those big ass hats? To quote him like that can't and I'm quoting him right now, like that can't be safe.

What happens if you're making a reduction sauce and the hat falls in because it's just too heavy? Is it to give the rat more room to do his thing? End quote. It's a great question, but I'd imagine the answer is style. It's distinctive. It's stylish, right?

I don't think it's a practical use. Why did Abe Lincoln wear a top hat? Was that the most efficient type of hat wear to have at the time? Probably not. But what's funny, I don't think the chef's hat wear has evolved.

No. Right. I think people still like associate the hat, that type of hat with the chef.

Meanwhile, we've kind of phased the top hat out outside of Wake Forest baseball, basketball or football games for the Demon Deacon. Anything to add on that, Darren? No, I just it's it's it's a fascinating question. I mean, I'm just wondering, like, what's the space up there for?

Right. Like, I'm I'm perplexed. Robert Walsh asking a world class unusual question that we struggle to answer. Yeah, there's just a bunch of air in there. Like, what what did you need that type of hat for? Why weren't they wearing like, you know, like Kangol hats? Excellent question, as always. Darren, have a great call for Wake Forest baseball this weekend, my friend. Yeah, I will see you guys.