Inconsiderate Festival Goers (5-1-23)

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 taking the wind out of my city. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. You are on a Monday Drive WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad where since the NFL Draft is officially in the books, it feels like everybody has grades for their favorite teams today.

Which doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. We're not gonna know how any of these drafts panned out until years from now. Part of the reason why we've developed the tradition the Monday after the draft attaching grades to drafts the past three or four years.

And we'll do that a little bit later on in today's show. But the process usually goes Monday you have the draft arrive and everybody has the grades. They're years too early. But then when it is time to grade those classes everybody has another draft to grade immediately after the fact.

See how that works? The Carolina Panthers draft will be defined exclusively by Bryce Young. That's it. Even if Jonathan Mingo and DJ Johnson go on to become Pro Bowlers on an annual basis. This class will not be viewed as a success if the quarterback doesn't hit. Full stop. But now that Bryce is here and he's gonna begin rookie minicamp this week, it's clear Carolina was the perfect destination for him to end up. We now know where the other destinations could have been. Look at the next three quarterbacks where they stopped at.

Where they ended up at. CJ Stroud. He goes to Houston. Is there a more dysfunctional organization in the Houston Texans?

How many consecutive years have they fired their head coach? And the guy they just hired is a first-time head coach who happens to have a defensive background. That's what CJ Stroud is stepping into.

How about Anthony Richardson? He's going to Indianapolis. Another rookie head coach. And the Colts last year, second worst in the league in sacks allowed.

Will Levis taken in round two. Tennessee takes him. Pro Football Focus says they have the worst offensive line in the sport.

Mike Frable, he's a defensive minded coach. It's a mess at quarterback. They got Malik Willis and Ryan Tannehill.

Nobody really knows what's going on there. That doesn't seem like a great spot to step into. Meanwhile, Bryce Young, he's gonna have all five starters back on the offensive line. Plus a pretty experienced collection of offensive coaches.

Frank Reich played the position. This isn't his first rodeo as a head coach in the league. He's a winning coach.

We know what he is. You've got Thomas Brown from the Sean McVeigh tree. You've got Josh McCown who started in this league as your quarterbacks coach. Jim Caldwell in there helping as well. You've got Parks Frazier as your passing game coordinator. They've poured so many resources into getting this pick and finding coaches to surround this pick and make sure that the pick is successful.

Here was Frank Reich talking about that support system. In the quarterback room there's a lot of power that goes into that room. A lot of work that goes into that room. You know really the main voices in that room are Thomas Brown our offensive coordinator will be Josh and myself.

There are other people in the room. Parks Frazier you know will be in the room as our pass game coordinator. You know Jim Caldwell will be involved and really what we do is kind of divide and conquer.

Everybody gets kind of assignments on the work that needs to be done to help prepare the quarterback and really help prepare our offense. That was Frank Reich over the weekend. There isn't a better organization for Bryce Young to end up at because there isn't an organization that cares less about his frame than Carolina does. Scott Fitterer who's gonna be a guest on this show in about 25 minutes. Make sure you're around listening or watching at the bottom of the hour and catching the Panthers GM joining the show.

He was part of the Seattle Brain Trust that drafted Russell Wilson as you may or may not know. When you think about the Carolina Panthers you think about the stars that they've brought in over the last 28 years. The two most beloved players in Carolina Panthers history are both five foot nine Sam Mills and Steve Smith.

Both told they were too small to get it done and then they did. That's what the Panthers have had happen in their short history. Sam Mills going to an NFC Championship game Steve Smith taking this team to its first ever Super Bowl. The two most beloved players. Bryce Young's taller than both of them so is he too small?

Venture to say probably not. It's also an advantage that he ended up in the NFC. You look at the other three quarterbacks where they end up. Houston, Tennessee ended up in Indianapolis all in the AFC side.

That's where the murderers rose at. Patrick Mahone, Justin Herbert, now Aaron Rodgers goes from the NFC to the AFC. Josh Allen, all the great quarterbacks it seems like are in the AFC.

And where does Bryce Young end up? Not just the NFC but the NFC South. Give it a year he might be the best quarterback in the division. He might be the best quarterback right now.

We'll see. Let me ask the question now that Aaron Rodgers is out of the NFC who is the best quarterback in the NFC? Jalen Hurts? Is it Matthew Stafford?

And then if those are the top two who's next? Kyler Murray? Are we gonna go Jared Goff? You'd probably have to say it's Jalen Hurts I would imagine. Dak Prescott? If that's the list that's a great place to be.

The Panthers were the perfect destination so often these number one picks end up in terrible situation. Bryce Young has stepped into the perfect situation. That voice you just heard belongs to Will Dalton the executive producer of this show. Taking your calls at 336-777-1600 again on Twitter at WSJS radio. That's where we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and on Twitch. Give us a subscribe. Bang on that subscribe button on YouTube.

We would appreciate that. WD thanks for keeping this seat warm on Friday. I could see you didn't burn the place down.

I did it. Everything's still standing. The power didn't go out. The lights are okay. We're good.

Glad to hear. Congratulations to the Carolina Thunderbirds over the weekend too. Getting to the Commissioner's Cup final and while hockey is on the mind everything is breaking the Carolina Hurricanes way right now. Don't look now but all the things that could happen positively for them all the things that could have happened positively for them has to this point. WD do you remember the things we said had to break their way in order for Carolina to make a run to the Stanley Cup?

Do you remember? Did it have anything to do with Boston losing? We needed Boston some puck luck for them to lose in either round one or round two and they lost in round one. Round one. Big weekend for the Panthers.

If you're a Panther fan you get Bryce Young and then if you're a hockey Panther fan you knock off the Boston Bruins. They went down in round one. Good news Bruin fans though. At least it wasn't a failure according to Giannis. Not a failure.

There you go. Perhaps the greatest collapse in NHL history though. Losing to an eight seed, having the greatest regular season ever.

You're up 3-1 and you blow that. That is great for Carolina which means now they have home ice throughout the rest of the playoffs. Best record in the league. So as long as Carolina keeps playing they're gonna have home ice against whoever they play. And in round two which leads to the next thing I said needed to happen before the playoffs. You need a good old long series between the Rangers and the Devils and that's what we got. Seven game series. Game seven is tonight in New Jersey. The next thing they could need is New Jersey to win on home ice. Carolina matches up better with the Devils. The winner of this game.

You want to talk about a quick turnaround after an emotional long series? The winner of tonight's game will fly into Raleigh either late tonight or early tomorrow morning. We learned today game one for Canes, Devils or Rangers is gonna be Wednesday night.

That's when game one is gonna be. Huge quick turnaround and Carolina meanwhile is just enjoying a five-day layoff after Paul Stasny netted that OT winner to beat the Islanders in six. Somebody tell Las Vegas though. Vegas has not noticed. Pointed this out today on my social media.

I'm at Josh Graham Radio on Twitter. Carolina going into the playoffs had the six best odds to win the Stanley Cup. So you might think they would fly up the odds. Fly up the line a little bit with Boston losing. With the Avalanche losing. They had the second best record in the West. With the Lightning losing.

You'd be wrong though. They have the fifth best odds now. Send me that cash out, family. Best record of remaining teams in the league. Home ice the rest of the way. The Stanley Cup playoffs go through Raleigh. Fifth best odds to win the Stanley Cup. Okay then.

Okay then. Feeling very triad centric right now. Went to Merlefest over the weekend. Camped out there.

Probably wasn't the best idea given the rain in the forecast but we got through it and now we welcome in the pride of Winston Salem. Brian Geisinger joining the show to make us a lot smarter on hoop matters. We'll get to out precise the guys in just a bit. Let's start with the ACC very quickly though and more specifically what Hubert Davis has done in the transfer portal. A lot of guys that he's seen play his team up close the last couple of years. Paxson Wojcik was a guard for Brown who played in Chapel Hill. A couple of ACC guys. Jalen Withers from Louisville. Cormac Ryan from Notre Dame and then the most recent ad was Harrison Ingram a former five-star who played for former Carolina assistant Jared Haas or former Roy Williams assistant Jared Haas out at Stanford. He's out on the wing for the Tar Heels. What have you made of the decisions Hubert's made through the portal thus far?

I think they've been really good. I mean Harrison Ingram is an NBA type talent player. He's unique for a wing because he is sort of like a pass first guard with big size on the wing who can't really turn the corner. He wants to post up a lot but is really unselfish. Has really good vision and can be a bit of a matchup bully. I think there are a lot of creative ways that Hubert Davis can use him in some of their pick and roll sets. Some of their five-out looks. There's a lot of good ways to get a guy like Ingram rolling and it just I think it gets to the point where I think after the last couple of years where they were so dependent on Caleb Love and RJ Davis handling to Davis both very good players but Davis a smaller guard and Caleb Love inconsistent maybe at best and someone who even when he had his three-point shot rocking and rolling like was always a spotty to bad interior finisher so you have you have a bigger player like Ingram that can create can post up that maybe gives you some some more stuff you can do throughout the game and perhaps even in in sort of like crunch time situations and Cormac Ryan like we've seen his work at Notre Dame for a couple of years now like good secondary creator can give you some ball handling reps good perimeter defender can navigate screens can take away some of those tough perimeter matchups and he can shoot and shoot off movement like just like a really really nice like veteran secondary piece and I guess another former Stanford player at that as well or stop at in South Bend to emphasize the secondary point though it does seem like with him and withers they're finding players they're emphasizing put a premium on three-point shooting all these guys have been 40% three-point shooters at one point in their career or close to it Pax and Wojcik last year was 38 percent from three and putting a premium on passing the ball as well given how bad Carolina was at moving the basketball it seems that was important to Hubert and also these seem like guys that'll get the most out of RJ Davis and Armando Baycott in the post what have you do how intentional do you think those pieces are or what they're doing to try and elevate those guys you mean that had like Davis and in Baycott I mean that's gonna be like the backbone of this team next season so yes everything being brought in should be set up to amplify those two guys or at least in there you have a guy like Ingram that can actually make the you can take some of the playmaking load away so it doesn't have to be Davis just creating all the time adopted with the basketball like he could get off at he's an excellent spot up shooter has been for several years Ryan can do some of that as well if you remember with Jalen with Jalen withers like going back to his time at Louisville I will be fascinated to see like where he fits in at UNC because I always thought he was most comfortable three seasons ago now when he was a small-ball five as a redshirt fresh all that game he played in Cameron up close he was a really good small ball five in that game yeah got got to play with two good guards and you know that are like fringe NBA guys and David Johnson and Carly Jones that probably helped but each and every season since then he got further away from the center spot would play the four and that at times his past season or Kenny Payne would play some three so in like all of a sudden the you know the he can be a good shooter at the five but then you put him on the wing and you knobs and you need him to shoot so I don't know I'm still curious to see like where they get some of the stretch you know for shooting from in sort of what the role is with withers but these guys they brought in to bring in shooting to bring in secondary creation in a guy like Ingram that just like is a big-time talent ad it is a really really good pastor with size is uh is um it's pretty significant Brian guys figures with us here one more thing on North Carolina they have two more scholarships remaining you can assume they're gonna keep one open to prevent a Gigi Jackson situation like last year in the case somebody has a good summer out of this number one recruiting class they have next year and wants to reclassify but if Hubert was gonna use one more of those scholarships on a transfer is there a player that makes sense or a specific type of player that you would like to see Hubert at yeah I would just say a stretch for would be really be the one thing um because I think you can see some lineups where Harrison Ingram is playing the four and you that way you can really max out on ball handling and passing and there would be enough shooting in those lineups but Ingram's been a sort of like a spotty at best shooter though he has some good flashes shooting off of movement and a relocation and withers I think profiles as like a you know a four that should be able to give you some playmaking and some shooting too but that's been inconsistent at best I do think someone like Jalen Washington who's you know is returning as a sophomore perhaps he is that guy he certainly showed some ability to the space and to face up in the mid-range this past season those guys like Washington in Baycock could be a really good you know four or five pairing although I'm sure Washington will also see some time at the the backup center but my thought would be just one more front court shooter to help potentially open the floor around a Baycock post-ups and pick and roll with RJ Davis a few years ago you and I were sitting in a conference room talking about Steve Forbes after he brought in Alondis Williams and you wrote a story about what Steve Forbes I mean had identified for the portal and what he could potentially do Alondis Williams and he went on to be an ACC Player of the Year and one thing you and I discussed was don't overlook the fact that Steve Forbes has a JUCO background and was used to how fluid rosters can be so you and I then went through all the ACC head coaches their backgrounds to see who else could match that you know that JUCO element and there was one other coach that had some of that in his background and that was Kevin Keats who this offseason I don't know is it fair to say that nobody in the ACC thus far has had a better offseason at adding talent than Kevin Keats has had in Raleigh oh yeah I mean like what Duke did just like retaining guys sure like you know being able to keep Proctor and Mitchell and obviously Filipowski in house is big but yes State's done a really really nice job bringing in different players I've been doing a film dive on DJ Horn recently who I think will give them a lot of shot making and three-point shooting but they're certainly gonna need with guys like Turquoise beyond Smith and Jarkel Joiner out the out the door Jalen Clark I think is someone that can give them transition scoring perimeter defense in another guy that can be like a real weapon in the like the in the press frenzy state so I think Keats who not just like the JUCO element but go back to his time where he was the head coach at Hargrave Military Academy yes and you're having to microwave a roster each and every season look State's got some guys coming back and maybe a few that are sort of like up in the air right now but I even thought that Ben Middlebrooks edition bringing in another center from Clemson that could do some different stuff in the pick and roll and has good foot speed for a for a five like that was that was nice so yeah I think this has been a promising offseason for for Kevin Keats but they're gonna have to replace a lot you know I mean losing joiner losing to play beyond Jack Clark you know some other guys that have moved on or could move on so they needed there was a lot of turnover on the roster but it does look like the staff once again did a good job sort of identifying some needs and using the portal to check those boxes foot foot movement for Ben Middlebrooks is just a very nice way to say DJ Burns kept getting called for offensive fouls against Ben Middlebrooks and I think I think half of his offensive fouls last year came against Clemson so if you can't if you can't get around him with your best all a post player figure out a way to get him to transfer to your school you ready and in just the last thing too I would say with someone like MJ Rice like we'll just I just didn't get a play much of Kansas yeah so you really got to lean on your evaluation from him as a prep and and certainly like he was well regarded in that level I'll just be curious to see like where he lands in states rotation you know my guess is he'll play fastly between the three and the four but that beacon that can mean very different things for what state does with its pick and roll and pick and pop attack so I'll be curious to see how rice fits in next season as well getting from the college to the NBA portion of the proceedings it's time for me to try and out precise the guys Brian Geisinger is a basketball genius Josh Graham is not listen as Brian launches half-court shots and Josh well double dribbles all over himself and there's nothing you can do about it get off the bench and try to out precise the guys for those who are new WD's pulled some stats BG's big on advanced analytics and numbers to understand the game of basketball and he's also really good at helping us understand all of it too so to try and flex a little bit WD is gonna ask Brian Geisinger and I some very specific statistical type questions regarding the NBA and we'll see who gets the most correct here we go Steph Curry dropping 50 points it's the most in game seven history and the win over the Kings my question to you is what was the next highest amount points in a game seven Steph Curry has had in his career Oh Steph Steph Curry oh no I was ready I knew I know he topped Durant by two I was about to write 48 down and yep do that what was his next best okay I have a guess written down yeah just ridiculous shot making from curry yesterday um I will say let's go 38 I've got 45 written down 36 points that was in the game seven win over OKC back in 26 everybody's talking about the the sheer like number of points he scored because of that game seven record 38 shot attempts the most he's ever had in any basketball game that is playoffs or regular season I don't want to hear any more stuff about Oh Steph can't carry a team he needs Draymond and clay both those guys were bad yesterday and Steph carried them all right what's next all right so the heat they took game one over the Knicks yesterday Gabe Vinson pretty good day for him with 20 points yeah how many points per game did he have this season Gabe Vincent Gabe Vincent I'm going deep cut on you this is deep uh-huh and I'm a G knows it Gabe is turned into a nice nice like rotation piece for the heat the last couple of years as they just continue to get hot at the right moment um I am gonna say 10 points per game for Gabe Vincent this season I have 12.2 it is nine point four it's just not not my bag man I'm not doing that poorly but it's just you're running up against them the machine here what's next all right the Nuggets big statement win for them against the Suns in game one game twos tonight Jamal Murray had 34 points in that game hitting six threes what is his three-point percentage been across these playoffs Jamal Murray Jamal Murray the blue arrow he's incredible what a whatever you what a ridiculous pick-and-roll score call the blue arrow that's first I've heard it okay yeah that's nuts nickname the blue arrow okay oh and I think even going back to maybe to Kentucky but um I will say 43 and a half percent I got 47 it's 46.2 yeah I wasn't shut out BG took the game but I at least didn't get shut out on the way out I think it's fair to say Lakers warriors probably the most highly anticipated second round series ever like you're talking about yeah LeBron versus Steph and all those you know storylines what excites you the most from a basketball perspective about this though so I mean it endless supply of things how it really it starts with like how do the Lakers try to guard curry obviously like it's a team effort but you know they don't have a guy like Davion Mitchell that in the Kings tried at least around once just throw at throw at curry um and then I will also be fascinated to see like where the offense is for Anthony Davis in this key in this series and how often Golden State looks to go small with Draymond at five against Davis or how much unable just keep rolling with Kevon Looney who's been a just a monster on the glass but yeah I would say like who guards Andrew Wiggins for the Lakers what the coverages look like for Steph Curry who gets the primary assignment on Steph Curry and just how much small ball do we see from Golden State going for the next few weeks game one tomorrow night between the Lakers and the Warriors man you're a six seed and Golden State and you have home court advantage not a bad draw if you're a Golden State but but LeBron on the other side that certainly is not what you look for in round two BG it's good to see you thanks so much for making the time take care guys your attention please this is the drive with Josh Graham after winning his fourth ring last year Steph Curry made a pretty compelling case for being one of the ten best players to ever play in the NBA he does possess a trait that is he is the greatest at he's the greatest shooter in NBA history going when it's all said and done nobody's gonna be close in terms of three-point shooting how many threes that he's made but yesterday was not the greatest Steph Curry game ever because he broke the NBA record for game seven scoring he topped Kevin Durant with 50 points in a game seven more than anybody's ever had in a game seven that's not why because then you could roll your eyes and say Josh the guys played an NBA finals what's a round one series against Sacramento why is that special this is why yesterday was the greatest Steph Curry game that I've ever seen it's one of the few times we've seen in his career in the playoffs on a big stage that Steph was forced out of his comfort zone to play a style that he normally never has to play and he thrived in the role when his team needed him most and this is what I mean the record that he broke yesterday the career mark that he set yesterday that should be getting the most attention right now is not the 50 points in a playoff game in a game seven it's the 38 attempts by Steph that's the most he's ever attempted in a basketball game not just playoffs regular season two he had never attempted 38 shots in a game until yesterday pretty efficient on those 20 of 38 over 50 percent from the field but that's those are the most attempts he's ever had in a basketball game that's not the way he wants to play Steph wants to share it around look at the way he reacted when Klay Thompson finally got one to drop on the right wing and he's fist-pumping that four-point play at the end of the third quarter that's the way that Steph wants to play it at heart even though he's such a great shooter he's a point guard wants to share the basketball and get everybody involved strength the numbers he represents that better than anybody but he had to play differently out of necessity Klay didn't have it draymond didn't have it they combined for seven of 26 from the field yesterday so they needed to summon something out of Steph and it looked like pretty early on Steve Kerr knew it I think at one point he called a timeout there was one of those mic'd up things that they had where he's saying that he wanted to call a timeout just to give Steph a breather that's where things stood with the Warriors it's a popular knock on Steph when people say oh you can't have Steph is one of the ten greatest players ever they often take look at his supporting cast oh he won a couple of titles when Kevin Durant was there didn't win when he had the most regular season wins in 2016 they blew that three games to one lead what did he do he's never had to carry a team the way LeBron has the way that Michael Jordan had the way that many others have what would he be without that infrastructure of Kerr and draymond and and Klay and all of it what we saw it yesterday what would he have to do if he had to pull a Kobe Bryant and take a million shots well we saw it yesterday 38 threes or 38 threes 38 shots and he's over 50% of the field and wins in a game seven that I don't want to hear that knock again he's dismissed that knock and the details it only magnifies Steph's performance the Warriors have been atrocious on the road a bad road team that they go to Sacramento a good home team and win game seven by 20 and Steph summons this career game at the age of 35 years old 36 hours after game six losing on your home floor occurs that's amazing it's amazing so it's not hyperbole it feels like we're Monday morning quarterback it feels like you were being prisoners of the moment Josh is the first round series that can't be the best that we've seen of Steph I think it was I think it was because it put a lot of haters to rest it took away a knock from them it happened in game seven he did make some history he attempted 38 shots he was out of his comfort zone and put up a masterful performance a masterful performance Scott Federer he's gonna join the show in 10 minutes Panthers GM love talking to him after the draft rather than before the draft we'll have him on anytime but we enjoy the conversation and I think he enjoys the conversation more when the draft is over with so he could speak a little bit more openly than before the draft he'll be here in a bit and relating the two before I think it was game six Steph was doing his pregame routine and I noticed he started yelling out Bryce young Bryce young people are comparing him to Bryce because they're smaller guys and Steph he's a Charlotte guy huge panther fan he beat the keep pounding drum before the team rushed out onto the field for Super Bowl 50 and Santa Clara just a perfect fit since he's out there in the bay anyway so naturally Bryce had his first press conference as a panther and he was asked about staff Steph right now is he's got he's got he's got a lot on his plate right now to him obviously he's you know obviously he's focused and locked in on and on you know the playoff series he's trying to win but yeah I'm well aware and definitely have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a player and as a person I'm someone I definitely look up to and yeah I'm well aware of him being being a part of a part of the fan base so it's super cool do you have your Bryce young Jersey on hold did you already purchase one of them I know the way it works is you purchase it and then they ship it off after they know what Jersey number he's going to wear we still don't know oh is that how that works yeah they're not just gonna send you a jersey without a number or a number one yeah I guess you could get the draft night addition is it though yeah he's not gonna wear that number that's lame but to answer the question I have not ordered it yet but it's a rookie mistake is it though I'll get it soon enough gotta win best make it happen Steph super panther fan there from over the weekend though I was out at Merle fast and we'll dedicate Graham's grades this week to my weekend at Merle fast I'll save my thoughts on Merle fast for that at around 430 or so but even while sitting at Merle fast I could not escape this piece of sound that was the highlight of the NFL draft and it comes from the Dallas Cowboys which drafted running back Deuce Vaughn if you're like me chronically online always online you've probably seen this clip probably heard it already but Deuce Vaughn is a former running back of Kansas State he's now a Dallas Cowboy if you're asking why do I care about this Josh well Deuce Vaughn's dad Chris works for the Cowboys he's a scout so he's heavily involved in the scouting process the draft process and Jerry Jones who in addition to being the owners of course the GM of Dallas rather than him giving the call to Deuce Vaughn to let him know the news he let his father do that for him and this is how it sounded hey buddy it's going good this is dad my phone wasn't working look here man you want to come to work with me next week I don't know when I've been speaking for everybody that's really in the heart of the Dallas Cowboys is 10 here with a tear in our eye we're so happy to have on the Dallas Cowboys I can't thank you enough well what I really want to say you earned every ounce of me being able to make this call I'm so excited there's just something magical about this moment that may be bigger than we even realize here talking to you on the phone but you is now a Dallas Cowboy your daddy just hand the card in right here that's pretty cool from Jerry Jones and from Chris Vaughn and now Deuce Vaughn gets to go to work no chance it gets cut right just let us I hate to be that guy just let us enjoy this moment I don't think Chris Vaughn's gonna make that call no plus do spawns a good player so it is a really neat moment but it's getting a little too sappy in here somebody has to lie rain it in yeah rain it in well you like sappy that oh I am a sappy guy but I always I also like busting chops yeah you did rare combination rare skill set two four mmm yeah so it is pretty cool it's cool moment that that happens I love the draft calls I do it I mean I think the Panthers were one of the first ones every single one of those calls they would tape it and put it out there I wonder if they tell the players ahead of time though hey listen these are going out just no cursing or don't don't say anything people are gonna see this people are gonna hear this or is that now understood I don't think they do that I don't know I feel like they don't because I mean every single one of these just oh I guess that's a good point or you can bleep it yeah it's a good point we're in radio you know this stuff come on now look at you producing on the fly always thinking like a producer I appreciate that Graham only on wsjs big fan of Marin Morris who performed at Merle fest 35 over the weekend before we attach letter grades and Graham's grades from my weekend there which included Friday where WD filled in for me then shout out to the Carolina Thunderbirds they had quite a weekend to advance to the Commissioner's Cup packing out the Winston sale and fairgrounds annex I saw some of the video from yesterday when they clinched clinched listening to former sjs producer Brett Wiseman calling the action at the annex they had the double overtime win on Saturday another tight one yesterday we'll keep you posted on what's next for them in the Commissioner's Cup but congratulations out to those folks out in Winston Salem going up the road up 421 towards the mountain to Wilkesboro it's gonna be quite a month for that area you had Merle fest over the weekend and now we're a few weeks away from the NASCAR all-star race coming to North Wilkesboro boy is that gonna be a zoo focusing on the music though it's time for Graham's great every week is a test for your favorite sports teams who passed the test if one of y'all says some silly ass name who dropped the ball I don't know Josh Graham has the answers I think you're very condescending and a know-it-all time for Graham's great a through F the very good is what we start with then we get to that and then to the downright bad not a lot of bad from the actual music perspective if you've never been to Merle fest it is a treat now that I've been multiple years in a row a row now let's start with the very good first though hey Marcus King plus a surprise he was one of the two headliners on Friday before the a vets took the stage this guy's a full-blown rock star heard him on podcast knew of him just generally when you are a redheaded musician you know I hear about it as a member of the ginger redhead community tight-knit group that we have but this guy the blues folk bluegrass II country rock musician it's becoming a more popular genre it's him he's going right down the Sturgill Simpson and Chris Stapleton route a star really stood out to me but this was the surprise WD I showed my mom a picture of him what's this guy look like showed him a picture showed her a picture of Marcus King and it's a picture of him and his wife that made me do a double-take I'm like she looks familiar looks like somebody I used to intern with in radio like ten years ago you've seen interns in our business generally they're not usually marrying with all due respect country music stars that's not usually the path for the sports radio intern in Greenville America then in the middle of the show he brings out his wife to sing a song with him and says her name is Briley well that's a pretty distinctive name and it's the same name as that intern so then I text my former boss in Greenville uh did intern Briley bury someone of note oh yeah married Marcus King two months ago I was at the wedding two months ago in Nashville it was pretty lavish that's quite a way to find out that it was two interns at the building at the time me and Riley I now host the drive with Josh Graham and the triad and she's married to country music star Marcus King you can figure out who ended up in the better scenario but that was a surprise for me on Friday night be the Avett brothers just because it's expected that they're gonna be awesome and they were and they're so humble and down-to-earth and so relatable their musics that but their presentation on the show all together like you'd have no idea that right after that show in Wilkesboro they got on a private plane to Los Angeles to be a part of Willie Nelson's 90th birthday party from over the weekend which they were and that was pretty cool looking at some of the stuff from the Hollywood Bowl WD take one guess you have one guess in all of music who Willie Nelson brought on stage with him to sing roll me up and smoke me when I die Snoop dope that is correct mm-hmm Willie and Snoop got that done but getting back to the Avett Sam Bush every year I've been to Merle fest has been like a headliner on Saturday night before the big act comes out the biggest act that they attract on the weekend I think every year the Avett's or old crow medicine Joe should be in the lineup now I don't know if logistically you can make that happen but those are just perfect acts for this event because you cover a lot of genres including bluegrass and there's such a tightness tight-knit aspect to their familiarity with the event and what it means to them and the area that is just such a hit and makes it special to watch in person see Maren Morris now I like Maren Morris's music really do a lot of hits a lot of songs that you would recognize but this was a swing for the folks out at Merle fest I'll say this this is where it hit there were more girls who were teenagers or early 20s types at Merle fest than I'd ever seen that day who wanted to go see Maren Morris you want to get more people at your event different demos involved and it was a hit in that regard but the part where it kind of missed you had another huge bluegrass act named Cynthia and that was performing on another stage at the same time that if you're a traditional bluegrass fan and you're wanting to dance you're gonna go to that over watching Maren Morris and there was a significant amount of people that left where we were at not to leave but to go see Cynthia in during the Maren Morris at because Maren Morris doesn't even though she's country there's not much bluegrass in her arsenal so it was a little bit out of genre for her I enjoyed the performance I stayed till the end of that performance I'm a big Maren Morris fan and I also appreciate taking a swing but it was a swing that netted some successful things but also some stuff that probably wasn't the best for a headliner D a few inconsiderate festival goers wd this is not an F because what makes Merle fest special really it is the people that go to attend the event it's the only festival I've ever been to that I just feel safe leaving my chairs out on the lawn and going somewhere else we're leaving my blanket out on the hillside and not worrying about it at all everybody or most people very cordial very kind great to be around the performers they're receptive to it as a result they talk about it everybody who goes to the event they there's just a mutual respect there that's really cool and you'll understand only when you visit Merle fest but when you go to the first come first serve seating out on the grassy area of music events this is this could apply to Walnut Creek or whatever they call it in Raleigh now or certainly apply to Merle fast for most festivals that have a lawn area outside of the general seating that you can pay for if somebody shows up hours before and sets up their stuff don't be the person who rolls up during the start of the show finding a way to weasel with your way in to the front row of seats this guy and there were two there were three probably three sets of people I've seen do that I saw do this on Friday and Saturday night roll up as the show is starting and finding a little bit of space and just sitting their seats down in front of like a family of four right there that set up their stuff like at 10 11 in the morning and you just showed up there at 9 at night right when the thing started and then acting oblivious as if you didn't just do the biggest bleep hole move possible I I mean and also if you set up your stuff right behind these people don't then show up and put your chair in between the two rows but what do you think we're why do you think we put our stuff behind their stuff not for you to make room for you in between the two just be a little bit more considerate like if I know people don't show up to anything early anymore but if you're not there early don't then try to get in front of people who did show up early don't do that those are the bleep holes F rain at a music festival oh yeah bad wasn't it uh-huh it's well it's compounded by the fact we were camping now in logistics when you have five people like it was my brother and sister my mom and dad we tried to fit in one tent we did successfully and we successfully kept the dirt out of the tent too I don't know how we perform that magic trick it required some logistics late at night this is one of the instances I'm grateful they don't have alcohol sales inside of the music festival or else I don't know if we would have had the mint the mentals as Marshall Marshawn Lynch likes to call them in order to execute this properly but we did and it was a muddy mess out in the field quite a bit and trying to get concessions and such not anything that Merle fest can really control but compounded by camping rain at a music festival not the greatest thing at least I had my overalls and that's been Graham's grades Merle fest edition