The Roast of Josh Graham

Hey Josh, David Glenn here with happy two-year anniversary wishes from me, dozens of your fellow DG Show alumni everywhere, and of course the entire Glenn family. We are proud of you and happy for you. I appreciate your friendship, admire your work ethic, show prep, attention to detail, and perseverance through this pandemic. Moving forward, never hesitate to play the compromising photos of key decision-makers card, if needed.

Happy anniversary, my friend. You know Sawyer Dillon's hanging out in the studio somewhere if Justin Timberlake plays on the show. B. Dot's in studio with us. We're about to do grammar school in just a minute.

If you want to be a lifeline on the segment, 336-777-1600, it's the show's two-year anniversary, so we're all emotional. No we're not. Sawyer's still trying to figure things out, doesn't realize that his microphone is hot. That's my fault. So we're all figuring things out as we go here. If you don't know what grammar school is, first off, shame on you. Secondly, I'm just trying to pick up things and I've gotten a lot better with the urban vernacular over the last few months that we've been doing this.

B. Dot trying to teach me a couple of things, we've turned it into a game, it's now one of our most popular segments. It's just good to have you in here, buddy. Man, I'm glad to be here and I'm glad to be able to celebrate the two-year anniversary, man. Salute to you, Josh. For real, for real. Got the Greensboro Swarm gear on. Repping for the squad since we probably won't have a season.

We are Swarm. Let's get to 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 a street knowledge. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying? It's time for B. Dot's grammar school.

You almost started with one in the hole there, Josh. Why is that? Because the phrase is, this is Swarm. Wow. I say this is, you say Swarm. This is Swarm. Good job. Not we are, but carry on.

My apologies to the Swarm. I have an extra lifeline today. You do.

You have three every single time. But he actually has an extra one in the studio today. Yeah, but is Sawyer really going to help him out?

No. On his anniversary of Christmas. I think Sawyer knows some of these expressions. I think Sawyer knows all of these expressions, just like Robbie. The only person amongst the four of us, if we were the Ninja Turtles, the only one that doesn't know him, is you, Donatello.

And you would definitely be Donatello. All right, so we're going to start with the review word. What's fatty? Fatty. Fatty. What is fatty? Fatty is money.

That's exactly what fatty is, Josh Graham. Congratulations. You got your review word. Yeah. Been listening to a lot of Fetty Wap lately. Almost took a point away, Josh. You're not a fan of Fetty Wap?

I mean, I was. A while ago, Josh, and he has one eye. Who was a bigger flash in the pan, Fetty Wap or Trinidad James? Oh, Trinidad James. You slayed him the other day.

In college, I was one of those guys that was like, gold all in my chain. Yeah, everybody, but one song. He had one song, a deal with Def Jam and got $3 million, and Josh has no clue who the hell we're talking about right now.

Oh, man. Wait, I know about Trinidad James. And I know about Fetty Wap, too.

I mean, Trap Queen, let's go. Okay, check him out. Jug. Second word. Josh, what's a Karen? There are a lot of them in North Carolina.

Nice. A number of them. A Karen, often racist, but also somebody who's, you know, just a nuisance, triggered.

The original Karen's the person, the lady with the sunglasses calling the cops on the barbecue in Oakland. But yeah, I think racist, in people's spacing, often caught on camera. I'll give you that. 100%.

Yeah. You know, there's things that don't even remotely affect her, and she makes them affect her. She goes in and doesn't wear her mask in the grocery store and then threatens to sue the people because they want to kick her out.

There's Karen. Yeah, Maskadaisical. Yeah, Maskadaisical. Give my boy another point right there.

Ding him up right there for Max. He used a review word that I didn't even ask him. Next word. These are three letters. Three letters, Josh. Write these three letters down.

I'm gonna write them down. T-T-G. Oh, no. T-T-G. What is T-T-G? Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven. Here we go. 1-600.

7-7-7-1-600. That means he has no clue. T-T-G. You know, I actually used a review word the other day. Did you? Yeah.

What review word? I was telling people. You know the vibe. Whoo. Yeah. That has nothing to do with T-T-G.

It doesn't. Now, I will give you a hint. I'm gonna give you a hint.

Alright, thanks. Robbie looks like he's T-T-G. Sawyer does not look like he's T-T-G. I'm gonna go to Sawyer. Sawyer, what does T-T-G mean? You want the exact definition or just like a... Okay, no, no, no, no.

Here's how this works. You can choose to give Josh what you think it is or you can mix it up a little bit. He's already got two dings, dude.

We're not gonna let him win on the third word. So, can I give him like a hint? Yeah, just give me a hint. Thank you.

I would say on-site, if you know what that is. Yeah, that was a great hint. Sawyer might be T-T-G. Dude.

No cap. You know, I would roll with Sawyer. Do you think Sawyer's T-T-G?

I think if something happens, you could look to him and he be... T-T-G. Mm-hmm. Whoo, Sawyer. I apologize, good brother. It's all good, it's all good. I apologize. My boy Sawyer's T-T-G on-site.

That's no cap. Josh is just rolling in it like, mmm, T-T-G, is that up? I would be so embarrassed just to say what I thought. Well, just say what you thought. It's your anniversary.

You can't be embarrassed with your anniversary. I'm thinking like, OG's like original gangsters, so wouldn't it be like the trustworthy gangsters? The trustworthy gangsters. Wow, I can't even believe he got that close to it. That was really good, Josh. Actually, it wasn't, Josh. That was horrible. Hey, y'all should have saw him perked up when Robbie said that. He thought he was close for real.

Hashtag the trustworthy gangsters. T-T-G is trained to go. Trained to go. What the hell?

Young broke boy. I'm telling you, and that means you're ready to fight on site. If it's popping, get the popping at the restaurant tonight and something happened and saw you jump out there and hit somebody, we gotta be T-T-G. Trained to go. You're trying to go, Josh. That was a good one.

I like that. Thank you. Alright, next one.

Three more letters for you, Josh. Yes. I hate these. Yes, I love these. These are the best.

I hate these. H-M-L. Oh. H-M-L. Hit my line. There we go. There we go. There we go. There we go. How'd you figure it out? Have you seen that one before?

Or would you just use it? I have. I figured it out. Okay. Okay. I figured it out. Last one. You've already won today, Josh. Congratulations. Thank you. This is a review word. I'm tight.

I'm tight, Josh. It could be two things. It could be a lot of things.

It could be a lot of things. It could be that you're financially strapped or it could be like you're really upset and you, you know, T-T-G ready to fight, you want to get after it. I, I'm going to be, I'm going to, I think I'm tight is I'm upset. Like I'm really mad at you. That is correct, Josh.

Yeah. Hey, and I'm not even going to hold you, Josh. I would have accepted.

My, my finances are tight right now. I would have, I would have accepted that. I hadn't even thought about that, Josh. Yeah, I'm tight right now. I think you might've got like five or six points today, Josh.

You were using review words. Don't let Josh lie to you. He has never been tight. That dude ain't never been tight in his life. Josh, what was the last thing you were talking about?

I'm talking about just tight life. Almost T-T-G you was so tight. Last segment when Robert was distracted by you, I knew he would be mad about this and not, and not playing the music he was supposed to play. Me trying to make sure the show is better later on and get stuff handled.

And he's gonna be like, where's my music? You miss something? That was my fault. It's not your fault. It's all good.

I juggle a lot of balls over here. Just not his. I'm trying to think. Last time I was legitimately upset.

Like legitimately really, really mad. I can't think of times. Robert, what's the biggest fight we ever got into?

Two year anniversary. We can go over things. What's the biggest fight we ever got into? It's either when we were talking about how the bingles aren't bad and you were like, they're not bad. And you said something that I took as you calling me stupid. And we got to the break and I was like, don't ever call, like make it look like I'm an idiot.

Robert was TTG at that moment. One time we got in a fight in Greenville about pro wrestling. You were like, it's so stupid. And then we, that's the first time we pulled up like the bachelor numbers compared to pro wrestling. And I was just seethed at him.

Just like pooping all over this hobby. What's crazy is when I hear these stories, I think you're the one that's tight in these situations. But Josh, I don't think he was tight. He's like, was he tight? Yeah.

I'm telling you, are you that tightless? I never really get mad at anybody. Sarah Bradford might be listening right now.

She can attest. Sawyer, did I ever get legitimately mad at you? Josh, I would say it was probably the ACC tournament. It was the first day when everything was probably going wrong to start out. I've never seen him run out of this place quicker. And with that, he was ready to go on somebody.

I don't know who it was, but he was ready to go. I mean, you got to realize when I took this job two years ago, I had spring March of 2021 circled where you had Greensboro ACC tournament, Greensboro NCAA tournament, final four in Atlanta. I had that circled. This is going to be as easy as it gets to cover. This is going to be great.

And then it gets nuked by a pandemic the week of it. Josh gets tight on the day of remote. Until we are in the show and doing it, Josh is tight. Really?

I don't even talk to him. I just try to make sure everything's set up. There's a reason for that. I remember having to be an engineer slash broadcaster for ECU basketball broadcast.

They traveled on the road. And I remember one time I couldn't get on the air and I had to do an entire game in my cell phone. And that was the nightmare scenario where I'm getting put up in a hotel to get this to work and to fly places. And when that didn't work, I've had just fears and just absolute paranoia when it comes to remote.

All right. Last time Josh was ever tied at me was like my third day ever producing anything radio wise ever. And there was this Christian McCaffrey cut that I could not get to.

We had a mix up with Adobe at our first studio. Something was always going wrong. And he called for this Christian McCaffrey cut and I played it off my phone into the microphone because I could not record it. I didn't have any other way to do it. And Josh looks at me and goes, what the hell are you doing? Yeah, I was tight then. Now I'm trying to put this into a tease for the next segment. All right. If you win an NBA title, you are not a Karen.

It means you are TTG, trained to go. And I've done a lot of homework on this, texting people I know in basketball, telling them to HML. I mean, I'm tight just because I don't know how to work all these into the expression here.

It's why it's why over the last two years, I make all the fatty. I'll rank the last decade of NBA champs next on the drive. You know, if I could compare Josh Graham to any Disney character, it will be Olaf from Frozen. It's because he's funny, he's lovable and he's well known because the drive is an amazing radio show that's been servicing the triad for two years. Happy anniversary.

Let's make it two more years. Josh Graham. That's my man. That was our guy, Chris Lee. Chris, formerly at WXII, now at WRAL in Raleigh. B Dot's in studio with us. There's a Taylor Swift album dropping at midnight tonight. And B Dot told me he can't name one Taylor Swift song.

Nope. I struggled to believe that. Well, listen, disclaimer. I'm not saying I couldn't recognize a Taylor Swift song.

Like if you played one, I'd be like, oh, that's Taylor Swift. I'm familiar with that song. Do these expressions mean anything to you? Actually, I'll ask you to finish the sentences. I don't know about you. I'm feeling fine.

I'm feeling 22. I'm trying to think of better examples. I like the fill in the blank.

Give me some more titles. You wear short skirts. I wear pants.

This is great. What is it? You wear short skirts. I wear T-shirts.

I was gonna say sneakers. Oh, you didn't know either? That's in the second line. Something about kissing under the bleachers.

Let me try and come up with some more of these. OK. Robert, while I'm coming up with more of these, tell us real quickly how you thought the first ever Instagram live show me and B Dot did on Monday went. I'm just kidding.

It was very smooth. Like, I know that y'all probably worry about like the the content that you're generating and like the audience there is the content was there, even if the crowd wasn't there, because I would tune in just to y'all reading the phone book like, oh, that looks like a cool Chinese place. I was thinking about that. It was fun to see, like, people interact with it. I saw different people from the show that are on our Twitter and stuff. Sarah Bradford's in the comments. I was in the comments.

B Dot got you to cuss for me because I never hear you cuss unless it's like ironically. And he used the hard ones. Yeah. You were like, you let her. And I could feel the crowd like draw back like. And then he let it fly. And then you let it fly. It was it was good.

I could tell that your chemistry can go a lot farther than it already is. So I liked it. I digged it.

I dug it. I'll just do a few more of these before we get to B Dot roasted me to your anniversary of the show. If you have anything you'd like to roast me about three, three, six, seven, seven, one six hundred mix in the voice of the Panthers going to join us in 10 minutes. Let's do more fill in the blanks for Taylor Swift songs. It's a love story. Baby, just say hello. Baby, just say yes. I was close.

Is that lyric? I promise I'm giving the best I can. I go back to blank all the time. I go back to school all the time. What's the answer? Don't just mock. I go back to December all the time. What is it with December? Why does she go back to the she likes Christmas? She's better in layers. She's what looks better.

Yeah, that's fair. Are you disappointed in me? I'm a little disappointed. I'm not going to lie.

Josh, I don't know Taylor Swift music at all, bro. I am hip hop and urban to the core ratchet as they come. I could pass all of these. There were Fetty Wap.

I'll do one more. We can leave the blank blanks on till fate till February. I don't even know this. We can leave the ceiling fans on till February. Christmas lights.

The ceiling fan. I don't want you all to play entities back in the best of the drive today. Don't play any of this. Are you sure?

Yeah, I'll play all of it. Robert. I do. I was about to say ask me if I like this. I do. Hey, hey, Robert asked me what I thought the first time I saw Josh Graham. I do. I thought, hey, I didn't know Jerry Springer had a daughter.

All right. It's time for B dot to roast me. What a great transition. Hey, you want to know what else I thought when I first saw Josh Graham? I said, so this was the cameraman for two girls. One guy like Chris just said he reminded him of Olaf.

It is so true. Do you have any Olaf music? Do you want to build a snowman? Yes, because you're built like a snowman, Josh. When I finally listen to things do in summer, I'm going to tell him, don't you dare.

He has the cool personality Olaf and the body to boot. Josh is completely out of shape. Josh is out of shape like a Kardashian's pee pee part. And Josh's smile is hideous. Like it looks like, you know, when you stub your toe and you make that gross case.

That's a joke. And I think it's because his teeth don't match his gums. I think his teeth are lowercase and his gums are uppercase.

He's like a shark. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I think join the pins actually pushed the teeth into his gums and Josh sweats heavy, like real heavy. I forgot all about the sweat. Like Lizzo heavy. Josh has a little sweat gland. Like Josh has the sweat glands of NFL lineman like an old NFL guard.

Glan heaven and Josh sweats like R Kelly in court. Let's just pray for Sarah Bradford, because this is the best decision that you've made in a while. Picking Sarah Bradford or picking you. And we know that Sarah Bradford is a keeper. It's been proven that she's not shallow. She doesn't date off looks. That is not what she does is off potential. Josh looks like if chafed Willie had a profile picture.

Josh reminds me of an episode of Big Bang Theory. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

What does that even mean? I don't know. That's all I got. God, that was good.

Did you like those? Dude, Lizzo heavy. Yeah. I'm stealing that.

I'm stealing Lizzo heavy. That was so funny. Robert took off his headset and I thought he was about to leave. My keys were in my hand.

I was going home. All right. Josh, I would like to say seriously. All right. Where I'm from, and you know this, that's why you do roasts and stuff.

Where I'm from, you only joke on people. One, that you know can take it. Two, that you really rock with. And I just want to let you know that you are a super cool dude. Like I super rock with you.

You're doing that awkward smile right now, so I'm not going to look at you. But I'm serious, man. You are a trailblazer, bro.

I would say a trendsetter as far as radio goes, not as far as fashion is concerned. But you are super cool. You're super giving. And I just want to say happy anniversary to you, bro. That's really nice. And I appreciate a number of those things.

But some of those things, while I laugh, I'm going to be thinking about later. Like the gums. The teeth. I got to show you a picture, dude.

I got to encourage the cowardly dog villain that he looks spot on. All right. Before we get to McMixin and get to what's happening on Sunday, let's go to Wayne in Greensboro who wants to roast me. Oh, Wayne.

Yeah. Hi, Josh. I've got a few issues. I was with you from day one and you made a commitment to me that you've broken. That commitment was one day you're on the air and you're really giving Nickelback a hard time. And I called in on another matter and I said, Josh, thank you for reminding us how bad Nickelback was. Can I get a promise from you that your show will be a Nickelback free zone? Oh, I don't know if I could promise you that. I don't know.

Because you run this bit where every time, three or four times during the bit, you've got to play that guy's song. Oh, you mean this right here, Wayne? Oh, thanks for the call, Wayne. Sorry, we'll consider that moving forward. There you go. He hung up the phone and got out of here.

Yeah. Michael in Clemons wants in on the roast. Michael, go right ahead. Josh, I'll give you a roast and a compliment. I will roast you because you talk too much administrative hierarchy of NCAA on the radio, probably because you know a lot about it. So that's the roast.

The compliment is you're growing on the radio. Like, there's not a lot of sports going on right now, but just listening to you, you know, kind of gives me hope that it's coming back. It is, man. I'm getting ready for baseball tonight. Thanks for the call, Michael. There you go. The roast is starting to get too nice now. Oh, man, my phone's doing the flash flood thing.

Oh, man, better watch out for that flash flood. Thank you. Congratulations, Josh, on your two-year anniversary hosting the show.

This is Mike Maniscalco, you know, from everywhere where I've been. And well, it's just like yesterday. You walked into the radio station I was working for and you started talking to me and then you haven't stopped talking to everybody since that time. Seriously, happy for you. Happy anniversary.

The roasting continues on my Twitter feed today. Two-year anniversary of this show. Ryan writes in, Josh laughs like an old woman who heard a joke at the church picnic. I forgot who it was that did the impression of my laugh.

A number of people have now done it thinking it was fake, when in reality, I just have a really strange laugh. But since it is the two-year anniversary of the show, I think it's fitting that we welcome in the play-by-play voice of the Carolina Panthers on radio. It's my buddy, Mick Mixon, who two years ago, when I was being considered for this opportunity, I remember I first heard about it while working out.

If you could believe that, Robert. And I get a text message. It's from Mick and it says, the Triad is looking for a good young sports radio host.

Do you know anybody like that? And the rest is history. And I have such great respect for Mick and the work that he does. I'm excited that it looks like players are going to be coming to camp this weekend and that there's going to be some football sometime soon. And also today, we're going to see team sports returning with baseball starting later on tonight.

But Mick, how geared up are you for training camp at this point? I can't wait. And thanks, Josh, for your kind words and my small, puny, insignificant role in your career development.

Hopefully, I've put an example out there for you of how not to do it. But I'm talking to you now from my mobile office in Alamance County, which is my wife's SUV. We got a bang and rain rolling through here, so I hope you can hear me OK. And I'm through my telemarketer quality headphones and my cell phone. But I salute you two years, especially with how things shift and change and the media, the way people consume sports and information and entertainment changes. So you're you're amazing. And I'm honored to be a small part of your second anniversary show. We can hear you loud and clear as the folks are listening as well in Alamance County on one oh four five. They can listen to us over there.

Also, I think one oh four nine as well. But Mick, I want to put coronavirus aside for a second. Obviously, it's the biggest story that's affecting every single aspect of culture. But since it's absorbing so much of the oxygen in the room, I feel like we haven't spent ample enough time talking about some of the football topics we normally would be hitting around this time of year as the Panthers get set for camp. So if we put the virus to its side, what are you most interested in to see and learn when the Panthers begin working together? This team is so young. It may be one of the youngest teams by the time the roster set, one of the youngest teams that the Panthers have ever put on the field and maybe one of the youngest in league history in recent memory. So many iconic players departed and in their place, some some young talent.

So I guess, Josh, I'd say, you know, my first blush on this with with all due respect to Teddy Bridgewater and some of the splashy free agents that were signed on offense. I'm most interested in how this crusty old ball coach Phil Snow, this great communicator, but looks like you called central casting and said, send us over. You know, send us over a ball coach, send us over somebody that can kick a player in the rear end and then hug another one's neck and spit some tobacco on. I don't know if he chews tobacco, but you know what I'm saying?

Yeah. Can take his hat off to throw it on the ground if he doesn't like the way the defense is aligned, executed their assignments on a certain play. I can't wait to see how he massages this defense and how they try to defend every blade of grass.

But really, everywhere you look there, I mean, I could you could we could revisit this question. You could ask me again a minute from now and my answer might shift more to the offense, the offensive line, special teams, the return game. Matt rule, how he handles it all.

I think he's got a nice touch. But do we dare even get excited about the coming of an NFL season when I think there's do you feel this way, Josh? I mean, to me, it's kind of it's I find myself sort of on the sidelines still emotionally. I can't wait to get training camp going on July the twenty eighth. I can't wait to put on my mask and get a chance to see it up close. But with no preseason games, opening day seems like a long way away.

Yeah. It feels like a weight that's that's still being held on us because you don't really feel like football at the moment because of everything else that's happening that feels abnormal. But hopefully the NBA's return in a week, the NHL soon after Major League Baseball tonight makes sports feel normal again and turns makes everything else feel normal again. So by the time we get to early September, we're going to be just excited, ready to go for football to kick off.

But there's two there's two sides to the coin. I believe how preseason affects the Carolina Panthers not having preseason, I should say. Carolina has the most turnover of any team in the NFL. Forty six point five percent of the total snaps last year return. That's the lowest in the league. You got a college coach, college coordinators transitioning to the NFL.

No OTAs to implement things in a traditional sense. And while you might think that sets Carolina back a great deal and you might be right, there is another side of this, too, thinking from the Las Vegas Raiders perspective. There's no doubt the Panthers have a lot of players, a lot of great offensive weapons. They added Robbie Anderson. We know what D.J.

Moore, Christopher Caffrey can do. But what do you think? What do you imagine the Raiders are doing right now to try and prepare for what this offense is going to look like? I mean, do you look at the LSU tape with Joe Brady? Do you look at Baylor tape? Do you look at the Panthers last year?

How do you even prepare? Yeah, that's a great point. I think that this I wouldn't try to sell you on the fact that this odd screwy never been through it. No one has currently living off season will help the Panthers. But I could try to sell you that in a way it levels at the playing field because no one can practice.

No one has been able to really get together. All teams have to figure out some things. And in the case of preparing for the Carolina Panthers, you're right.

I mean, it is. I think you do everything you said. You study Joe Brady and some of his history. You look at Bridgewater. You looked hard at the Saints offense.

Maybe you got to rack up some Baylor and some Temple tape. So I think it's going to be I think the Panthers kind of going to be a handful. I know that we're not we're not predicting any Super Bowl ticker tape parade at the end of this season. But I do think that this team is going to grow right in front of us very quickly. I think they're going to be exciting to watch. And I think you'll be able to see early on if you haven't already why the Panthers put their faith and trust in that rule to lead the way.

Mick Mixon, the voice of the Panthers with us. I I have more faith in Teddy Bridgewater than I think a lot of people do. I see Steve Smith's comments where he says he's a right now quarterback. This isn't a guy you you can win a Super Bowl with. He's not a franchise guy. And I'm a little confused by that when I see Jimmy Garoppolo getting his first season of starts under his belt at 27 years old, coming off an injury, actually, and taking the 49ers to a Super Bowl. He's just one year. Teddy Bridgewater's one year younger than Jimmy G is right now. And I remember, I mean, Drew Brees, when he went with an injury, a shoulder in San Diego to New Orleans to be in an offense that is similar to the one that Teddy is going to work with right now with Joe Brady.

He was 26 years old and written off. I don't understand this idea that a lot of Panther fans have that this season, if Carolina, it goes south, but the offense meets expectations, they're going to be looking quarterback, no doubt in the 2021 draft. I believe Teddy could be the guy long term.

What's your view? Bridgewater's the engine and drivetrain transplant that gives you a chance to get out there and lead a couple of laps. I think without Teddy Bridgewater, then it's looking a lot like two and 14 or maybe win a couple, but get in position for a quarterback early on in the 2021 draft. But all of a sudden now, Teddy Bridgewater, I think you and I talked about this, Josh, but Sean Payton, after Bridgewater had played a couple of games, replacing Drew Brees with the Saints, Payton's asked about Bridgewater and Sean Payton. And I love I hate Sean Payton, but I love it.

And don't misunderstand what I'm saying. You respect him in a way that fans of State and Wake and North Carolina respect Mike Krzyzewski. He's just talented. And and so his words carry a lot of weight competing against Sean Payton, having to play that that outfit twice a year gives you some feel for how astute he is, how good he is. And in the in the end game situations, clock management, he's created, he's not scared, hard to prepare for. So anyway, so Sean Payton says, now watch this little postgame press conference.

Friend of mine, a colleague of mine showed it to me. He's asked about Bridgewater. Sean Payton says Teddy Bridgewater, smart, accurate. A leader can make the first rusher miss. Great locker room guy. I'll stop there. And so the the word economy, the weight to me adds weight to what Sean says. Those words about Teddy Bridgewater from Sean Payton makes me think that Teddy Bridgewater is more than just a guy that he could take you places.

How do you feel about it? I, I think Teddy Bridgewater could be the franchise guy. He's likable. He's a first round talent from just a handful of years ago. People are acting like he's 37, not 27. Quarterbacks are playing. Quarterbacks are playing until they're 40 nowadays. I mentioned that if I mean the Carolina Panthers right now as a franchise, as an organization, they're in so much better of a position than the Saints were in 2006 when they hired that Sean Payton guy, when they brought in Drew Brees with the arm injury. I'm just saying two Super Bowls in the last two dozen years, the richest donor in the NFL who is forward thinking, Matt Rule who's forward thinking, Joe Brady, who was the hottest assistant name on the market, great weapons all over the place. I think this offense could be really good.

I think Joe Brady could be a star and just don't discount Teddy Bridgewater. It's too soon to do that right now. That's the way I feel about it. But before I let you go, Mick, I want to get your thoughts on just team sports returning. You're saying that it feels too soon to be very excited about football.

It seems so far away. But baseball starting tonight, basketball and hockey next week. I think at times it sounds hokey when people say that you need sports for the morale of the country. But I woke up this morning and I was just excited to get the work. I was excited because I knew there was baseball to watch later on tonight. And I'm not even the biggest baseball fan.

My team's not even playing tonight. But how much do you think the presence of sports affects the American psyche? It's an undeniable connection. And it is huge. It's bigger than, in my mind, it's bigger than it really should be.

It doesn't make that much sense. The chasm between sports and real life, life its own self, it's gigantic. But yet, athletics are a way that we come together. And we need to come together. We feel it, don't we?

We need to be together if we can, if the virus will allow it. I've always loved, ever since I was a little kid growing up Chapel Hill, wondering why people seem to be able to get along so much better at ball games. Why do people of different skin colors, of different genders, of different ages, of different religions, of different socioeconomic backgrounds seem to be able to get along so much better on a team than they can outside the crucible of athletics?

And I think that people much more eloquent with words than me, social scientists, singers, poets, playwrights have been studying this and have written a song about it. It's that sports brings us together, kind of forces you to come together. And once we get together, we realize that we're all much more alike than we are dissimilar.

So whether it's mask on, mask off, 20,000 people in the stands, 70,000 people in the stands, no one in the stands, as soon as it's safe to do it, man, let's get together. I hope we can get together sometime soon. I appreciate you coming on today, Mick. I hope you and Don are safe in Alamance County and that we'll be hearing your voice sometime soon on a ball game. Thanks for doing this. Me too, brother. And again, happy anniversary.

Thank you so much. That is the voice of the Panthers, Mick Mixon. I'll tell you why this feels like this baseball season that's about to begin. It feels like it's going to be the most exhilarating season we've seen of our lifetime.

Next on the drive. Hey, sports hub triad listeners, Darren Vaught here. And I'd like to echo the earlier sentiments of Senator Marco Rubio, who tweeted a photo of the guy that played Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies and said that Josh Graham is a pretty good sports radio host. Congrats on two years in the triad, Josh. So as we've discussed, it's the two year anniversary of this show being on the air on sports hub triad. And I remember I was asked to do it to our on air audition a little over two years ago. It's the most nervous I've ever been on air in my life because I was told I had 48 hours to prepare for this show. And then I was told the next day, hey, we have something scheduled during that time.

Can you come in tonight? And I think it was a six o'clock show. So right around this time, I was told at one o'clock and I was just outside the city of Wake Forest. So I needed the shower, drive an hour and a half. I was like preparing on the go, which isn't the safest thing, including reading a story from our next guest that he was writing about a Duke basketball team that didn't really like each other that much. Ed Harden, the award winning columnist for the Greensboro News and Record, might have been the deciding factor in me getting the job that I'm currently sitting in right now because of how great you were in that audition. Hey, Ed. How are you, Josh? I'm doing great. It's good to have you with us.

He's on Twitter at Ed underscore Harden. Feels good to be employed. Feels good to have a platform. I'm interested in what you make of this headline today with Roy Williams giving six hundred thousand dollars to the university in order to cover all the spring sports seniors, their scholarships. As if you haven't been following it closely, the spring sports seasons, they were nuked and the NCAA essentially ruled we'll make scholarship exemptions for these seniors to return for another year. But the universities have to pick up the bill and a lot of universities can't afford it at this time. And they haven't accounted.

They haven't budgeted for that extra cost. So Roy said, whatever it costs, you let me know and me and Wanda will pay for it. Six hundred thousand dollars Roy paid to cover all of these expenses.

It's an incredible gift. And I'm interested if you've heard any more stories about Roy Williams compassion, because just in covering the Tar Heels the last few years, growing up in this state, it almost seems like everybody I know has a Roy story about something he's done for somebody else. You know, Roy wants to keep most of them quiet, too. He doesn't like the publicity when he does something like this, because I'll be honest with you, all coaches should be doing this. They're the highest paid employees in the entire state and good for Roy. And let's hope this starts a national thing, because these coaches can afford to do this.

They are grossly overpaid and they know it. And this is an opportunity for him to give back. I applaud Roy.

I think I hope this is the start of a national trend. I think this is why it gets out, too, right? Like, I think I think if Roy didn't want this out, period, it doesn't get out. But the reason it maybe took this long and then we learn about it now is because maybe it's a way to encourage others to ultimately do the right thing. What do you think? I would hope that's exactly what's going on.

And I'm sure there were some legal things and there's some tax things. And we were going to find this out with just a little bit of reporting, maybe not even that. I mean, I think the schools probably have to tell when something like this happens. So, again, I think I think it's a wonderful gesture.

I think it's a necessary gesture. And I would hope that just about every Division one coach in college, football and basketball, starts doing the same thing. Seeing Roy on that Black Lives Matter video that North Carolina put out about a month ago, it had me thinking about everything Roy has said, really throughout this year when the Dean Smith part of the conversation came up.

He passed Dean Smith this year on the all-time wins list, said that's just a number because everything I do, I got from him. And I think maybe the social awareness part of it, the social justice awareness part of it comes from Dean. But in all the years that you covered Dean Smith now versus the years you've covered Roy Williams and Chapel Hill, what do you think is their greatest similarity? And more interestingly, what do you think is the biggest difference between Dean and Roy? Well, a lot of people think that Roy is just a clone of Dean, but it's a completely different game now. And, you know, just in coaching styles, they're nothing alike.

This past season was a perfect example. It's like all of the old tenets of Dean Smith's fast break basketball disappeared in one year because he's got different types of players coming in now. So the way Roy coaches and the way Dean coached are two completely different things. Socially, however, I think Roy learned a lot from Dean Smith. Roy being the only North Carolina born coach to win national titles came out of one of the toughest parts of our state over in what most people assume is the nicest part of the state near the Biltmore House.

Roy lived across the street from it and never went to it in his life. So he was a guy who grew up hard in a tough situation at home. He learned lessons growing up and he never forgot them. He can be a stubborn little cuss, but he never forgot the way he was raised. He never forgot the lessons he learned from his high school basketball coach and then from Dean Smith. He learned that being a coach had more to do than drawing X's and O's. He had to teach kids to be young men. And that wasn't a foregone conclusion in Dean's day. Dean was a pioneer when it came to this stuff. So Roy saw that up close and personal. Is it dare to say Roy was a tough little nut?

He was indeed, probably the original. I didn't know that he never visited the Biltmore House despite living across the street. Why do you think after all these years he never went in? Well, they weren't welcome, first of all. It was a different place in those days. My mom was a West Asheville girl and she never went. This wasn't necessarily a tourist attraction for North Carolinians. In the early days, you had to be invited. Right, I get all that, but I mean, last 20 years, last 25, Roy goes back to Black Mountain, but he never has gone in?

Never, but I know of. And just knowing Roy's story about it, I don't think he would dare go in it. It's just like drinking a Pepsi. He's not going to do it. He's beholden to Coke. It's the way he was raised.

But he and his friends would sneak over to the grounds along the riverbank, never to the house itself, to the manor or any of the houses. But they went there to cut down bamboo shoots because they had the best bamboo on the banks of the French Broad. That was his story.

They would go there and cut down spares and then carry on back home and do whatever young boys did with bamboo shoots. Follow Ed on Twitter at Ed underscore Hardin. Every time he publishes a story at Greensboro dot com or in the pages of the Greensboro News and Record, I always repost it with the hashtag always read Ed because there's always something to get out of your stories, including the one you did when you visited Cherokee not too long ago talking about the name Redskins that now is officially being changed. And today, Washington announced that for this year, temporarily, they're going to be the Washington football team. That's not a joke. That's actually what they're going to do. What was your biggest takeaway and your experience visiting Cherokee? That they had an understanding of the issue that was different maybe than we realized, and that was they're a little uncomfortable. Listen, they wanted the Redskins gone. They want that gone. They would like for the name Indians to be gone.

The rest of them, it's kind of a slippery slope. They like the Braves. They're Braves fans. Kansas City Chiefs fans.

There are a lot of Washington and Atlanta Braves fans on the boundary on the Koala boundary. And they are very nervous about their own history being erased over time because they've watched it. They've watched themselves being written out of history books. They're really nervous about being somehow behind this movement to erase history. They're bothered by that.

They do not want to go there. So, yes, get rid of Redskins. We can have a talk about Indians. But Braves, Chiefs, we're fine with that because they're proud. They're proud that people want to name their schools, particularly, you know, after brave Indians, after warriors, after strong role models that they grew up admiring themselves. So, yeah, I was a little stunned to learn.

He's on Twitter at underscore Harden. Before I let you go, tell me about the last catch you had, the last couple fishing adventures that you went on. I mainly just stood on the banks the last week or so during this heat wave. They're not happy. They're they've gone deep into the shadows.

The water's kind of turned upside down because it is so incredibly hot. And I'm pretty sure I saw one wearing a mask anyway. So they're not fighting right now. Keep your mask on, Ed. Stay safe.

Training camp is starting this weekend for the Panthers. And there's a lot more fun with baseball getting set to start tonight and a lot more sports scheduled to come back. There's a lot more work for us to do, it seems like. And I'm all about it. Two years in. I appreciate you being with us. Well, I'm glad they gave you the job, Josh.

Thanks so much. There you go. He's on Twitter again at Ed underscore Harden.

Read his stuff in the Greensboro News and Record. I think I'm burying the lead, Robert. Oh, hang on. Ed, right before he hung up, wanted me to tell you that he'll never, ever let you on his boat.

I don't know why he hung up. He just wanted me to tell you. There's a Taylor Swift album that's going to drop at midnight tonight. You could have just let me be blissfully unaware of this. I got my top 10 Taylor Swift songs because I thought about doing a top five list and it just wasn't enough. I needed to do more. Number 10.

Style. Any song that references James Dean is cool by me. Number nine.

All too well. This might be a bit low. It's Taylor Swift's most meaningful song, the one that means the most to her. That's good enough for me to get into the top 10. Number eight. Red. It's Country Taylor, and I think I prefer Country Taylor versus the other versus Pop Taylor.

I prefer Country Taylor, I think. Number seven. Blank Space. Haze Permar did a parody of this song. Blank Brackets, I think that song was called a handful of years ago. Great music video.

No Kanye West to interrupt it. Blank Space at number seven. Number six. Love Story. It's the first song I loved by her.

You're talking about circa 2009? Love Story, really good. Number five. Lover. Me and Sarah Bradford's song, so it has to be somewhere. Number four.

Back to December. Heartbroken Josh Graham about 10 years ago needed this song to get through something. Crying? Oh yeah. In the rain?

Not in the rain. Not that dramatic, but yeah. Heartbroken Josh was listening to a lot of Back to December and Coldplay.

Circa 2009, 2010. Number three. I don't think I've ever told anybody that before. Don't worry, I'll forget it. Mean. Mean. Not about Robert Walsh, but very well could be. This is where I think, this is the most country Taylor was.

Most country. Mean. Is this the Screen Door Slammin' song? Oh no, I think that's our song. This is why you... Yeah, this is a different song. Oh yeah. I was gonna sing it, but I don't know it. Number two.

Why Do You Gotta Be So Mean? There you go. That's it. The second one, number two. You Belong With Me. Very high up. I'm really high on this song. I think this is the best of country Taylor, but it's not number one on the list because...

Number one. 22. It's just a banger. It's a great song. It's great to mark somebody's birthday that year, but it's also great after the fact because you look back and you want to feel like you're 22. You want to feel like you're 22, Robert. It's a great song.

I don't know. I feel like I'm better at everything than I was when I was 22. I don't know about you, but I'm feeling 22. You're going to feel 22 tonight when I just pour so many drinks down you and Sawyer's throats. Yeah, Sawyer, we're all going to get together tonight.

I think we're going to hang in Winston. Socially distanced, of course. Oh yeah. I am going to bring a deck of cards though, so we might be able to play some games. How long has it been since you played a drinking game? Oh my gosh. A really long time.

Yeah, for sure. It's been a really long time since I played a drinking game. I would love to get a little king's cup going or something.

Oh my goodness. So that should be a lot of fun. Get some food as well. Should be a nice little get together.

You might say it's because of the two year anniversary, but really it's about baseball being back. It's about the Taylor Swift album coming out tonight. So are you going to make us listen to this album? I don't think places are open at midnight on a Thursday. Okay, it doesn't come out until midnight.

Okay, cool. I've been saying that all throughout the show today. I know. Anytime you talk about it, I just kind of tune it out because it's Taylor Swift.

I love Taylor Swift. And you're a grown man. I do.

Hey, hey. I mean, you watch wrestling with women. Yeah, they're great athletes. Yeah, and Taylor Swift's a really good musician. Yeah, you're 12. You want to hear some hot takes that'll take you off?

Yeah, sure. Miley Cyrus is a better musician than Taylor Swift. I'd say she's a better, a more talented singer, but not as good as a songwriter, not as good at performing with instruments. I would say Taylor Swift's most viral moment came at the hands of Kanye West. I mean, you could argue her two most viral moments when you consider Famous. Yeah, the cover.

And also, I mean, there's no question that the award ceremony is the most viral thing that's happened to her. Do you have a least favorite Taylor Swift song? Like Kanye is one of my favorite artists.

He has a song called Gorgeous off the Twisted Dark Beautiful Fantasy, whatever acronym it is. But it's that song ticks me off every time it comes on. I'm just like waiting for it to come off. Yeah, that's not a good song in terms of Taylor Swift songs. I dislike.

I'll tell you, this might be a hot take. I never like shake it off. Oh, really? Never did. That was one of my friends who's actually in the WWE now Trevor Lee. That was his entrance music for the longest on the no relation to Chris Lee. No relation to Chris Lee.

They did used to tag team, though, sometimes. I just realized I left the really a song I liked a lot out of the top 10. Oh, no.

What was on the outside looking in? Delicate. All of her songs sound so fragile. Does she also have a song called Fragile? Yes, she does. Does she have a song called This Side Up? It's like she's moving in all these songs. She is very fragile, Robert. OK, and she's pandering. She needs you. There is a point, I'll say this as someone who likes Taylor Swift, that you knew Taylor Swift was lying to you.

For me, I think we've covered this before. I don't know if you or I have had this discussion, but there was a point where she was selling an album and then she shoot. She showed up at a New York zoo with Harry Styles from One Direction. And Harry Styles had a baby like he doesn't have children, but he was holding a baby with Taylor Swift at the zoo. And there is a picture where you can see in one single frame, Taylor Swift, Harry Styles, a baby and a mother bleeping seal.

I thought it was going to be a giraffe. One picture. It's amazing. And at that moment, I knew I said out loud, I remember in my home, shut the bleep up. And I knew Taylor Swift was lying to me, but I don't care. I like her music. Hey, at least you can.

As long as you admit that, I'll respect your your artistry. What do we got and take it to the house today? How a meatball can ruin your final college exam. Next on the drive.