A Golden App-Ortunity

Yes, Josh Graham has opinions. That's right.

And yes, he's got attitude. That's correct. And that's exactly why you love him. You wish I loved you that much.

You're on The Drive with Josh Graham. You are listening to a Wednesday Drive and I want to talk about college football because things are very fluid to say the least. But I've often said in chaotic times, I think those who adapt are capable of doing amazing things. Like I'm a history buff and I've always been in awe reading about the World War II era, seeing what American businesses did.

Companies are talking about like the Ford Motor Company producing tanks at a rate we've never seen in the history of the world, not just America. And you've seen a lot of other great stories about how we came together post depression, won the war. I love history.

I love reading about stuff like that. And this is going to be a history book type year. College football, it's been around for 150 years.

Last year was the 150th season. I don't know if there's been a year where college football was halted altogether. The Big Ten, the Pac-12, they're not going to be playing this year. But the SEC, ACC, Big 12, as of right now, they're trying to push ahead.

Other Group of Five conferences, the American, they're following suit. The Sun Belt, they said they're following what the SEC is going to do. In the SEC, or excuse me, the Sun Belt, you got Appalachian State, who I believe through the chaos has a tremendous opportunity in front of them to have a special year. Without the Big Ten and Pac-12, I think App State's easily a top 20 team in the country.

The coaches poll was released last week. There were nine Big Ten and Pac-12 schools in that preseason poll. You remove those teams, I already thought App State should have been ranked preseason. Without those nine teams in the poll, without Ohio State, without Michigan, without Minnesota, without Iowa, without Southern Cal, without Oregon, without Utah, App State, they belong. They were top 20 team.

You look at this roster, you're talking about 13 wins and the similar infrastructures in place. I know you lose Eli Drinkwitz, but at this time last year we were talking about how is Appalachian State going to replace Scott Satterfield. Many of the same guys on that team with SAT are still around. Zach Thomas is still playing quarterback for this team. This defense still intact.

Many of the weapons still intact. The infrastructure's there. You got an App State guy who was under SAT and Eli and Sean Clark leading the way. So I feel great about it. This team won 13 games last year. Nobody wants to play them.

Which leads to where App State needs to be proactive. When I was in college, I remember being discouraged trying to become a sports broadcaster because the first class I went to, I think it was Comm 1000, there was, there were easily 200 people in the class. It was one of those big lecture halls and every single person I talked to trying to make friends early on, I asked, hey what do you want to do? Oh I want to be a sports broadcaster. Oh I want to be a sports broadcaster. Oh I want to be the next Aaron Andrews.

I want to be the next TV broadcaster. You name it. That's what they wanted to do. So I thought, man this is a congested field. I'm doing something poorly. I've made a big mistake. How am I gonna stand out from everybody? Then I learned I didn't see any of those people from that class trying to get involved with the student television station and the student radio station and the newspaper and the yearbook, all of that.

Turns out a lot of people thought, and this is the best advice I had to young people trying to do what I do, a lot of those people thought if they just get the degree it was just going to happen for them and it doesn't work out that way. App State, my advice to them right now, my advice to Doug Gillen, and I think he already knows this because we've talked about it, they need to be proactive. Eight games right now on a Sunbelt schedule.

If you get all those games in, thank goodness I will be happy we got a college football season. But this App State team can do greater things. So for right now you have opportunity before you to try and land a Power Five opponent on your schedule given they want to play you. We've already seen North Carolina and Wake Forest and Duke veer away from playing App. Wake Forest preferred ODU versus the Mountaineers.

Well we'll see what happens now. ODU they canceled their season earlier in the week so I guess Wake Forest still has that slot available. App State, hey they're right there Wake Forest, you might have to do some schedule maneuvering to make that work but that's still an option technically. I don't think it's a coincidence North Carolina and Duke preferred to play Charlotte over Appalachian State. I don't think that's a coincidence but teams they're trying to find opponents right now with the MAAC canceling over the weekend.

Pittsburgh, they're looking for a team to open the year again. They were gonna play Miami of Ohio. That would be a pretty good game for Appalachian State.

The next week, Notre Dame, they were gonna play Western Michigan. If they schedule the Irish and play in South Bend that would be awesome for App State. The Big 12, they released their schedule today. Same format as the ACC, nine conference games plus one non-conference game.

They're all looking for opponents right now. App State, Doug Gillen should be on the phone with every single one of those commissioners to try and make that happen. They need to add something to their schedule because, fingers crossed, if there's a season, if App goes unbeaten there should be no excuse for them not getting into the playoff. Before when UCF went unbeaten, ran the table back-to-back years, it was yeah but there's five power conferences.

How are we gonna make room for a mid-major? Well now there are three power five conferences and four playoff spots. It would be hard to eliminate a group of five this year.

It would be next to impossible unless there were multiple unbeaten group of fives. See, while App wasn't ranked in the top 25 of that USA Today coaches poll, Cincinnati was. UCF was. UCF, if things hold true and those nine teams that aren't playing just translate to those teams behind them moving up, UCF feasibly would be the 12th ranked team in America and Cincinnati would be 13th.

They're both in the American. If they go unbeaten, either one of them, they should get in over Appalachian State unless App State can get a good out-of-conference opponent. Get a Pig-12 school to play them. Get an ACC school to play them. I'm not saying it'll happen but I think that's what needs to happen. The Mountaineers, they can't sit back like many of those students in my Comm 1000 class thinking it's just gonna happen. If you want this year to be special, it's right there in front of you to adapt, to try and get that done.

So I think App State has a lot in front of them right now. I want to shift things to golf. Tomorrow it's the Wyndham Championship at Sedgefield Country Club. I was on Adam Gold earlier today and I mentioned that a couple of people had offered for me to watch the tournament from their backyards, which just so happened to be on the Sedgefield Country Club course, which then led to us getting a phone call, I think her name is Elizabeth, saying, hey how about you guys come to our backyard.

I'm fielding offers. I'm not allowed to go into Sedgefield in the media capacity. Obviously fans aren't gonna be there, so I'm open to going into somebody's backyard. I'll wear a mask. I might even bring some brews.

We'll figure something out there. Robert's fielding those calls at 336-777-1600 by the way. There are four golfers I'm keeping a close eye on at the Wyndham. Number one, there's the guy I'm rooting for. That's Harold Varner III. Me and Robert, we're East Carolina guys and he's just incredibly likable. I've known Harold for about a decade now. He's gotten so close. He's become likable and a name in golf because he's African-American and has spoken out on social issues in a way you don't really see that often in golf. In a way that Tiger Woods hasn't really been touching the subject, let's say, during the summer. And I'm not faulting Tiger for that, but I respect what Harold is doing.

Likable guy. Gotten close. 11 top 10s. No wins on the PGA Tour. Been in the PGA Tour for a little while now, but he's a North Carolina guy from Gastonia. As I mentioned, he's an ECU pirate.

Proud to let you know it. He's the only golfer to be repped by the Jordan brand, which I think is a really neat thing too. I'd love to see him get his first win, but I asked him earlier today, this is usually a course you call home. You love this course.

There are two North Carolina events generally every year on the PGA Tour. Is it gonna feel like that if there are no fans in the gallery rooting you on? Is it gonna have that home flavor playing in the Wyndham? And this is how Harold responded. So Harold Varner, he's the one I'm rooting for. Here's the guy I think it's gonna win, and it shouldn't surprise you.

My pick is Webb Simpson. He's the betting favorite and rightfully so. Here are his finishes the last three years in the Wyndham.

He finished second last year, tied for second two years ago, and he finished third in 2017. He's Mr. North Carolina. Every corner of the state can claim him. Lives in Charlotte, grew up in Raleigh, went to Broughton High School, Wake Forest, golfing family.

He named one of his children Wyndham. So Mr. North Carolina is my pick, and it's not wishful thinking. You see the results there. He's had a tremendous year, has success when the tournaments are close to home. He won in South Carolina at Hilton Head a few months ago. So that's my pick. I'm going with Webb to win, but he's not the best bet. You're not gonna make a lot of money. I think you get 10 to 1 odds for Webb. That's not nearly good enough for golf. If you're only getting 10 to 1 odds, I don't care if it's Tiger in his prime. That's not something you should be betting on. Here are the smart bets, if that's something you're interested in, for the Wyndham. Number one, it's Rory Sabatini. That might not be a name to many people, but if you follow the Wyndham, this guy's always high up on the leaderboard it seems like. 90 to 1 odds.

90! Top six finishes. Two of the last three years.

In the last month, three top 20s on the PGA Tour made the cut in San Francisco. So I like Sabatini as a smart bet. Maybe to sprinkle some lettuce on Robert.

That's what we could do. Put some money on it. Is it a hundred percent time, a hundred percent of the time somebody says sprinkle a little lettuce on something? That guy's a jerk face?

I've only heard you use it, but yes, in this sense it does make you a jerk face. Last golfer I'm keeping an eye on, it's also my second smart bet, Billy Horschel. 33 to 1 odds.

49. I think he, the last four years at the Wyndham Championship, he shot 49 under combined. So he's shooting a hot stick at the Wyndham and I think that's a smart bet. So that's what I'm keeping an eye on. Play's gonna start tomorrow. It is the Triads Crown Jewel. Since the ACC tournament doesn't come to Greensboro every year anymore, this year was the first one in five years and we didn't even really get a tournament, it's become the Wyndham Championship and this tournament has now transformed into something bigger with the Wyndham Rewards Top 10. We love it, we wish there'd be fans there, but we're gonna try and cover it the best we can being here in the studio.

But at the same time, if you got a backyard on the golf course, me and Robert will be there. Want to become a real sports fan? Leave it right here.

It turns everyone it touches into raging psychotics. All things sports. Well, sometimes. On the Drive with Josh Grab. After the 4-3 double overtime loss in game one in Toronto earlier today, there are some Carolina Hurricane fans saying, oh it's just game one, we nearly won it, we should feel really optimistic moving forward about this full best of seven series.

I am not one of those people. I'm a Canes fan but I am not optimistic right now because the number one thing you didn't want to see happen with Boston, which was the best team in the regular season until things got halted five months ago, is this top line to be back. You're looking at Posternock, Bergeron, and Marchand.

You don't want those dudes to get going and that's exactly what happened in game one. Jacob Slavin couldn't get a stick on a pass. Marchand sent it across the goal mouth. It ended up in the Bruins goal and then Bergeron had a dandy in double overtime. David Krejci even getting involved in it as well. So the Bruins getting off, that's not a good thing for Carolina, big picture speaking, because it looks like the Boston Bruins are back. They poked the bear, so to speak.

3-3-6-7-7-7-1-600. Mike and Elkin once in on the Cades. Mike, your thoughts on game one.

What are they? I thought that the goal that was scored by Boston in the second period should have been disallowed. I didn't know you could knock the puck out of the goal he met when he was freezing it.

Agreed completely. The explanation, just to hold you up real quick, the NHL put out there saying that since Mrazek actually played the puck, air quotes, the hand pass was disallowed, the puck was jarred free, and then the goal was scored. It was a BS goal. That's what it was.

It was BS. You can continue. Okay, I'm not quite ready to say we're in trouble yet, but that was disappointing because, you know, Boston has not won any of the four games they played, including their exhibition game, until today. And if they get going to tomorrow's the big game, if they get going and beat the Canes tomorrow, then I think it's gonna be time to worry.

Yeah, all right. And real quickly, what do you got in terms of broadcasters that you want to tune in for and those that when you hear them come on you just want to turn off the TV? Well, Gus Johnson is one I love to hear because he always makes the game interesting and fun, and at the end he gets so excited over big plays. I really like listening to him, and I'm gonna give Dickie Vee another try after his interview with you today, but I'd gotten where I couldn't stand listening to Dick Vitale because he always talks about Duke, even though Duke may not be playing.

Or at least he used to be like that. I did enjoy that interview today. Yeah, thanks so much. Appreciate the call, Mike.

Yeah, I appreciate the call. I'll add this on the Dickie Vee front. This is my theory. It's always been my theory on Dick Vitale. I've even said it on this show. The only reason people think Dick Vitale loves Duke, and they call him Duke EV, is because Duke is the most hateable program in college basketball. Dickie Vee, he's positive about everybody. There isn't anybody who's as positive in the media as Dick Vitale is, who is polarizing.

Skip Bayless, Stephen A. Smith, you name it. They're loud, they're negative at points, they're saying things that are bad about your team. Dick Vitale doesn't do that. He pumps up Carolina, and he pumps up Michigan State, and he pumps up Indiana, and I mean he's best friends with Bob Knight. He's pumping up Duke. You only notice the Duke stuff because you hate Duke.

That's it. I mean Duke, they're hated, so people think Dick Vitale loves Duke because he says nice things about Duke, and you don't recognize it when he's saying nice things about your team because you always think that the broadcaster should say nice things about your team. Where were we? Carolina Hurricanes?

Oh yeah. I'm looking at what Rod Brind'Amour had to say about the officiating. He said this, and this is according to Sarah Sivian's Twitter, quote, the guy comes to me and says it's either goalie interference because he has it and the guy knocked it out of his hand or it's a glove hand pass. You got to pick one. Either way, it's no goal. What? You have to tell me what the call is.

He's telling me to pick one. They just didn't get the bounces. That's a terrible call. They're just getting shafted. Boston, they get the bounces that Carolina got in the first round.

It's why I'm concerned. You're talking about Boston's record, their 0-4 including the exhibition? I don't care about that because Boston didn't have anything on the line. They were thinking, we know we're the best team in the NHL. Let's get through these first handful of games. We're not worried about home ice advantage at this level so whoever we play we end up playing and it just so happened to be the Carolina Hurricanes and now we're seeing the Boston Bruins that were six points better than everybody in the NHL.

Looking just that in game one. Here's the other reason I'm discouraged. We learned that Justin Williams and Vatnin pregame we're not going to play 10 minutes before puck drop. This is the part I dislike about where we're at where reporters can't follow the teams and cover them properly. Canes have been off for a week. I didn't know anything about Justin Williams and Vatnin being hurt, did you?

I didn't know. That would affect my viewpoint on this series. I don't know where they're at and I don't know what Brenda Moore said about Williams postgame and Vatnin but why would I believe anything he has to say if it wasn't put out publicly until puck drop? I mean it's good that you're getting Dougie Hamilton back but I would like there to be some reporting on where some of these injuries are at and who's gonna be playing because if they've missed a week or the Canes haven't played in a week and those guys are out for game one who's to say they come back at all? Who's to say it isn't significant or when they come back it's not going to be altering Carolina further.

So I'm I'm really discouraged after game one I really am. We got B.Dot who's gonna join us in 10 minutes. I got breaking news into the studio here. The Boston Celtics have given Brad Stevens a contract extension according to Jeff Goodman. No terms have been announced. He just finished his seventh year in the NBA. Tough news, tough break for Carolina fans out there right? Just kidding. Speaking of the NBA, big headline today that there are gonna be teams exiting so you can have close family members come into the bubble.

That's pretty good. I think Stephen A. Smith had an idea that this was coming because before the announcement he was on first take addressing Jalen Brown's comments where he said mental health is something that you need to consider with all the isolation and such. This is how Stephen A. Smith responded. Stephen A. Smith is saying that there needs to be some accompaniment for some of these players.

There needs to be some companionship. Conjugal visits. That's right, conjugal visits. That's the way it was put. But in the memo the NBA said you must prove there's a long-standing relationship for non family members to enter the bubble. How are you gonna prove that? Like hey I got text messages from 2017 and listen look at my hinge conversation look at my tinder it's we've been talking for about two months okay like if that's not enough evidence I mean come on Adam please let her in come on please please this is amazing I want to picture NBA players who do not have wives trying to justify having women come into the bubble we're not married we're not engaged man we're serious man but we were in high school when I was in high school we we we dated on and off for a long time say you love her right now say you love her I loathe her does that count you say you love her right now did you say love her love I loathe her got it okay I don't want to say any specific players name she's like he said he loved me so I could come into bubble girl Commissioner are you familiar with the song I'm in love with the stripper well my name's Lou Williams and yeah or James Harden they both frequent those establishment yes they do those are the two I feel comfortable saying I don't feel comfortable doing this to anybody else just Lou will it James Harden don't want a blonde sign somebody like Kyle Korver he loves the dancers listen maybe someone tries to pull it off say this is my sister oh no last her last name chain last name change you can't do that don't we look alike no this is not a Joe dirt scenario we're not gonna do Boban he's like this is my sister she's like Boban this girl is 510 we're not letting her in that's fantastic also a really good segue really good segue to be dots grammar school I don't know where he is on vacation but he agreed to join us and give me five words to see if I can figure out the definition of them and what we call again be dots grammar school next I feel really badly about what we're about to do vacation is a time where you shouldn't have to worry about any element of work and we're disrupting be dots vacation it's why we weren't on earlier this week on our IG live that's the story I'm going with rather than I just forgot but he's joining us somewhere I have no idea where because he wants to give me his five grammar school words be dot where are you how are you well I was doing fine Josh I'm on an island I'm chillin I actually had to pay extra for the Wi-Fi to do this bit with you guys today so I'm going to charge you for this okay are you in the NBA bubble like are you considered somebody who is not casual with an NBA player did Chris Paul say hey this guy's family he needs to go in the bubble with me no no no I'm actually nowhere nowhere exciting Josh I'm really in Charlotte in my driveway in the car right now staying away from the kids so this is really oh this this is really a vacation from my vacation so thank you very much actually all right let's dive right in it's time for 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 this teacher wanted to flunk me in junior high thanks a lot next semester I'll be 35 Josh he's going to attempt to learn be dots vernacular I'm on the old school I got a street knowledge you know what I mean you know what I'm saying it's time for be dots grammar school okay be done it's time for you to give me the words I'm losing a lifeline so Robert I genuinely need you to help me this week if I need help always I'm always helping you all right dot you take it away all right already but I would like to know at the end of this Josh while people are hitting me up confused that Bradford is Sarah Bradford's last name but that's not to hear no there there are a lot of people I mentioned it on the radio 30 minutes ago that Sarah Bradford is her first name not her last and all the sudden people's worlds are wrecked about it because Robert wanted to point out that Robbie Anderson is spelled r o b b y yet people say his spelling is r o b b i e they misspelled that all the time it's an issue that Robert had I never knew that I've always felt Robbie r o b b y but I was equally confused that Sarah Bradford was her entire first name and Bradford was not her last name I'm talking about it blew my mind and you tried to make me feel like I was in the minority but it's great to see that there are other people who are like-minded of myself did you just figure this out or did we have this conversation no we've had this conversation before because I remember being so confused like Sarah wait Sarah Bradford cuz I called my wife Carla Jackson by her maiden last name Carla Jackson all the time and I thought that we shared something there but no Sarah Bradford is her first name I do do that all the time so I understand people who would get confused by it but we're this is her favorite segment by the way and I'm sure she's enjoying this right now let's uh let's sidestep that for now and get to the first word okay first word is a review word what does what does TTG TTG stand for Josh TTG I was fully expecting WAP today I hope we have no WAP in here are you gonna use this lifeline this early uh TTG I'm just I'm thinking I'm confused I think about the review words try to like sound it on your head what what do you think the T's are gonna be hard cuz they're back-to-back but the G what do you think the G is there's a lot of things that the G could be to be go could be I don't know Robert help me out I need a I need it all right here you go here you go here's your help that G word is go oh come on man I just said that I just I just said Robert that I just try to go trained to go trained to go there we go we're off to a good start train to go but I already use my lifeline and I'm feeling like it's gonna get tougher it might get tougher for you our next word I'm gonna go with a new word but there's a phrase what does it mean if someone says you can get it we've never heard that that means somebody is attractive now you can get it that's what that means that definitely means you can get the buns absolutely thank you for that all right we're off to a 2-0 start and if I get this one right then I've won the round so I got a feeling it's gonna be the most difficult one you have 86 86 the number 86 what does 86 mean Josh Graham 86 there is no highway 86 no 86 you've heard this in movies before I don't even know if this is such an urban thing as it is just a term really really I if I think it's the right thing like if I'm correct with this I I never associated this with the urban vernacular I thought this was just like wow a thing and see like there's a lot of urban movies excuse me there are a lot of urban movies that I've been in and what I've seen where they definitely use this phrase a lot so I was familiar yeah maybe that's where I've heard it from us 86 being get out of here I need to get out of here like I need to go 86 down the road is that what that means no it doesn't mean you need to get to hear me somebody's getting out of here though it means to end them to take something out to take something away to 86 something to kill somebody like we were gonna talk to so and so and so and so but they got 86 because of time constraints I understand all right I got one wrong two right two left to go review word review word Josh Graham what does it mean to bounce back oh it means to it means to rally it means hey you just you just took an L now you need to clear your mind have instant amnesia get back in there win come on now bounce back means to rally that is correct Josh Graham it does mean to bounce back after falling out to come back after falling off you have gotten three correct you have gotten three correct but let's see what you can do with this last word Josh what does it mean when something hits different it hits different I've used this before I hope I'm using it correctly it hmm okay hits different is it kind of like something something getting brought up that you had a different feeling towards before and now it's kind of like the inverse of that like for example like Facebook you know when you watch the social network it's a great movie at first because Facebook's a new thing but if you watch it now it hits different because we know a lot more things about Facebook and privacy that aren't so awesome you know it's something that hasn't aged well it's different but I bet it can work conversely too am I on to something here I mean you just give broad definitions and then keep describing so it could yeah this could partially I just gave it's definition that's what this is I just put it in a sentence you put it in 20 sentences what just what do you think hits different means right here this is what it means you thought something was what you thought something was one way and it turned out to be something different or it feels different now it's up to you don't I wouldn't give it to him but it's up to you you wouldn't give him that for his I that's like half of it that's like give me a sentence give me your definition a sentence I feel like we're saying we're gonna say the same thing but what what exactly do you define to that I don't define it as this thing in the past now does this because I know something about it it's like okay eating this food right here in my mom's house that hits different than eating food at someone else's house it's a it's a totally different feeling brought on by a unique experience as the as the final say here I think both of you are correct I think both of you are correct it's an experience that it conveys one emotion but then it may convey a different emotion than was previously experienced you know I'm saying like you experienced it one time and it was one way but it hits different now for example Kanye Kanye West music it hits different now that he's lost his cool oh hey mama totally different like tweets Mike tweets and there is a highway 86 86 it's in Chapel Hill oh I might have to check on that now we're learning something all right so gave it to me you got it you're four out of there we go all right thanks so much for the call B dot enjoy the rest of your vacation which sounds like it's more of a staycation and we'll talk to you next week mind your business Josh see you next week there you go that's B dot telling me to mind my own business and we'll try to do that appreciate it man enjoy the rest up hey you got it do you want to the rest of this phone call yeah yeah hold on I'm gonna keep my mic on the rest of this phone call all right see you appreciate it yeah you gotta keep that thing on yeah I'll keep it on the whole show now all right now I have to do a tease with all of these here you wanna you want me to stall I learned something about 86 while we were sitting there hey you want to check for sure if highway 86 well how did that even come up who who said anything about that was me I said I don't think there is a highway 86 through runs through the the east or west side of Durham okay this is it I think I think I got the I think I can do this so you don't want to know where 86 came from no where did 86 come from kitchen staff used it so if something they ran a food they would be like 86 the sea bass we're out of sea bass that's where it started all right after a difficult week college football it needs to bounce back because Appalachian State when you look at this roster man they can get it they're trained to go is another way to put it I mean you're you're losing a couple of conferences the pac-12 the big 12 you know they just 86 out of the season and without them I'm gonna be honest the season it's gonna hit different but I'll tell you why with great changes comes great opportunity for app state next on the drive here's your mic check check you're on the drive with Josh Graham full disclosure let me say this up front I don't have many teams that I root for that I'm emotionally attached to never had one with ACC basketball despite growing up in the state of North Carolina I was a little emotionally attached to the Panthers when I was younger but not so much since I started covering the Panthers but full disclosure I root for the Hurricanes I'm emotionally attached to the Hurricanes and the Baltimore Orioles which is an unfortunate thing admittedly so I don't know if this is some of my bias seeping in but I feel like the Carolina Hurricanes are getting shafted a bit I really do and I'm not just talking about that goal that probably should have been disallowed that Rob Brind'Amour is upset about in the 4-3 double overtime loss to the Bruins I'm still fuming at the fact that Carolina has to play Boston in the first place because quite frankly the Hurricanes were one of the two teams to vote against the format the 2014 format having to play the Rangers they proved they didn't belong on the ice with New York in the first place and on top of that who says that the three games you play in a round robin should out should vet be valued so much that the first 70 games don't matter where the Boston Bruins were six points better than every single team in the NHL doesn't make a lot of sense to me and to help me make sense of it I welcome in Luke the cock who I respect a lot award-winning columnist from the Raleigh News and Observer so I presented my case there should Carolina be playing Boston right now really well I mean they knew the crowd I mean they may not have liked it but they knew the ground rules going into it and Boston played quite terribly in the round robin this is how it shakes out you know I you know yes there was a great chunk of the regular season played but it wasn't a normal conclusion to that season not everybody played the teams they were supposed to play and I think we all understand it you know given the circumstances the NHL did what it thought was best to a garner some interest and be you know the round robin giving the teams that weren't gonna play in those first three or five games something to play for and so those were the stakes so you know I think the Hurricanes knew the ground rules you know Boston Washington Philadelphia does it really make that big of a difference you knew you were gonna get one of those teams and and you know that the reality is you're gonna have to beat one two or maybe all three of those teams to get to the Stanley Cup finals anyway so as Roger and more so the other day you might as well deal with Boston first and try to exercise and ghosts and some demons from last year the Hurricanes most emphatically did not do that today there are two schools of thought to react to game one the first school of thought is you had a call that didn't go your way you lost in double overtime this is gonna be a really long close series or the second school of thought is the canes haven't exercised their demons the problem with the Bruins that neither of any nobody in the trio and their top line scored in the round robin games seems to have been remedied with Patrice Bergeron scoring the overtime winner we saw it Pasternak and Marcham were capable of doing on an early goal then of course we learned right before face-off Justin Williams isn't in the lineup after a week off Sammy Votten in the same way I get you have Dougie Hamilton back but how concerned are you about the canes after losing game one well I you know there's no question the Bruins deserve to win that game the Hurricanes did not play well they know what the Bruins did to the Hurricanes what the Hurricanes normally do to other teams they pinned them down they piled up shots they forced the goalie to make big saves it was a role reversal and and you know I think it was very different last year than game one where the hurricane played pretty well through two periods then got into penalty trouble the brewing power brewing power play got cooking in the third period and and the Hurricanes ended up complaining about the officiating when they should have been complaining about themselves and and and the way they threw that game away in the third period the difference is this year they're still complaining about the officiating probably more justifiably than last year but they're also complaining about themselves and are fully aware they didn't play well enough you know that where that hurts you in a seven game series is you like to steal the games where you don't play well and the Hurricanes had a chance to win a game where they didn't play well and and you know you're in second over time anything can happen that's that is one you feel like flipped away in a very different way then you feel like game one flipped away last year the one the one constant between the two is concern about the officiating and you know Rod Brendamore and I talked after the game after his zoom call he was furious about the no-go call and not not necessarily the call itself but the way that it was handled with him and the two officials Chris Lee and Francis Charron where they basically wouldn't tell him which one of the two things he needed to challenge whatever the hand pass or goaltender interference and he had to guess and he gets the wrong one in the NHL you lose that challenge because the officials admitted they screwed up a different part of the play that Peter Mrazek does that's the puck and the Bruins knocked it out of his his his glove when there should have been a whistle and they score and the Bruins get a power play out of it then you know none of that ended up mattering Brock McGinn steals the D to D pass goes down scores it's 2-2 fine no harm no foul you know puck don't lie all of that but I think why Brendamore is so angry is he senses and this is him talking not me that the Hurricanes are not going to get the benefit of the doubt in this series from the officials and you saw that in the second overtime the first overtime excuse me Brady shade stick it flashed out of his hands and broken that is a textbook like the puck over the glass you have to call it penalty and the shade goes down at the other end dies to deflect the puck away and gets called for a trip that is not a very debatable penalty I don't think that's a penalty I think he got the puck with a stick but there's no question that the hurricane should have had a power play before that and they didn't get it because the officials while there were so I thought Chris Lee in particular was terrible but I don't think you can count on good officiating in the NHL like that's not like oh my god the ref was terrible the hurricane you know they got the chef no I mean officiating bad a lot of the time but I think you can expect that calls that need to be made like the flash on Shay should be called and I think that's why Brendamore was so sensitive about the way things were handled on that the the terrible mishandled goal review by the NHL you know NHL stands for nothing happens logically and that was a great example of why Mario Lemieux once called it the garage league only in the NHL do you challenge something and lose the challenge because the league actually screwed up something else you know it's like trying to play whack-a-mole with the NHL so that I think is the most important thing for the hurricane as much so as getting back on their game which okay you can understand after sitting around for seven days and an extra night you might have a little rust on your game but you can't let the officials and let the Bruins get in your head the way that they were last year and I I think that as much as as playing a better game I think the Hurricanes will play better in game two I'm quite frankly that they can't play much worse and still be in the game but I think they will play better having had the experience of getting back into accidents they played better in the third period especially at the end but I do think that they need to be careful you know you saw what happened with Justin Williams last year who is as level headed a player as there is in the game this has happened to them before and they need to make sure they keep an even keel with the officiating and you know the Bruins were obviously trying to bully Andrei Tushnikov this today they were they were trying to get in his grill they're trying to rattle him they they need to have the sand as I wrote the other day to handle the Bruins bullying so that to me is as important for the Hurricanes going into game two as anything that they do structurally tactically in terms of execution hold up was rot Brenda Moore told that the Kings aren't old enough to get that call that is a football thing not a hockey look the cock is on Twitter at Luke the cock read his stuff in the pages of the observer I am interested in what's happening with college sports right now you're somebody who's really plugged in with the ACC how surprised or unsurprised were you that the ACC pushed on after the Big Ten and Pac-12 announcement I'm not surprised at all in fact I kind of have tweeted several times that that is what I expected to happen you know that when in in the spring in market basketball the ACC was was completely unprepared and flat-footed and very you know awkward in its decision-making very not very nimble very ponderous and and ended up looking stupid I thought quite frankly as other leagues acted more quickly and more decisively which with what at the time seemed a pretty obvious course of action it's different with football there's been more time there's been a lot more time for presidents to talk for a DS to talk to develop a consensus which is the way the ACC always likes to do things and the ACC when it announced it it's 10 plus one schedule went into it with the ID and the SEC did the same thing we have given ourselves a month right we push things back to mid-september maybe even late September if we go 10 plus 0 we've given ourselves a chance to follow this along to see if things change to see if things get better you know that the Pac-12 big issue was was was was immediate point of access testing like we need quicker testing that isn't out there right now there may be a breakthrough that may be available on September 20th where you can you know take a saliva tab and stick it in a machine and it pops up green or red or gives you a number of what your viral load is you know that the the ACC is leaving that door open now between you and me and your audience do I think that's gonna change how well I don't think that's gonna change I think the ACC is gonna end up canceling fall sports just like the Pac-12 and Big Ten but the ACC has given itself a month of runway before it has to do that you've got the athletes back on campus you can see how they interact with students maybe it will go really well maybe it won't I don't think it will but maybe it maybe it maybe it will go well you know you you've gotten through that wave of initial test positive tests when athletes came back to campus at UNC in Clemson and other places so you know let's let's take this month see where it goes if there's a time to cancel cancel when you get closer and that gives you more time which for the ACC is a huge consideration to think about basketball and can you play basketball if there's no football can you play basketball if there is football you know if they bought themselves some time and they are going to use it Luke before we let you go we got the Wyndham championship starting tomorrow I know that's an event you always look forward to we always look forward it because we get to broadcast our show underneath a tiki hut at Margaritaville not so much this year but what's the thing that you're most interested to watch as the PGA tour returns to North Carolina I wrote about this in today's paper but but and for Austin in Raleigh in the triangle it's actually the Tia the 18 year old from Wake Forest is playing in his six PGA tour event still looking to make a cut but comes in off a mini-tour win his first professional win has been palling around and getting advice from Phil Mickelson just went in at least a car so he's under a little more financial pressure pressure even with his big Callaway endorsement deal I'm just a kid who hits the ball a mile has all the shots in his bag didn't putt very well when he got out on tour this fall use the pandemic pause to retool his putting stroke is putted better since then is putting up lower numbers now on the mini tours which is different but still and I think has a real chance to make the cut this week you know it it would be crazy if he if he won obviously but the Wyndham has a long tradition I think seven in the last 13 years of guys getting their first tour win at Sedgefield and if the Tia were to somehow win he'd get full membership and go right into the FedEx Cup playoffs which would be an amazing story he has to finish solo second to get special temporary member status which wouldn't get him in the FedEx Cup but would probably get him into the 12 or 15 or 20 tournaments next year it's not it's a low status but it's not a bad one and and that's unlikely but but I'm fascinated to see on a course he knows well just like Webb and dr. Edmond and all the other guys from the triangle who have played Sedgefield their whole lives very fascinated to see how the 18 year old does against the pros in it close to a home game as he's gonna get gonna be weird out there with no fans I was walking the course a little bit yesterday you know that they have the beach set up on 16 but then 15 and 16 but you know I don't don't think it's gonna be quite the party it usually is yeah it's crazy to think you're talking about that run of guys getting their first career win it the Windham championship it's still crazy to be that Harold Varner has gotten so close another North Carolina guy still does not have a PGA Tour win top 10 finish I think he's had 11 top 10 finishes it's his career so far maybe he's a guy as well that potentially could break through but Webb is the big favorite right now is there somebody you look at you circle and say it just makes too much sense this guy's someone to go with with the championship I you know I think Webb is so good at at at Sedgefield that yet you know you're hard hard to look past Webb it and he's playing you know he's having a great year obviously you know the other guy we talked about Harold Varner I wouldn't be shocked to see him win you know I mentioned him a little bit earlier it's Doc Redmond you know it's from Raleigh won the u.s. amateur play to Clemson he's had a decent couple years full-time on the tour you wouldn't shock me if he put put a couple good good rounds together I mean I think he's got five or six top 25 this year he's made most of the cuts in the in the tournament he's played in he's a guy who you know it's gonna win on tour eventually without question and you know maybe maybe this is maybe this is his time it's good to hear from you Luke excited for the rest of the week the Wyndham starting tomorrow the Hurricanes playing at 8 o'clock fingers crossed tomorrow night didn't think that the team postponing from North Carolina yesterday would be the Carolina Hurricanes but that's what we saw turn out Luke it's good to hear from you we'll talk soon all right there you go he's on twitter at Luke the cock read his stuff news and observer calm and in the pages of the observer