Does It Mean More? (9-2-20)

Welcome into your Wednesday afternoon. However, and wherever you are listening, we appreciate that. And I want to go against the national perception right now for something.

And I get it. When it comes to national perceptions, we all do it. We make the mistake of making assumptions. Like, assuming Philadelphia sports fans hate Santa or that when the U.S. hockey team beat the Russians that that was the gold medal game. It actually was the silver medal game. Robert, did you know that?

Why did they make a whole movie about it then? That was the big upset. They still had to take care of business, I think, against Norway. No, it was Finland. One of the Henga Dinga Durgan countries. I don't think Finland could be classified as a Hema Durgan country.

Henga Dinga Durgan. Oh, gotcha. Let me do one that's not sports related. Fortune cookies. Did you know they don't come from China?

They actually come from Japan. See, you told me that earlier and it blew my mind. Crazy, right?

Read that earlier today. And in college football, I think there's a national perception that the SEC, it just means more. The SEC, it's always better than the ACC and it always is going to be. And I think because of that SEC hype machine, nobody even thinks about questioning it. There was that stretch where they won all those national titles consecutively. And there were people alleging SEC bias with the way they covered the teams.

I don't really buy that because it was warranted. They're that kind of good. But even at the risk of having Kentucky or Bama fans set my car on fire, I think the ACC is just as good as the SEC this year.

Maybe even better. Hear me out. This is my case. When you look at the top of a conference, that's generally how it's defined. You're usually defined by what you are at your best. And the SEC, that's always been the discussion. Other conferences could have more teams go to bowl games, maybe be better top to bottom. But the SEC was always seen to be better because, okay, you got Bama and Saban at the top, LSU winning a national title last year, Georgia's really good.

You fill in the blank. There's a lot of parity at the top, a lot of teams that are really strong. But this year, I think the ACC goes toe to toe with them. You got the title winning powerhouse on both sides, Bama and Clemson.

Then you have a team that's really close, but hasn't knocked over that final barrier yet, hasn't gotten over the hump. Notre Dame, now in the ACC, and Georgia. Georgia blowing that game against Bama in the title game a few years ago. Notre Dame getting blasted by Clemson in the playoff and getting blasted by Bama and the BCS national title game in the last decade. Both those teams are really close. Both of them are top 10 ranked teams preseason, and I think it's warranted. Then each conference, I think, has a team that serves as a dark horse in college football. Florida with Kyle Trask back, Dan Mullen is the coach. Really good skill position players, always a really strong front seven. I think they can make a run at it. I really do. They don't have to play Bama in the regular season. I think that matters. I think continuity on the coaching staff and at quarterback, it's a key thing, especially this year.

More on that in a bit. North Carolina, for many of those same reasons, you got the quarterback, you got the coach, 10 of 11 starters back on offense, Jasser Rattle on defense. They can make a run at it. They're not ranked as a top 10 team in the country right now, but North Carolina, in my mind, is.

I think the talent level matches that. Don't buy into the AP poll preseason. You got LSU at number five, even though Jamar Chase has opted out. They don't have Joe Burrow. They lost their offensive and defensive coordinator, or I guess this is, I should say, co-offensive coordinator to the Panthers and Joe Brady. They lost their DC. They lost Clyde Edwards-Allaire, key defensive players too. LSU just isn't a top 10 ranked team this year.

They're not that good. So they're not at the top of the SEC. The ACC has better quarterbacks.

When we're judging quality of play, usually that's where we go first. Who is the best quarterback in the SEC? Is it Mac Jones at Alabama? Because I don't think so. Is it Kyle Trask at Florida?

Maybe I'll buy that. Jamie Newman just opted out on the season at Georgia. JT Daniels is going to have control of the wheel this year. Meanwhile, when I look at the ACC, remember I was talking about the importance of continuity on the coaching staff and having a veteran quarterback come back. Since spring practice was limited, things have been upended in many different ways this year.

I think that matters more than ever. Andy Staples, he was trying to find all the teams that are playing this year where they stand in that category. Continuity on the staff, running the same offense, having a veteran quarterback returning. And what he found, 8 ACC teams check those boxes. 8 ACC teams have the veteran quarterback and the coaching staff returning. Only 6 in the SEC, 4 in the Big 12. So the ACC is looking really strong there. Then you look at touchdown passes last year. Among players expected to play this year, returning quarterbacks, the ACC has the top 3 in touchdown passes.

Sam Howe who had 38, Trevor Lawrence had 36, Ian Book had 34. To find the next SEC quarterback, or the first SEC quarterback, it's Trask and he's 16th on the list. So the ACC has an advantage at quarterback. I also think the middle of the ACC is deeper. So once you get past the very top grade, I think there's more in the ACC than there is the SEC.

The perception, it doesn't meet that. I think this is the issue with the way college football is covered. When Kentucky is good, remember they were a top 10 team?

They had dudes like Josh Allen, not the quarterback but the linebacker. Kentucky, they had players. And when they were 9th in the country, the media said, Oh, how about Kentucky?

What a great story this is. However, when Virginia or Wake Forest is ranked in the ACC and hasn't lost a game, it's not covered the same way. It's, look how bad the ACC is. Where Wake Forest and Virginia, those are the best teams they have not named Clemson. That is where the hype machine matters. That is where perception matters.

I try to cut through those things. The ACC had 10 teams qualify for a bowl last year. And I see 10 teams I think could be pretty good in the conference. And the SEC only 8 qualified and, fittingly, I only see 8 teams I think are pretty good this year in the conference.

8 out of the 14. So I don't think it's crazy to suggest that this year in the ACC, it just means more because it might be just as good, maybe even better. Than what's in the Southeastern Conference.

Your thoughts are welcome on Twitter at sportsubtry at 336-777-1600 is the phone number if you care to chime in that way. Staying in college football, NC State and Virginia Tech, they have the two most passionate football fan bases in the ACC. Or at least two of the most passionate fan bases. Don't want to say that without a doubt with absolutism that they're better than Clemson or Florida State.

But they are loud. So I don't think it's a coincidence that the job security of Dave Doran and Justin Fuente has been brought up more this offseason than any other coaches in the league. Maybe even more than any SEC coaches either. Under normal circumstances, I'd probably buy some of that pressure being there.

But in a pandemic year, I see it completely differently. Dave Doran and Justin Fuente, they're not going anywhere anytime soon. Everybody is getting a pass this season, and they should! No spring practice, disrupted fall, Doran wasn't able to practice all last week essentially. He had opt-outs. Caleb Farley seemed to be a first-round pick for Virginia Tech.

He's not going to play this year. And when you ask people who are making these decisions on buyouts and getting rid of coaches, administrators, you're talking about university presidents and ADs. Look at what their goals are for this year. Because I think for most of college football, heck I'd argue all of college football. The goal isn't to win the trophy at the end of the year. For some teams it is.

The goal is survival. When the Big Ten's not playing, and the Pac-12, and some of those mid-major conferences, they're not even playing ball. From an administration standpoint, athletes' health, just keeping them safe, playing the season, getting it finished, and collecting that television revenue, those are the three things that matter most.

Not wins on the field. The financials in college sports are such that I don't know if it's feasible to pay massive buyouts. Justin Fuente, it would cost $10 million if they did so before December 15th this year.

Then I see the story out of Raleigh. Mark Gottfried is suing because he hasn't gotten his buyout payments from NC State. So I think most of these programs, they're strapped right now. Not being able to have attendance at games, or at least very limited attendance at these games. I don't think they're going to have the expenses to let a coach go if they want to.

I don't think they're going to want to. They just want to get a season in. And I think the team should be better too. Virginia Tech, excluding Caleb Varley, has 17 starters back. NC State, just really devastated with injuries, particularly in the secondary.

That doesn't generally happen back-to-back years. Devin Leary, he seems to be the guy at quarterback. I think NC State's going to exceed some expectations. All right, let's go to Rod in Jamestown, who wants in here on the ACC and the SEC.

Rod, what do you have for me? Do I have a case here of the ACC this year stacking up with the Southeastern Conference? You absolutely have a case. And the one thing I wanted to bring up, and I bring this up to SEC fans a lot, and they don't like it, but it's the truth. Back when they really were winning all those championships and really set them apart from everyone, it was not an even playing field because of the great exceptions with their recruits and bringing in their scholarship players. Yeah, to hold you up real quick, there's higher academic standards, no question, in the ACC than there is the SEC. Absolutely, and when you would have a player, give you an example, you could have Georgia Tech with 25 scholarships available. And the school would say, okay, we're going to give you five great exceptions, which means a player who otherwise wouldn't get into your school.

We'll give you five. At Georgia, if they had 25 scholarships, they would give you 25 great exceptions. There was a big talk about that back then, and Nick Saban and all those coaches fought against it. And that is one of the reasons why they had so many better players than other conferences, because it's like they didn't really care, and they just let anyone in. And that's an unfair playing field.

I get the argument, thanks for the call, Rod. I leave academics out of it because the SEC would easily come at you. If you want to say, hey, Wake Forest doesn't bring in Jukos, they play at a higher academic standard than Georgia, they'll say, we got Vanderbilt over there in a corner, okay? Like Vanderbilt, they have high academic standards, too. And also, whenever you're talking about college football on radio platforms such as this, of course, academics matter, and we love academics. But when people were talking about their teams, they're not saying, yo, bro, did you see what the Deacs or the NC State grade averages this quarter was?

This is crazy, man. Yo, nobody got cut for academic reasons, bro. They do love to throw ECU into the EZU category, though.

That's my least favorite insult that gets thrown that way. Yeah, you are listening to WSJS Winston-Salem, WCOG Greensboro, WPCM Burlington, WMFR High Point. Those signals make up sports sub triad. Ryan McGee of ESPN, I'm interested in his thought on it, because if anybody's going to be reasonable on the subject, it's the guy who grew up in Raleigh whose dad is a referee, rooted for NC State, now does work for the SEC network as he went to the school at the University of Tennessee. So if I'm going to find anybody in the sports media who's completely reasonable, I'm somebody I'd like to think I'm reasonable in telling you the truth as I see it, but maybe I'm biased, being right in the heart of ACC country with Greensboro right in our backyard. Meanwhile, Ryan McGee, well, he's seen both sides of it, but he does a lot of work with the SEC network.

So who knows? He has a show on the SEC network. That's somebody we might get the other perspective on at 5.30. Got some breaking news to get to in college football. Former Wake Forest quarterback Jamie Newman, who transferred to Georgia, is opting out of the 2020 season. This is according to Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports. Obviously, he was expected to start at Georgia, but there was more competition coming in in the way of JT Daniels, who transferred in from USC this summer. He's a younger player.

He got his waiver, so he's eligible to play. I don't think there's going to be significant drop-off in terms of what their potentials are, Newman and JT Daniels, but a pretty big headline there. I should also mention accsports.com. You can find right now Brian Geisinger and myself putting out our predictions for player of the year in the ACC, coach of the year candidates, heck, even freshmen stars to keep an eye on in the ACC, our predicted order of finish 1 through 15 to accsports.com, you can find that.

And we're now being joined by our good friend Brian Geisinger from accsports.com, a triad guy, done work broadcasting high point basketball. In addition to that, he knows more hoops than anybody else I know, and at the same time watches the NBA more than anybody I know. So I want to talk about Chris Paul a bit.

And I want to have this conversation now because what happens is, if by some chance he loses tonight to the Houston Rockets, there are going to be people who make it a large, narrative-driven discussion based on one game in one series what Chris Paul is. Of course, he has the track record of not going to the Western Conference Finals in his entire career, let alone the NBA Finals. I still think he's a top five point guard if he continues trending up in NBA history.

He looks like he's going to be top three in assists. I don't think lack of playoff success should really be what defines Chris. What do you think his legacy will ultimately be, assuming he doesn't get a title in his latter years?

Yeah, I mean, look, I know for some people who, all they care about are rings. I mean, that's somewhat of a deal breaker and that's always going to be used as a punch line with Chris if he never wins a title or whatever. But we've got to be able to step away from that and recognize this guy as, yeah, likely to end his career as one of the five greatest point guards in the history of basketball, the best point guard of his era, the best point guard of the post-Steve Nash era, maybe the best point guard of the post-Magic Johnson era, the best small guard I would say since Isaiah Thomas, arguably one of the greatest defensive point guards in the history of basketball, one of the best mid-range shooters in the history of basketball. He's a guy that in terms of career steals, career assists, is going to rank guys like Stockton. He's going to rank very closely with guys like Jason Kidd, John Stockton.

I mean, these are legendary names and the advanced numbers on Chris Paul are ridiculous. He's on par with a guy seriously really in a league with only LeBron James, maybe Durant as well too over the last decade plus in terms of just how dominant and impactful they were on a possession by possession basis. So yeah, Chris's bona fides are incredible and I think even the last couple of years, he's been so darn good in the clutch. He was the most efficient, high-usage clutch player in the league this season that I think he's even proven some of the doubters that they used to bang on him incorrectly for being a bad clutch player. He's always been a very good clutch player and very good in the postseason too. So look, if you want to bang on Chris Paul, you've got an agenda. His resume is incredible.

It speaks for itself. And yeah, he's going to be one of the greatest to ever do it. Do you not consider Steph Curry to be a point guard? Yeah, I mean, Steph Curry, God, it's funny because these positional distinctions are so arbitrary sometimes. I don't mean to put you in a Coach K-like position where he... No, I don't number my players.

No, no, no. Steph Curry, he guards opposing point guards largely and he handles the ball a fair amount. So yeah, I would say Steph Curry is a point guard.

That's the thing. He and Chris are in this conversation. I guess maybe the better way to phrase it is that over the last decade, Chris Paul has been the top five point guard or guard in the league every single season.

Almost regardless of how you want to distinguish those things positionally. And look, the fact that if you use game seven of a first round series against Houston to do the thing to ding Chris for, it's hilarious because the fact that Oklahoma City is even in this position is incredible. And Chris is sort of like, of all the guys that have had a role in Oklahoma City's season, there's no one that's had more of an impact than this guy to get this team to the playoffs, to get them to the fifth seed, and to get them to a game seven against a better, deeper, more talented team is incredible.

Follow Brian Geisiger on Twitter at bgeis underscore bird, accsports.com, League Pass Lair broadcasting some high point from last year. He knows his hoop. Staying with Chris, though, do you believe if he does lose tonight, this is going to be the last game he plays with Oklahoma City? Oh, it's tough to say no.

I will say no right now. Because of some some some very serious existential factors concerning the NBA right now, which is next season is uncertain what that will look like. The loss of revenue from this season, the projected loss of revenue from next season. Where does the salary cap land? He's already got such a huge salary that even when the cap was expected to continuously grow year after year, that contract was looking tough to move already. Now, you know, how many teams would be interested in taking on a salary like that? How many would be capable of taking on a salary like that?

It's not easy to work a trade. I mean, certainly Philadelphia is a team that has salaries that they could use to match to acquire Chris Paul. But how many assets are they willing to attach to, say, Al Horford's contract or whatever, so they could get Chris to Philadelphia?

That's something I'm certainly interested in. During the middle of the season, there were rumors that perhaps the New York Knicks were interested in picking up Chris Paul. I don't I don't really see a lot of logic there. So, yeah, I will say Chris Paul back in Oklahoma City.

But look, there's some it's no one knows quite yet. And a team like Philadelphia should be doing everything it can to try to reacquire Chris Paul. And look, even if Chris comes back to Oklahoma City, who knows what next season will look like? Danilo Gallinari, also a free agent this offseason. But I'll say no.

I'll say Chris Paul starts next season in Oklahoma City. Well, BG, great stuff on ACC Sports dot com. Appreciate you spending the time here. We got B. Dot in studio now.

Let's catch up sometime soon, BG. Thanks for doing this. Yep. There you go.

That's Brian Geister, ACC Sports dot com. How's it going, B. Dot? Coolin'. Feeling good about our bet tonight? You know, I'm feeling about our bet tonight.

I don't know how I'm feeling. Houston, OK. See you later on tonight. Dinner on the line. Me and B.

Dot, we had this set from the beginning of the series. We'll get back to basketball in a bit because Teddy Bridgewater day by day is winning me over, Robert. Like he's letting us know what time it is the moment he walks on the field.

And here's how that sounded. What time it is? What time is it? Kickass time. That's the time it is. That's right. You like that?

Hashtag print the shirts. I feel like I want to change this show's name to Kickass Time. It's so goofy, though. Like if Jamis did this, we would be demolishing Jamis. But we like Teddy. I don't hate Jamis. I don't know where the hate came from.

Florida State. Yeah. The allegations against Jamis. Which were proven not to be true.

Actually, they weren't. The police just didn't interview Jamis and they dropped it. You can find the details. There's a lot of reasons to dislike Jamis.

I mean, so it was dropped. Yeah. I mean, the yelling of things, the stealing of lobsters. Crab legs. And nobody cares.

Yeah, if he stole some crab legs, like, oh, this is just goofy to me. You don't like this right here? No. Y'all know what time it is. What time is it? Kickass time. That's the time it is.

You tweeted it. It sounds like he's Bobby Boucher. He does. He does sound like Bobby Boucher. But I like that in my quarterback. You like Bobby Boucher in your quarterback.

Yes. Bobby Boucher won the Bourbon Bowl. Don't you remember?

I do remember, but he wasn't a quarterback. I like the energy behind what he's saying, but I don't like the way he delivered it at all. All right, let's hear that again. Y'all know what time it is. What time is it? Kickass time. That's the time it is. About to kickass time. That's what time it is. It didn't sound like he was ready for somebody to ask him what time it is. Yeah, yeah.

So he just went to the most obscene thing in his mind at that moment. We're going to kick some ass. That's what I'm going to do. And you're a quarterback during a pandemic. Nobody's getting close to you. You're throwing the football to people.

Whose ass are you kicking? Hey, Teddy Buckshot been going at folks, though, man. On Twitter, he's been talking a bunch of trash. I like the energy he's bringing at the quarterback position.

It's totally different from Cam. Teddy Bridgewater telling us that it's kickass time on a Wednesday drive. Up next, how a ring can even upstage ring night. This is a Wednesday drive. Anytime David Tepper speaks, news comes out of it. He's talking to reporters in Charlotte right now. And you let me know what's the most newsworthy thing of all of these comments.

VDOT is in studio with us here. Here he is on releasing Cam Newton. Quote, it was a very difficult decision. We really respected Cam. We still do, obviously. We wish him the best in New England. Problem with COVID and not knowing what was going on put us in a very difficult position with his salary.

That is one year, $21 million left on it for 2020 before he was let go. Tepper talking about potentially having fans at games. There aren't going to be any fans at the opener against the Rams in 10 days.

Or, excuse me, the Raiders. Quote, it's going to be hard to not have fans in the building if all our division rivals have fans in the building. Seems to be an interesting quote there. And this is the first time we've heard Tepper talk to reporters since the Jerry Richardson statue went down. So he was asked about that to kick things off. And he said that he had to do it for safety reasons. He said, quote, it's a safety issue because every statue in the country was coming under attack. He said they made a fast decision and it was the right decision from a safety perception. Did he say about the relocation of that statue?

He had not talked about the relocation of the Jerry Richardson statue. So there's a lot coming out of this. It's time for grammar school, which is one of our favorite segments of the week. BDOT pitching me some turns.

You should know this. It's my girlfriend Sarah Bradford's favorite segment. This week, we're celebrating our one year anniversary together. Really?

Really excited about that. Thank you. Look at you smiling. Here's the thing. Check you out.

Virgo love. We were going to the beach last weekend and she apparently, I felt so bad about this, I didn't really want to, when I get done with the show, I don't want to hear my shows. I don't want to listen back to it. I'm checking out of work. I don't want to hear myself.

Vacating. But on the way to Myrtle Beach, she apparently had saved every single one of these segments that was done. And she wanted to quiz me on the words.

Are you serious? And she had like a chart and stuff. I didn't realize she did all this.

I just I don't want to hear myself. And then afterwards, I felt terrible when I realized how much work she put into. Are you serious? She did that. That is awesome.

Sarah Bradford, I cannot wait to give you the biggest hug. But is that cheating? No. It's not cheating. Because we don't have any reviewers today. All right.

No reviewers. It would have been all for naught anyway. Let's dive right in to B Dot's grammar school. Josh Graham has his own way of speaking.

In high school, he didn't play sports, but he did wear a helmet. And just when you think it can't get any worse. My English teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high.

Thanks a lot. Next semester, I'll be 35. Josh is going to attempt to learn B Dot's vernacular. I'm from the old school. I got all the street knowledge. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying? It's time for B Dot's grammar school.

Yep. This segment, I give Josh five words or phrases used in the urban vernacular. And Josh just simply has to get three out of the five correct to advance for the day. How did you do on the quiz with Sarah Bradford on the way to Myrtle Beach? I never did it. Never did the Quran. I shot it down thinking it was just a suggestion.

When she actually, in fact, did a lot of homework. So I felt like a massive jerk face because I am one. I've been telling you that for months, Josh. Nevertheless, very simple, no review words today. Your very first word is a G pack. What is a G pack? How's it spelled? G hyphen P A C K. Okay. Did that help? Yeah. It does help knowing it's not P A C rather than P A C K. Well, that would have been G Pac as in Tupac. Easy be that.

3 3 6 7 7 7 1 600 is the phone number. It seems he's having some trouble knowing what you're talking about. So you all know what I'm talking about. G Pac. What is a G Pac?

Josh Graham. G Pac. So it's a noun.

I know how it's spelled. Just him breaking it down. I love it. I love it.

And Sarah Bradford's like, see, that's why you should have done your review words, Josh. Yeah, that would help me with G Pac. I think it might have something to do with your abs.

So is it like, does G stand for like gangster and Pac like your abs? Absolutely not. It's horrible.

It's pretty bad. The answer to this question is the Jerry Rice for all sports trivia. Anytime you don't know what a question is, go ahead and tell them the explanation. It's drugs. G Pac is packaged drugs worth $1,000. It's street ready packaged, whether it's coke, heroin, crack, weed. It's drugs. All right, get the doubt. Every week I strike out on one.

That is the Jerry Rice. This should be part of the game. Every week, know that one of the five that he gives me, the answer is going to be drugs. It's so funny too because Josh will be like, is this drugs? And we're like, no, you're so stupid. How could you not know? It happens each time. Like me guessing it's drugs, there are people thinking that makes me racist. When in fact, every week, one of these damn answers is drugs. We got to keep so many different variations so we can elude the cops, bro. Can't have 12 on our tail.

Good to know. What does it mean if someone says they ate that? Oh. They ate that. Like if you fall down, you ate that. Like you fall down. Oh, man.

Like if someone falls off their skateboard and they go head first into the sidewalk, they ate that. No? No. I mean, kind of.

I know. Yeah. Kind of.

You did it like the white guy skateboarder. Like, oh, he ate that, bro. Yeah.

Like if somebody punched you in the face and you come back for more. Oh, he ate that. He ate that. That's different. I feel like. Nope. Nope.

That's different. If I punch you in the face right now. Trauma to your face. Yes. Ate that. But the point is not that you got hit or that you hurt your face.

If you would have said, and after you hurt your face in the skateboard, you jump right back up and go do it again, then you ate that. Wait a minute. It's about responding well to it? Yes. Correct. Okay.

It's responding well to it. Very well said, Josh. All right. You got to get this, Josh.

Now, this right here is one of my boy Robbie's favorites. Oh, no. IIWII.

IIWII. Oh, I know this. It is what it is. It is what it is, Josh. Okay, cool. It is what it is. It is what it is. There we go. We're on the board right now.

I'm feeling really good. Committing this act in a spades game could get you punched in the face. Wait, that's not a word. Yes, it is. It most definitely is. This act?

Committing this act while playing spades could get you punched in the face. You can come to me if you want to. You're not asking me for a word in this sense. Yes, I am. It is a word. Yes. Oh, I bet it is a word, but usually you ask me what the word means. I mean, basically, he's just bringing this to you like, have you ever played spades before? Yeah.

Okay. Okay, if you played spades before, then you know this word. You know the cardinal sin, and this word could get you punched in the face. Robert, I'm going to go to you. The word is renege. The word is renege.

Re-nig. Yo, you... Yeah, if somebody's like, okay, there's no way, you already laid that down, and then you check it, you're for sure getting... I've been in plenty of games where somebody's like, I've played spades before, I've played spades before, and they try to call it, and I'm like, what are you doing?

Bro. It's like somebody calling Neil when you're already like, I can get you five books. Hey, reneging will get you punched in the face. So what does renege mean? Re-nig means when you play a card, but you... All right, all right, so for example, we're playing spades, and you want to win the book, so you play a spade to cut the hearts or the diamonds or the clubs. But you had one of those cards.

But you really have a heart or a diamond or a club. You laid spades out of turn. Out of turn, that is renege. Reneging on the spades. Okay, so reneging essentially is doing something in a game that you're not supposed to do, like doing something out of turn. Well, just spades, just that particular situation that he brought you.

Yeah, you do it to win a book. It's such a specific word that you're giving there. You're making this impossible for me to put in a tease. But he said you played it already. I'm telling you.

I mean, you could use re-nig in other ways, but we're on the board now. All right, thank you. Yeah.

Comes down to this. That's why I don't help him. You hear that thank you?

That was not genuine. No, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Now, here we go, Josh. I want to just tell you this.

If someone reneges over and over, be very careful if you call them a re-nigger, okay? All right. Final word here for you, Josh.

Is everybody okay? I thought that was funny. Last word is chonky. C-H-O-N-K-Y. Chonky. Chonky.

This is for the winch. O-N-K-Y? For the win, Josh. You've gotten two right, two wrong.

Told you what words never to say. If you get chonky right, you win. If you don't get a caller, I'll give you a hint. I want to tell you what it is. No, I'm not breaking the rules. It wouldn't be breaking the rules. I'll call in if you want me to. I'll call in if you want me to.

What kind of ridiculousness is that? I might need a hint. You probably do. On this one. Chonky. Chonky. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Chonky. It really does come down to this.

It does. This is going to be incredibly difficult. Obviously, you'd believe it's some variation of chonky, but there's an O in there for reasons that perplex me right now where I would obviously need some help. Let's go to the phones. Robert in Kernersville, what do you got? Hey, Josh.

Big fan of the show. I wanted to help you out on this chonky situation. Some people describe their cats as chonky. Some people describe their girlfriends as chonky.

They might get hit in the face, but chonky is being fat. Okay. Gotcha. Thanks so much. Who was that? That's Robert in Kernersville.

Appreciate the help. That's Robert in Kernersville. That's Robert in the damn studio right there is who it is. No. What the heck are y'all doing? What is this? It means somebody's fat. Chonky 100% means fat.

Massive. Usually referring to a girl's buttocks. Oh, that thing is chonky. Chonky monkey. There you go. Chonky monkey.

Yeah, yeah. I do call my cat that now. He's gained a little bit of weight since we adopted him, and he is a big chonky dude. He just lays out in the window sill. He's chonky.

He chonky. Now, Josh, what do you call someone who reneges constantly? Don't. A bad person. Somebody I will not play spades with. Not gonna play spades with that person anymore. Not gonna do it. Not gonna do it. Not gonna do it. Not gonna do it.

Not gonna do it. All right, here we're gonna go. Oh, at this point, if this is your first time listening to Grammar School, at this point, Josh has to use all five words or phrases that he's learned today in a teaser for the next segment. This is a hot take that people are gonna assume, like I just got G-packs on deck for having people. What? I mean, this segment, it is what it is, man. Facts. Right?

There's no way I'm gonna work renege into this. But now I think that's a really dangerous word to even say that I don't even want to say it again. What else do we have here?

Oh, I'm really... See, here's the thing. I am like just struggling right now, but like I'm trying to eat it. Trying to eat it.

I'm struggling right now. I need to get this tea. No, don't. No, no.

I'm gonna eat it. All right? All right.

And if you don't agree with me, if you don't think I'm doing this well, you're just a chunky monkey. No. No. No, no, no.

You made it impossible. B-Dot, thanks for being here. Thanks for having me.

Let's go. Yeah, the ACC. They're stepping up to the plate, man. I think it's a real argument.

You could say they're better than the SEC. Yeah, I said it. It's next on the drive. What are you talking about? What's he talking about? I'm talking about the one and only Josh Graham on Sports Hub Triad. September 15th, those support our good friend Ryan McGee of ESPN and his new book coming out, Sidelines and Bloodlines. We had on Papa McGee, Jerry McGee a short while ago, a few weeks ago, and actually that was just last week. That's crazy.

Time's just melting together, I guess. He told great stories. Ryan's getting me together with his brother to talk about some more football stories because he's a Wake Forest Demon Deacon alum and was at the 2006 Orange Bowl game. So there's a lot of stuff to get to regarding this book and I have no problem promoting it because you're a tremendous storyteller yourself, Ryan. But before we get into great stories regarding college football, you are a person I rely on for being objective when it comes to the ACC and what they bring in football and the SEC considering your work for the SEC network and you also being somebody who's the literal son of an official.

That's the point of the book here. You were an NC State fan growing up, you grew up outside of Raleigh. I think the national perception's always been, each year, that the SEC is the best football conference and generally they've proven it. But I think this year, the ACC, when I look at it, at the very top, now that Notre Dame's in the league, I think Carolina, like Florida, they could be a dark horse team this year.

Notre Dame, they're a team knocking on the door, sounds a lot like those Georgia Bulldogs who have never been able to break through, Georgia trying to deal with Jamie Newman opting out earlier today, it seems JT Daniels is going to be the quarterback. And then you got the national power, Bama and Clemson, the top, I could see the ACC going toe for toe because I don't think LSU is going to be all that this year with everything they lost after winning the title. Do I have a case this year with the ACC, particularly at the top, being comparable with the Southeastern Conference? I mean, you do. My argument has always been that the strength of the conference, every conference has like the one playoff contender.

I mean, they really do. You think about the fact that the Big 12, as long as Oklahoma's doing what they're doing, that's a playoff contender. You know, the Big 10, Ohio State is a playoff contender. You know, USC obviously, or excuse me, the Pac-12 has issues, but there's typically one team that's at least, you know, sort of in the conversation. And so, you know, the SEC always has at least a couple of teams in that conversation. So what I've always said is, yes, you all have the one team that's a national title contender. And obviously, for years, it was Florida State, and now it's Clemson. Virginia Tech was in there for a minute, but the question for me always is, how strong are you in the middle, and then how bad is your worst team?

Because if your bottom couple of teams are just abysmal, then, you know, you got issues. So that's the question is, I think the wild card is, you know, who's going to step up and join Clemson in a national conversation? You know, and I'm with you. I think Carolina very quietly could do something. I think that, you know, Florida State's got some work to do, but I think they're closer to being back than we thought.

You know, everybody's, Manny Diaz has been a friend of mine for 25 years. You know, I want Miami to be relevant again. So the question is, you know, how good are you in the middle?

But yeah, but if you're just taking it off the top, I mean, closest is the number one team in the country. Are you still not adjusted to the fact that Notre Dame's in the ACC? No, no, no, it's amazing.

I mean, it's just a temporary thing, but it's great. I'm a Notre Dame. I love Ian Book. I love him. And people in the list of Salem, you know, I was there when Ian Book kind of had his coming out party, you know, for the nation against Wake Forest. I wrote a big story about him last year. So yeah, I think he's great, and I think Notre Dame's great. I think they got a chance to be really good.

And I'll send this to you. It's hard to put a positive spin on the pandemic, but sports-wise, people are trying things that they would have never had the guts to try if everything had stayed quote unquote normal. You know, baseball using these goofy base running rules, and NASCAR running midweek short track races, and, you know, everybody's trying different things. And the stuff we're seeing with college football, it's all the things that we never thought we'd actually get to see ever. And now we're getting a taste of it, and I would love to see Notre Dame and Charlotte in the action game.

I think we all go off the chart. Follow Ryan on Twitter at ESPN McGee, the book again, Sidelines and Bloodlines. And also McGee's going to be back in the studio in the lodge on SEC Network with Marty Smith for Marty and McGee coming up this weekend, right? Yeah, man.

I'm going to have to put pants on. I haven't done the show. So we did a press release for it, and our public relations extraordinaire Amanda Brooks called and she goes, I need a quote, you know, for going back in the studio.

I said, yeah, so I'll tell you the quote. I'm excited about getting back to the studio. I said, because I've done the show from my truck. I've done the show from my basement. I've done the show from my porch. I've done the show from an apartment over my uncle's garage in Boone. I'm excited to get back in the studio, but I will have to remember to put on pants because none of those other places I had to do that.

Very good point. Let's get to some stories now. You grew up a state fan, as I mentioned.

You went to Tennessee. Those are two of the most passionate fan bases that in the last 20 years doesn't have a lot to speak for for their passion. And I respect the fan bases for being passionate, despite some of the heartbreaking kick-in-the-nad type losses that they've suffered. What is the most upset Ryan McGeese been as a fan because of a single game?

Oh, that's easy. Nine to six. To this day, if you go to any of my college roommates from Tennessee and you just say nine to six, they will reflexively, they will try to punch you in the face because it was my sophomore year at Tennessee, and it was one of the greatest teams no one remembers because that team went nine, two, and two. That team had Alvin Harper and Carl Pickens, and it had Chris Mims and Chuck Smith on the end.

It had Dale Carter. I mean, it was just the most ridiculously coveted football team, and that team went nine, two, and two. And the most painful loss in there, it was a loss to Notre Dame, and there were two ties.

The tie to Colorado and the kickoff classic out in L.A., which my roommates and I drove to from Knoxville to Anaheim, and watched a freaking 31-31 tie, and then tied Auburn on a missed field goal. But nine to six, Alabama had started the year 0-5 that year. It might have been 0-6, and Tennessee was a top five team and had a chance, should they win that game, they would have been the number one team in the country because I think Miami lost earlier that day.

High-powered offense, all those future all-pros I just listed on that team. And final score was nine to six because the offensive coordinator, Phillip Bulmer, decided he wasn't going to throw the football at all that night. And an Alabama team that was brutally terrible won that game, and I think it was either seven or eight in a row, Alabama had won over Tennessee at that point, so yes. And then, for my state fandom, it would be listening to Wally Osley call the NIT loss to I think it was Murray State the year after the 83 national championship.

But hold one sec, you're talking about the losses, you're describing the sports scene that I could easily Google, give me how mad Ryan McGee was when Bama beat Tennessee nine to six. I got through my girlfriend out of my dorm room because we got back to the dorm room and we're all just sitting there just devastated. And my four best friends in the world, I still about texted with three of them today, and we're all sitting around our dorm room watching the late games and sports center or whatever else and a few girls were sitting in there and finally one of them said, it was a girls date, and she said, I don't get it, why are y'all so upset?

She goes, it's just a game. And then we escorted them to the elevator and told them they could go get a pizza on their own. They didn't need us anymore. Was that the end of that relationship? Yes.

So, yeah. I told Gene Stallings that story, he thought that was, Gene Stallings told me, he goes, I'm pretty sure you're not the only guy that broke up with his girlfriend in Knoxville at night. So Phil Fulmer's... And I told him, I said, I'm pretty sure some girls dumped some guys from that offense in Tennessee too after that game. So Phil Fulmer and the offense, their strategy that night ended a relationship for Raya McGee.

100%. Oh, that's great. Speaking of great stories, the last time you were with us, you told us about how Minnie Minoso was sitting at a bar and barely sitting as he drank every ounce of alcohol that Hickory, North Carolina cared to serve after one of those recognition of the Southern League legends in minor league baseball way back when, when you were doing work with the tourists. I feel like I'm at the point where I'm asking you to give us stories and it can't possibly top the one you've done before, but you keep on coming through. You keep coming through with these great minor league stories. And now that it's become a thing, every time you join us, you give us one of these stories, you now have ramp up time to potentially think of something. So what do you have for us today? Oh, you know, I keep talking half joking with you that I'm going to have to have you go back and find the recordings of me telling all these stories.

Half joking? I already have the audio pulled, Raya McGee. That's the book I want to write next is what, what do you do with that? I remember, um, it wasn't necessarily a story, but yeah, all right, so Jack, we got him Jack LaMabe and Jack LaMabe was the pitching coach for the Asheville tourists in 1994. Jack LaMabe had two claims to fame. Jack LaMabe is, um, the last baseball coach at LSU who couldn't win. Um, well, he was a baseball coach at LSU prior to Skip Burtman being hired at LSU.

And immediately, as you know, turned LSU into the prototype, you know, modern college baseball in the, uh, in the late eighties. Um, but Jack LaMabe's other claim to fame was that he was a starting pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. And in the famous year of Denny McLean versus, um, uh, versus Gibson, uh, in the world series, what do you call it?

67. And, uh, Jack LaMabe lost game six and he was sitting in his locker, like drinking cause he was so bummed out. And he said that Bob Gibson came up to him and he said, don't worry about it LaMabe because you just made me the MVP of the world series.

And of course Gibson came back and won game seven. And uh, but I tell you all this, I say all that to tell you this, is that Jack LaMabe by the time he got to us in 1994 was a shell of his former self. And he was your classic, like constantly red face, bulbous nose. Never didn't have a beer in his hand. You know, why am I coaching in low A ball, you know, guy, great guy.

But I'd never forget. And we would, we would have to, when the beer guy came and delivered the beer to the ballpark, all the kegs, they would give us like a palette of Miller Lite and part of your postgame routine as a front office worker for the tourist was to make sure that Jack LaMabe had a 12 pack in ice in his locker after every home game, 71 home games, drank one, drank it every night. And uh, but LaMabe's claim to fame was we had a kid named Jamie Wright, who was like new pollution.

He was the bonus baby. And then we had a big first round draft pick from the Rockies who was sent down, uh, Burke was his last name, was sent down to get his head right. And this thing took over the entire pitching staff where they couldn't see home plate. Like they, they would go to Jack LaMabe and say, I can't see home plate. And I heard Jack LaMabe go off that, that famous, uh, the manager in Bull Durham, when he flips out and throws all the bats in the shower, all that stuff, Jack LaMabe, he took a baseball bat and took almost the entire bullpen down in right field because he started telling these guys, I'm not an effing psychiatrist and you guys aren't effing aliens. And there's no way you can look down there and tell me you can't see effing home plate. And he went down and pulled home plate out of the dirt and threw it at him and that was it.

And then he went to his locker and drank all night. So Jack LaMabe, I tried to tell Bob Gibson that story in Omaha one night and Bob Gibson did not want to talk to me. Bob Gibson doesn't really like talk to anybody, but, uh, I thought maybe I could get him with the Jack LaMabe drunk home plate story.

That's terrific. Uh, Ryan, good luck with the book. We'll have to get your brother on. Uh, is there anything specific I should be asking your brother about as a tease for something maybe next week or the week following? Yeah. I mean, you got to talk to him. He was there during the greatest year in the history of Wake football, which was the pool and weed eater and the tennis ball run under, uh, under Dooley.

But uh, but you need to ask him about the trick he used to play on his roommates, uh, whenever an ACC officiating crew was in town and prior to the game, my brother would always pull this trick on his buddies and it got him every single time. All right. Got that written down. We'll follow up on that at a later date. Ryan, thanks for doing this buddy. All right, boys. Thanks. There you go. Ryan McGee, ESPN on Twitter at ESPN McGee, bloodlines and sidelines or sidelines and bloodlines going to be out on September 15th. You can find it on Amazon. Heck, I think you can pre-order it right now. So support the people that support us. Ryan's about as good as it gets.