MLB: Future Niche Sport?

We've got a loaded show for you this afternoon and I want to start with this. I've been telling baseball fans in my life for the last three weeks not to think baseball is immune from becoming a niche sport. Because unless baseball takes action to affect the negative trends we're seeing, the projections aren't good.

And they could get really ugly sooner rather than later. I don't know if you know this Robert, but in the last five years, baseball has officially been overtaken by basketball as the second most popular American sport. Like this is empirical data now. It's something we've seen with demos and how things are trending, but it officially happened in a Gallup poll released in 2017. More Americans play basketball growing up than baseball.

That's a massive social shift. When you look at the average baseball viewer, their average age for Major League Baseball 52 years old. Basketball has the youngest demographic. Looking more at that Gallup poll, to put in perspective how crazy it is, the idea basketball is more popular than baseball is in 2020. In 2017, it was the first time ever more Americans said their favorite sport was basketball than baseball. And they've been recording all of this dating back to the 50s and even before that. Asking Americans what their favorite sport is.

Our interest shift. Did you know in the 1920s through 1950, the NFL was seen to be a bastard sport? Like anybody who played in the NFL from college was seen to be a traitor.

Like Red Grange was not popular for a good stretch of time because they thought he was trying to take interest away from college football. Like the NFL wasn't a thing. Professional football wasn't a thing. Football was just college football. They didn't even call it college football because the only football they knew was college football. Obviously, that's changed since then.

The 1950s. Roller Derby sold out MSG. Do you even know what Roller Derby is, Robert?

Uh, yeah. Actually, I've been to a couple Roller Derby matches before. They're really fun. What can you tell me about a Roller Derby match?

I have no idea. Okay, mostly it's kind of split into teams. So there will be one team trying to stop the other one from scoring. And they score by making a full lap around the track.

There will be one person that can do that. They have a star on their helmet. Everyone else is acting as blockers, yada, yada, yada. Would you find that these Roller Derby matches were well attended? Uh, back then? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they were really popular. In the 50s, they sold out MSG for weeks. In the 50s. And they were throwing these Roller Derby matches on network TV. In 1960, I think it might have been the Gallup Bowl.

Going through their favorite sports, American's favorite sports at the time, baseball, boxing, horse racing were the top three. The NBA was still in the dark ages of things. The NFL had just launched the AFL featuring teams like the Kansas City Chiefs and the New York Jets.

But they were not respected. It was all about the NFL until the merger happened. Joe Namath beating the Baltimore Colts in 1969.

I think that was Super Bowl III when that happened. So it was a different time. Who's to say, 25 years from now, baseball has taken as precipitous of a fall as boxing or, God forbid, as horse racing? A lockout now would be more damaging than the lockout that calls for a missed World Series in 1994.

For one, the optics are far worse. In 1994, we were going through one of the greatest economic surpluses we've ever seen in American history. Today, 40 million Americans plus have lost their jobs.

Not a great point to be disputing over billions of dollars, plural, how you're gonna split that pie. Secondly, we don't have the same imagination for baseball today that we had in the 90s. This was showcased in the long gone summer documentary on Sunday. The Sosa-McGuire home run race, it meant something to us because those records they broke meant something then. Surpassing Babe Ruth, 60. Surpassing Roger Maris, 61. It meant something that it no longer does because if somebody broke the records of McGuire, Bonds, and Sosa today, we would immediately think they're cheating. And we'd be justified in all likelihood because the most dominant team we've seen the last few years didn't win because of steroids. They won because of sign stealing. The Houston Astros.

And that literally just came down. So, baseball doesn't have a lot of credibility right now. And I think that's gonna hurt our imagination for the sport and make it difficult to get fans back that you're inevitably going to lose if you don't have a season here.

Lastly, there's far much more competition for eyeballs today than there was in 1994. Do you know what's after baseball in terms of the most popular sport in this country when Americans were asked in that Gallup poll in 17? After you got to the NFL, baseball and basketball.

Do you want to take a guess what's next? Uh, hockey. Soccer. 9% of Americans said baseball was their favorite sport. In 2017, 7% said soccer. Do you know what didn't exist in 94? The MLS. Do you also know what didn't exist in 94? The UFC.

Also, esports wasn't a thing back then. They're all coming for those eyeballs. They're all gunning to take away your viewers that are aging out. That average demographic, again, 52 years old. So I'm worried about baseball.

I really am. I've been telling baseball fans of my life the last few weeks, don't think you can't fall the same way. Your sport can't fall the same way boxing did. The same way horse racing did. The same way many sports in this country do, as our interests shift.

You can tweet the show at sportsupdry at 336-777-1600. Another point I was going to add to that is it's kind of the way our society is changing, too. I feel like back when our parents were kids, even when we were kids, people would go out.

You would go out and you'd hang out with your friends. And you need a lot of people to play a baseball game. You don't need a lot of people to play basketball. And it's a lot cheaper. You can play basketball with just a basketball.

They're not going to want to, either. Like, in the 80s and 90s, kids in African-American communities actually played baseball. Like, you were talking about a fifth of the sport back then. Roughly 20% in the 90s. I think in 95, 20% of the sport was African-American. Now it's single digits.

So it's not, you're not winning in the right areas. And I don't think people are sitting around watching three and a half hour baseball games because we have a lot more to do now. We have a lot more things that could capture our attention. And I feel like that's where, like, serious fandom comes from, is when you're a kid. And if more kids are playing basketball than playing baseball, you're going to have less baseball lifelong fans. Basketball has the youngest demographic among the major sports.

Major League Baseball has the oldest. I think a number of odds makers put out odds for the ACC Football Championship this year, earlier today. I saw Brett McMurphy tweeting about this. Clemson, of course, is the massive favorite to win. Massive odds. They are a 1 over 6 percentage favorite to win the ACC title this year. Miami and North Carolina have the second best odds, 12 to 1. Florida State, Louisville, Virginia Tech, 25 to 1.

Pitt, 60 to 1. NC State, Virginia, 80 to 1. Kind of interesting that NC State has better odds than Wake Forest at 200 to 1. But when you get to that point, what are we really even talking about here with Clemson winning the last handful of ACC Championships? The only bet I think that's worth taking is North Carolina at 12 to 1 to win. I don't think 12 to 1 is awesome odds, but you're not betting Clemson.

You're not going to get any value for that. North Carolina is the only other team I could see in the ACC this year knocking off the Tigers. The Coastal's always been an easier path to get to Charlotte than the Atlantic.

I still believe that reigns true. Clemson's not on the regular season schedule for the Tar Heels. So I think they can maneuver through their Coastal schedule and get to the ACC Championship. Easily the second most talented roster. 10 of the 11 starters on offense are back. Your best defensive player in Chaz Surratt.

You're talking about two 1,000-yard rushers. Terrific wide receivers. An awesome recruiting class coming in. One of the best North Carolina's ever had. And that's before you start talking about the one they have coming in in 2021. And not only do they have the second best quarterback-coach combo in the ACC, I think they have the second best quarterback-coach combo in America.

Like where else would you go with that? You get to throw Jamie Newman and Kirby Smart at me? I'd take Sam Howell who has the second most touchdown passes among returning quarterbacks behind Justin Fields at Ohio State. And Hall of Famer Mac Brown over those guys.

The only other ones that are in that conversation. Kelly Mond and Jimbo Fisher at A&M. Dan Mullen and Kyle Trask at Florida.

The problem is you're second to Davo and Trevor Lawrence. But the Tar Heels, this is the part that should never be forgotten. They are the only ACC team to this point.

We have a year and three-quarters seasons of sample size here. North Carolina is the only ACC team to stay on a field for 60 minutes with Trevor Lawrence. Everybody else has gotten blown out.

It's not close anywhere else. Their average win is close to five touchdowns against everybody not named North Carolina in the ACC. The Tar Heels, they've gotten considerably better from last year with everybody coming back. Great recruiting class. Clemson, I don't think so. Now, they're still more talented than North Carolina and everybody else in the ACC.

Maybe everybody in the country. But it's been a tumultuous offseason. They lost Tee Higgins to the draft. They lost some linemen. They lost Justin Ross for the year due to injury. They lost their best defensive player, Isaiah Simmons, who filled so many spots.

It's just going to be difficult to replace that. I think Clemson is vulnerable against North Carolina. I don't think it was a fluke when the Tar Heels were a two-point conversion away from handing Clemson their first loss in the last few years in ACC play. So that's the only bet I like on the board that was put out earlier today. Odds to win the ACC North Carolina at 12-1. Coming up, why the NBA bubble had me thinking about Ted Williams and Muhammad Ali earlier today.

This is The Drive. And now, it really is my honor to talk about Josh Graham on Sports Hub Triad. Our good friend B. Dot's hanging out in studio with us. And the NBA published a 100-page protocol for outlining what this bubble restart is going to look like in Disney World in Orlando. There are a lot of details that fascinate me about it before I get to the three that I think people need to know most about.

B. Dot, what interests you most? I just like the chef that they're going to have down there. Every team's going to have their own chef.

Every team has their own chef. I think that's super dope. I just like the getaway part of it all. If I was in the NBA, it's going to be super dope.

Especially if you're somebody who isn't used to living that type of lifestyle. They're going to be super catered to. Got the arcades in there, the movies. They're going to have little outings where they can go bowling and stuff.

I think it's going to be dope. A nice little vibe. Almost like college.

Three and a half months though? It's better than what they're doing now? I don't know. You're getting to be around other people. You're going to be around your family right now. I don't think you can be around your family at this bubble arena, at least not until after the first round.

And not every player it seems like is guaranteed. Yeah, you can tell you don't have a wife and kids, Josh. Why is that? Because you can be around your family. Those guys I'm talking about, they're so ready to get back down to Orlando and just chill with the homies. Oh man, no daddy duties? Sign me up, Jack.

That's actually where I want to start with the fascinating details here. Guests aren't going to be allowed until after the first round of the playoffs. And there are 15 to 17 hotel rooms for guests beyond that point for each team. And there are 15 to 17 players on every single roster. You've got support staff. Every team's allowed to bring 37 people. So it doesn't seem like that's nearly enough rooms for the guests that people want to have. NBA Twitter is quite something. And they seem to be fixated on the idea of side pieces, a turn I've learned about on BDOT's grammar school, which is coming up in about 15 minutes.

Good job, my guy. How exactly is that going to work at the Disney bubble? Oh, folks are going to creep now.

A creep is going to happen. Is it going to be exclusive to the Disney princesses who are at Disney? I would hope not. That'd be kind of weird. I don't want to say any athlete by name.

I don't want to single out one. You don't want to say Kawhi's going to have Cinderella in the room? That's right. James Harden's going to find Belle. Is that what's going to happen?

Possibly. Giannis got sleeping beauty. What's up? What are you trying to say about Giannis?

I don't know what I was trying to say about Giannis. Yeah, this is a really uncomfortable subject. Kind of like seeing all these posts about college football, NFL, college basketball coaches, what they look like as women. That's an uncomfortable thing that's going on on Twitter today.

I haven't seen any of those, thank God. Yeah, stay away. All I saw was J. Cole's slander, but carry on. You and I seem to follow very different things.

I don't know anything about the J. Cole slander. Wow. You don't know anything about Coach K, what he might look like as a woman, so I'll just get to the second fascinating detail about the NBA protocol.

Hashtag two world. Anonymous tip line. There apparently, according to Shams, is an anonymous tip line that players are encouraged to call if they see anybody violating protocol rules, which includes wearing a mask indoors.

There are a ton of things. I want to save the gaming room and ping pong for the third point here, but the anonymous tip line, who's most likely to be a snitch? Oh, D'Angelo Russell. Or Kevin Durant. Is D'Angelo, neither player I think is going to be there.

Oh, they're probably going to make their way there and make burner accounts and still snitch. Especially KD. Is D'Angelo Russell going to be there? Because he's now with the T-wools.

I don't think the T-wools are involved in the proceedings at all. And I don't think the injured players, KD's not going to be there. Kyrie sure as hell ain't going to be there. I mean, he's putting together voice calls as if he's going to be there. We'll see. I'm skeptical on Kyrie's willingness to sit in Orlando when he's not going to play for over a month quarantined.

Who do you see snitching? Chris Paul. Chris Paul?

No way! We're talking about the dude that is telling on players during a game that their shirt's untucked. The guy who's in the commercials. The guy who's the head of the NBA PA's player rep. I mean, Chris Paul is the obvious choice to be the snitch.

Really? He is. And I love Chris Paul. But he's the obvious guy who's going to call in if it benefits his team.

Hey, this guy isn't wearing a mask. CP3 is the dude. The guy who punched Julius Hodge in the nuts.

He is the person I'm going to nominate. Why do you have to bring that up? Let's talk about what Julius Hodge did. Julius. What did Jules do? He deserved getting punched in the Jules.

Jesus Christ. Are you still looking for that over there? He lost that shot.

I'd say that's his favorite shot. Do you know what he said? I do. I just asked him.

What would you do? No one said that. Okay, guys, guys. That was not my fault.

That required setting up. That was not my fault. Okay, I need to explain to people what just happened. That was not my fault. Because Robert, Robert, how dare you? That was not my fault.

How dare you? Everybody calm down and shut up real quick. Robert, I expect better from a producer than to say to B. Dot in his earphone where he can only hear it without him knowing that only he can hear what you're saying. I found the clip that we were talking about five minutes ago.

B. Dot losing his train of thought on what we were just talking about. Again, that the audience can't hear.

Can you just complain to me in like two seconds instead of dragging it out like my mom does? I didn't know that. Hold on a sec.

Well, no, I just feel like it needs explaining. So then Robert, or excuse me, B. Dot, he then gets mad at Robert as he should because it's a funny clip. And the clip that we're about to play, that Robert just played, is B.

Dot trying to do some journalism for us at the ACC tournament. I don't know who he was asking this to. Or Andrew Carter asked a question to a player asking what maybe Cole Anthony said or B. Rob said after he made a three in that first round game against Virginia Tech. And rather than let Cole answer the question, B. Dot said he already knew the answer. He loves that shot.

I'd say that's his favorite shot. You know what he said? I do.

I just asked him as a matter of fact, he's done. Well, I was just going to let you know. It's amazing. It's amazing sounds. I hate y'all. I cringe every time I hear it. I thought it was gone forever.

Y'all don't know. I peeled through this best of podcast. I'm so glad Robert found it.

It's amazing sounds. It's saved. It's never going anywhere. I thought we were friends, bro. We are friends, but this right here is gold to me. You know, I want that clip. So when I get married one day, somebody asks me if I would take whoever I'm getting wed to to be my lovely leaded wife forever. You know what? I do.

That's what I would say. I do. I do. I'll do that. I do.

Please. It's fantastic. I just want to let you know. God, Rob, stop. It's one of the greatest pieces of sound for show producers.

It is not. To be on a historic day in American history where the last day of live basketball being played. I mean, you might as well just asked me that day if I was going to miss basketball. I do. Do you all realize that I don't want you to play that? I do. Thank you. I hate this place.

We got grammar school to get to in just a few minutes. The last takeaway I have. Hey, hey, Robert, do you want to hear the last fascinating detail I have about the NBA bubble? No, no, no, no, no, no. Well, I'll say and respond to that.

I do. That's what I thought. There is an actual detail about no doubles ping pong. Like, you got to stay socially distant. They have these video games. They have ping pong tables. You can't play doubles ping pong. To which I ask, who the hell plays doubles ping pong?

Facts. Who? When? Why? If you've ever played doubles ping pong, 336-777-1600. I want to know your name. Doubles ping pong.

I want to know your name. Why? Like, I've done it one time, and it was terrible, and I immediately realized this is not what the creators of this game envisioned.

It's terrible. Trying to rely on somebody else to help you out on one side of the floor. It's a mini tennis court. You're supposed to cover the ground.

Doubles ping pong. Why? Just ridiculous. Agreed. I'm trying to think who else would be a snitch. I do. You know who?

Who else would be a snitch? Yes. In the NBA? Yeah. Okay.

First and foremost, I think you have to identify who these people in these teams are that are probably not friends with anybody else on that team. Kawhi Leonard. No. I feel like he's like, okay, so you've got to have the antisocial part of it, too. He was very manipulative last summer, so maybe he might manipulate again and say, hey, by the way, I saw LeBron without his mask.

Is that Kawhi? Anus Cantor is a snitch. Whoa. That's a good one. That was a great one. Anus Cantor is awesome. And Dwight Howard. That was the next one.

It's like the people who have this alpha complex but are not alphas. That is the people that will snitch. Kyrie, if he shows up. He was first on the list.

For sure. I'm sure you guys have already said Harden and Westbrook. They're probably a snitch tag team. Are you saying that Kyrie just made the list? Oh, no. God. This is big. You just made the list! All right.

We got B-Dot's grammar school. Thank you. I mean, I'm feeling confident. Are you? Robert, if you're asking me if I feel really confident that I'm going to get a handful of these right, this is what I would say to you. I do. I just asked him, as a matter of fact. You know what?

B-Dot takes me to grammar school next on The Drive. Everybody, listen up! You're on The Drive with Josh Graham. I can't believe this.

This is insane. What do you mean you don't like 2% milk? No, Rob said he does like 2% milk. We're back here on The Drive. Oh, sorry.

2% milk clearly is the best type of milk. If you have any problem with that, don't at me. It's time for B-Dot's grammar school.

We're going to dive head first into that. But real quickly before we do that, it is a national holiday that maybe a lot of people don't know about two days from now, Juneteenth. And I'm only saying that because the reason we do this segment that we do, where we have grammar school, it's one, to make fun of me. And I'm fine being made fun of. But number two, it's to express that your own experience that you might have could be a lot different than somebody else's. You might not have a certain vernacular. You might not know what something means.

And you might not know what somebody else's experience quite is. And I'll admit, I didn't really know what Juneteenth was until I saw B-Dot talking about it last week. When I think about June 19th, I always immediately go to sports contacts.

I think of Lem Bias. That's the day that he passed away in 1986. I think about the Carolina Hurricanes winning North Carolina's first and only professional major sports championship.

They won Game 7 in 2006. It was on June 19th. Now you're seeing a lot of professional leagues saying it's a national holiday. They're saying, hey, players, coaches, staff, you have that day off. Paid holiday. We still have work to be done to make it a national holiday. It's a paid holiday. So the Carolina Panthers, for example, are saying it's a paid holiday.

Friday, you have it off. So, I mean, this is something that's really important to you and you've expressed it. And I want to thank you because it's something I didn't quite know about. And one thing I always want to have on this platform is an opportunity for other perspectives, other experiences to make itself in here so it feels like a radio show for everybody. Honestly, Josh, like I will just second what you just said. That's always been like your M.O.

as far as our relationship is concerned. And I've always been appreciative of that because what's the face you're making? I don't want people to misconstrue.

Because I didn't want people to misconstrue this segment, for example, grammar school, being us making fun of the way that people talk. No, no, no. But I just want to say, like, you've always had that inquisitiveness regarding things that you don't know.

And I think it's superpower in that. But this just in, I'm black, right? And I was not 100 percent in the know of Juneteenth until last week. I was familiar with the date, but it wasn't something that was widely celebrated. Juneteenth, for those that don't know, June 19th, 1865, that was the final day of slavery in Texas, in the United States. Now, the Emancipation Proclamation was passed in 1863, but it took two years or so for it to get down to Texas for a bunch of different reasons that we won't really get into. The amendment was also passed in 1965 to 1865.

Yes. So from that perspective, in Galveston, Texas, June 19th, 1865, that's when word got to the last group of slave owners. Listen, slavery is over and it's supposed to be widely recognized as Independence Day for black people. July 4th, 1776 is Independence Day for the United States from Britain. But black people were still slaves. We didn't get our freedom until some 80 years later in 1865. Juneteenth should be recognized nationally.

It's only recognized statewide in 47 or 50 states. But there are things that needs to be done moving forward. And I hope that it gets the acknowledgment it deserves. Follow Bdaht on Twitter at Bdaht, B-D-A-H-T, kind enough to spend an hour with us each week.

It might be the whitest to blackest the history of sports radios ever gotten, talking about 2% milk. Yeah. To Juneteenth. To Juneteenth in the span of two or three weeks or two or three minutes, I should say.

Gosh, just so off the deck. Let's get to Bdaht's Grammar School. And if you would like to be of assistance today and give Josh a lifeline, the phone number is 336 area code 7771600. Today we have three new words or phrases and two review words or phrases. Josh has to get three out of five correct in order to be successful on today's edition of Grammar School. First word. Actually, it's a phrase, Josh, and your first phrase is drop down.

What does it mean to drop down, Josh? Can you make it plural drop dimes on somebody? Is that correct? No. So this would be different than the sports context. You can agree. Correct.

In basketball terms, it's an assist. Right. That's an important clarification.

Drop dime is different than dropping dimes. Robby, we're going to have to put a limit on how many questions he can ask. Yeah, I would say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, I think it's important to distinguish one understood in known definition from another. OK, you can for future reference, he can ask to specify a certain term. He cannot use the spelling bee reference of use this in a sentence. OK, OK, OK.

Prefer the rulings. That's fair. So I can't do what I just did, but I can ask for it in a sentence.

No, you cannot ask for it in a sentence. You can do what you just did. Correct.

I'm agreeing with you. All right. Thank you. Drop dime.

Drop dime. And remember, you felt so comfortable and confident today. Remember that. Bring it.

Do you have that audio? You want to do? I do. But you don't have to.

Oh, crap. Drop dime. Is it to just drop a lot of money on something like, man, back in the day, if you were buying a big record player, just being like I dropped dime on that record player.

Why did I just go ancient 80 year old? Hey, don't spend all that money on it. You know, back in the day you dropped dime. It cost about six dimes to get a record player.

Don't spend it all at one place. You know, Ray Mysterio, at the beginning of his entrance music, it says drop the dime six one nine. It's like to call somebody. Drop down. Drop down is to snitch. It's to call somebody and to snitch on somebody. Got it.

All right. Like Chris Paul probably do at the Disney. He dropped dime on somebody. There we go. Bubbles.

Way to tie that in. Josh, review word. Four letters. And I would just like to say, Robbie, that I was super embarrassed yesterday when Josh. Was it two days ago when Josh had no clue what that acronym was with all of the letters? Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh. I was off by two letters. And you bleeped. Just say that. I hate when people bleep stuff on Twitter. We know what the word is.

Get your get back in the house is essentially what was communicated or they will do something bad to you. Before I beat you. You got to talk just like that. Just like that.

Right through your teeth like this. YKTV. YKTV. I gave you this word on May 13th with this acronym. YKTV. What does it mean? No. My boy's about to be over to listen if you would like to assist Josh.

Three, three, six, seven, seven, seven, one six hundred. YKTV. I knew that part. This is about the time Josh calls on me and then he's like, why don't you help me? I don't want to go to Robert for this one because it's a review word. I might need your help on something else later. YKTV. Gosh. Do you want to know what you said last time? You have something with white people? White kid television is what you said last time.

So it's not white kid television. All right. Thanks. Yeah.

Thanks for that advice. I won't even count that as a lifeline. Yeah, see. You know the vibe. Yay. Congratulations. Look at this guy. I can't believe I just got that. I pulled it right out of my rip. Great job.

Review word from May 13th is correct. YKTV is you know the vibe. People say, yo, man, I see you doing your thing, Josh. You just hit him back. YKTV, man. You know the vibes.

You know how I'm getting down. Second word. This is a new word. And this one is something that I saw on Urban Dictionary and thought it was hilarious.

And I said, I'm going to bring it. What is mask-a-daisical? What is mask-a-daisical? I know the future song. Mask on, right?

I feel like everything I say in this segment could be a drop. Because it's mask off. Mask off. I did that. I said the exact opposite of what.

I couldn't be more wrong. Oh, it's amazing. Like, you know, the NWA song. Give fruit to the police. Yeah, yeah.

Love the police. That song. Yeah, I know it.

Mask on. I'll tell him, tell me not your favorite member of the Migos. Quavo? No, no, no, no. It's Quavo.

Is your favorite member Quavo? Robert, give me a hint. What's mask-a-daisical? I'm going to be honest with you. I have no clue. You actually also have a caller on the phone to help you. And he has no clue. So I will not let you use that phone line. All right.

Save him because he might be able to help me later. I have no idea. I give up. Mask-a-daisical is when people are walking around the area without their mask on.

Real lackadaisical. Did you just make this up? It's a made up word. I even went to Twitter and put mask-a-daisical in Twitter. I want a ruling, Robert.

While we're going to the next words, you go to Twitter. No, should that count if it's only been around for a month? M-A-S-K. If it's only been around for a month, that can't count, Robert. It can't. B-A-I-S. This is under appeal. I-C-A-L. That one's being struck for right now.

It's like mask and lackadaisical. It's been around for a month. Come on, man. We don't have all day for this. All right, what's number four? What game, this is a review word, what game is bones? Bones. Bones was a word that we actually had on our very first episode, I believe, on March 25th. March 25th, I gave you bones. You do have a caller, and I will rule in favor of B-dot on mask and lackadaisical. Thank you very much.

That's such BS. Okay, who's the caller? This is Eric and Graham. Eric and Graham, do you know what bones is?

What that means? Yeah, Josh. Bones is, man.

You know, you sitting at the house with your friends in the garage, and you're playing dominoes. Bones. Thank you. I would have never gotten that. I appreciated Eric from Graham. Hey, big shout out to Eric from Graham. That is exactly what bones is. Bones is dominoes, Josh.

I have a late uncle named Eric Graham. There you go. Thank you, Josh.

All right, I don't think that maskadaisical should count, but holy bleep. Number five. All right, so dig this. This one is two.

You can get two in one question right here, Josh, and make up and actually win the game today. Okay. All right, where is BK or BX? I need to know BK and BX? Or if you can just tell me where they are, I'll give you both of them without even knowing what BK or BX is.

Okay. I know where the BK lounge is. That's a deep cut joke. Thank you.

I think Robert maybe got that. The BK lounge. You familiar? Is that like Burger King something?

That's right. Thank you. BK.

You still have me, but I think I only know one of these. All right. Help me out. I think BK is Brooklyn and BX is the Bronx. I'm going to go with that. Brooklyn or the Bronx. That is 100% correct. BK is Brooklyn.

BX is the Bronx. That gives you two points right there, Josh. And listen, if Robbie's ever helped you ever, today is the day he super helps you. This is the best time ever, because I mean, if you were to ask me, Robert, if I appreciated your help on this, I would unequivocally and passionately say.

I do. That's right. Y'all some hoes.

All right. Tell us what you're doing on Juneteenth as I try to put this into a tease. Juneteenth is going to be an event. It's supposed to rain, but I got some friends doing an event at Douglas Park. Valley slash protest at four o'clock, going to have people out there just giving a little bit of information, voter registration. I'm going to have some stuff for the kids and stuff. Of course, masks are mandatory, but I'm just going to do our best to celebrate with the weather being what it is, man.

But the goal is to make Juneteenth a national holiday. Perhaps you guys could have some bones. Play some bones.

Play some bones. There we go. And hopefully no one's maskadaisical this weekend. Yes. Got to stay safe. See? I mean, I don't mind being a Karen and dropping dime. No, no, no, no. Stop. You don't want to be a Karen. Right.

I won't be a Karen, but I'll drop down if you're a maskadaisical. OK. That's just going to make that clear. Yeah.

You know, Karen's law. It's not safe anywhere. Like, it's not as bad here as BK or BX, but it's still pretty bad. So on Juneteenth, have a good time. Stay safe.

Wear a mask. YKTV. Up next, thanks for being here, B.Dot. Thanks for having me, bro. Why baseball could become a more niche sport sooner rather than later. This is The Drive.

Turn it up. They came to see us. Let's go. Back to The Drive with Josh Graham on Sports Hub Triad. We're now sharing with Darren Vaught, our good friend from USA Baseball, also the voice of High Point Basketball.

And before we get to listing off throwback Baltimore Orioles, the reason we're doing that is because I'm a huge Orioles fan and you had a chance to visit with one of my favorite Orioles of the last dozen years or so, Adam Jones, on your USA Baseball podcast covering the bases. Just give me a sense for where the hell we're at right now. MLB's ongoing dispute with the MLBPA. It seemed like there was reason for optimism just before we went on the air. Then you have Tony Clark denying that an agreement has been come to. Bob Nightingale of USA Today Sports is saying that there is there was a three hour conversation with Clark and Manfred where they seem to agree on a lot of things. Jeff Passan believes that something's going to get done by Saturday.

How should I be feeling at this moment? Josh, I think we should all be feeling a bit better, but remaining skeptical. The one thing you got to keep in mind with Rob Manfred of Major League Baseball, of course, he's the commissioner and then Tony Clark, who heads up the Players Association, is that they aren't the key decision makers. Rob Manfred is making decisions based on what the owners want. Tony Clark is making decisions based on his pulse for what the players want. So each party in this case is going to have to take it back to their respective group before something comes to an agreement. Now, the positive thing is that Manfred and the owners and Major League Baseball are evidently willing to give full prorated salaries to the players in this proposal. So that is a step forward and that, for the most part, is the main issue that the players had with the previous proposals. I don't think that this will be the one. I think you'll see the P.A. come back with one more and then it maybe will bounce back and forth a couple of times before something comes to a full agreement.

But it's progress. Major League Baseball looking at a 60 game proposal, which would have 16 playoff teams rather than 10. Here's a question I have, though. If I mean, Jeff Pass and he's in the know, he says that there's going to be a baseball season.

They're going to figure it out. He was betting it would be 48-50 games. But here's what I'm interested in. How much damage do you think has already been done to baseball when you look at the perception versus other leagues that have found a way to get back on the field or at least come to agreements on thing, get back on the field or court? How much damage has already been done, you think? It's tough to say.

And it depends on the context with which you ask the question. I mean, I love baseball, for instance. I'm invested.

I want a season no matter how long it's going to be and I'm going to be there no matter what. With the number of people that are outwardly upset by this, you see it all across social media. And granted, our feeds look a little less like the average Major League Baseball fans because we're plugged in with mainly baseball media. So it's not the perfect representation of the baseball fan population.

But I think close enough and enough people are outraged. If anything, Josh, I'm starting to think that the outcry and the outrage in result of all of this is proof that there is a large base of baseball fans. It does seep to a younger generation that's going to be there for when baseball gets this figured out. All of that is not to say that this is a job well done by Rob Manfred and Major League Baseball.

But I don't know that the sport overall is going to take the hit that many are surmising. OK. Let's get to one of our favorite segments of the week. It is time for the Imagine Dragons of the Baltimore Orioles.

Send us in your submissions on Twitter at Sports Hub Triad 336-777-1600. We discovered who the Nickelbacks of Major League Baseball were. Doug Mankiewicz, Marcus Giles, Johnny Estrada. He might be a top five Nickelback of Major League Baseball. Now we're looking for the players who embodied the last decade of baseball.

No, not the best players. This is the Imagine Dragons of 2010's baseball. Send us average memorable dudes on Twitter at Sports Hub Triad 336-777-1600. I don't know if this is going to be painful or therapeutic.

Maybe both. Let's go through the players that are too good. My list, Manny Machado, Jonathan Scope, Adam Jones, your guest on the Covering the Basis podcast, Zach Britton, Nellie Cruz, Nick Markakis.

Any objections? I would maybe swap Markakis with Chris Davis, but no huge objections. And Davis was only too good for like a year. Chris Davis is the definition of what we're looking for. He is peak memorable, not peak in terms of quality. I mean Nickelback was perfect because they have one or two, maybe three hits that you like.

We won't ever say they were really good. Chris Davis, he has that monster contract because of the one good year you mentioned and the Orioles are going to be paying him next to forever as a result of it. So yes, Chris Davis is an Imagine Dragon. Chris Davis has 2013, like Nickelback has photographs, for sure. Yes. Or like Imagine Dragons has radioactive. Or Believer. Thank you, Robert. Yeah, whatever that one is.

Give me the next one on your list. I was thinking Markakis fit what we were going after pretty easily, but I've got a couple more that I feel good about. And this one pains me because he is a hashtag ACC legend in baseball.

And I really, really hoped that he was going to have a better major league career. What about Matt Wieters? Yes. Georgia Tech, right?

Yes. Catcher. Catcher, which is what he's been throughout his professional career. And then at Georgia Tech, he was their closer as well. He would catch eight innings, come in, and dominate as their closer. Really good college baseball player.

I love the extra nuggets that you provide there. Matt Wieters is perfect for this. How about, I'm going to say it the way that the PA announcer would say it at Camden Yards, J.J. Hardy. I almost got a J.J. Hardy jersey because I went to East Carolina and got to know Justin Hardy who plays, I still think, plays for the Falcons. No, he got cut by the Falcons.

He hasn't been picked up yet, so he's still a free agent at the moment. Right. No relation though. No relation. They wore the same number though. So I'm a huge Orioles fan, ECU type tie there.

Number two, he played shortstop. J.J. Hardy. That could have been cool.

That could have been cool. Hardy also looks like he could be a member of Imagine Dragons. I don't think Mike on Twitter gets the game. He just tweeted me Brady Anderson. I think last 10 years, give me a guy who's played for the Orioles, who's memorable, who's average. For what it's worth, time period is off, but Brady Anderson would fit for the 90s. What would be the 90s group? Oh man.

The new kids on the block of a baseball of the Orioles, Brady Anderson, Robert, he's shaking his head at that idea. Who would be, like what band is the Nickelback and or Imagine Dragons of the 90s? They have to be incredibly popular. New kids on the block was incredibly popular, yes. Yeah.

I don't know that they were as like flash in the pan though. You know what I'm saying? Even somebody like Oasis leans on Wonderwall. That's the first thing that came to my mind. I love Oasis. Their music is great. I like it too, but the casual music listener knows Wonderwall and otherwise has no idea of Oasis. Maybe something like Barenecked Ladies, The Butthole Surfers, something like that.

Yes, The Butthole Surfers is a really good band, but Barenecked Ladies might be exactly what we're looking for. How about this one for an Imagine Dragons of the Orioles? Ubaldo Jimenez. Yes, of course. That's someone's name.

I thought that was an insult. Ubaldo Jimenez. Ubaldo Jimenez. I remember going to a game. They played the Oakland A's and people were so mad at Ubaldo pitching. They called him Ubaldo and he walked.

It was amazing. He walked three straight batters to load the bases and then somebody, I mean, it was like a pot fly situation, sack fly situation. Guy gets thrown out at the plate. So we're feeling optimistic. Hey, they got it out.

Maybe this is where Ubaldo is going to get it together. He walks the next batter and then the next guy goes grand slam to center field. I left that game. It was 10 to nothing in the eighth and then I walk out and I hear there's cheering in the stadium. I heard fans cheering. I'm like, oh, hey, maybe the Orioles got a hit or something. And then I see on my phone, oh no, there was a brawl Manny Machado just started. So I leave a 10 nothing game seconds after I walk out of the stadium.

There's a brawl that happens. Just tough luck. Ubaldo, one of those guys is perfect for this category, right? Because he either was going to be phenomenal or atrocious on the mound.

And that was true of his time with the Indians. I've got two more on my list here. Chris Tillman. Yes. Of course.

He was the ace for five years, which speaks to how bad the Orioles were. I got this one included just for you. He's clearly not good enough to be on this list, but because of what he did, he's a name that people remember, Robert Andino. That's wonderful.

That's oh man, Robert Andino is a great one. That's one of the best moments of the last decade. And my wife and my life watching baseball, watching Robert Andino get a base hit to eliminate the Red Sox from postseason competition as in real time, 45 seconds later in another game in Tampa, the Yankees were walking off a game winning hit that sent them to the playoffs. It's one of the greatest things that's ever happened in Major League Baseball history. Thank goodness we had social media to appreciate how much time or how little time passed in between. I get it. I get it. Well, that was one win above a replacement to use the war metric for Robert Andino that day.

And he finished with one point nine for his career. It's amazing. That's perfectly memorable for that reason. Give me one more that you have on your list. The best one you have remaining.

I've got one. And amazingly, this dude with seventh in Cy Young Award voting one year and had 101 saves in a two year stretch and then fell off the face of the earth. William Johnson.

Wow. I remember his walk up music or what he would come in when he came in the close. It was The Pretender by Foo Fighters. What if I say you're not like the other? That's right. When he came into the game, he played The Pretender when he came into the ballgame.

Very good stuff. Before I let you go, I love this this promotion that the Winston-Salem Dash are having to play catch. They're having 12 pairs at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. You could schedule a time to play catch at the ballpark. I don't want to call it BB&T Ballpark because tomorrow at 11 a.m. they're going to unveil a new name, which it's expected to be Truist Ballpark because we're just going to do this thing where every minor league ballpark except for DBAP in the state of North Carolina is going to be named the same thing. Truist Ballpark because Sunbank merged with BB&T, so it looks like Wake Forest football stadium is probably in the future going to be Truist Field. That would be the smart guess, right?

That's the smart guess to see if it's going to happen. Are we going to play catch at Truist Ballpark? What are you doing this weekend? That's a great question.

Girlfriends out of town? I'm interested, man. Let's play catch at Truist Ballpark. Why not, Darren?

I'm putting you on the spot on my radio show. I thought it was next weekend, the promotion. Oh, it starts next weekend? Well then how about we break into the stadium and play catch anyway? We got to warm up.

If I'm going to do this on the 27th in the true fashion, I'm going to need some time to warm up anyway. So maybe we'll get a couple throws in. Do you have a question for Darren on the way out? I do.

Has everyone hit the imaging? I didn't pull it, but I can really quick while I explain stuff. While he's trying to pull that really quickly, tell us real quick about Adam Jones. You've got about 30 seconds.

I will. We did an hour with Adam Jones. It was awesome because he's one of my favorite players of contemporary baseball. So it was cool for me. I've been chasing this interview for about a year and a half, but he's been a free agent a couple of times. Now he's playing in Japan. So we finally made it work and I talked to him as he was in the future because he's 13 hours ahead of me.

When we recorded, it was like 11 p.m. my time, noon the next day, his time. A lot of good stuff. He talks about the 2017 World Baseball Classic run, his time with the Orioles, of course, as he is for the past decade-ish Mr. Oriel. And just a lot of good stuff. Living and playing in Japan, he's one of the best, man.

It was a lot of fun. So covering the bases, USA Baseball's official podcast, you can find it anywhere you get them. It'll be more than 30 seconds, but I appreciate it because it's Mr. Oriel. Robert, hit the sound. Robert doesn't know diddly squat about baseball. When Robert hears strikeout, he thinks all about his failed past relationships. When Robert hears breaking ball, he winces, gas, get the point. While everyone else is swinging for the fences, Robert is simply trying to get on base. This is baseball for dummies. All right, Darren, I am still searching for my team.

I'm searching for my fandom. And in doing this, I am looking at the best players for certain teams and breaking down whether I can be a fan of that team or not. I want you to tell me if I should be a fan of these two teams based off these two players.

The two prospects, one is the Phillies and I've been watching some Chase Utley videos and I didn't know if that was appropriate or David Ortiz. My favorite moment is this is our bleeping city and the Red Sox. I've heard people don't like the Red Sox before, but I didn't know if you could shine some light on the situation. He's a Red Sox fan. What, Darren, you're a Red Sox fan?

What? I am. Now, but I'll say this, Robert, are you looking to become a fan for the 2020 season, this shortened version of Major League Baseball that we're about to get? I wear my heart on my sleeve, Darren. Whoever I fall in love with this year is probably who I'm going to take to the dance every year. Yeah, don't pick the Red Sox.

Don't base the decision on either Chase Utley or David Ortiz because both of those guys have retired. No, I know that. I understand that. I'm just saying just in the similar fashion of I liked the Ravens because he asked me about Niger Morgan last week. What in the crazy? Because I'm trying to be a well-rounded baseball fan.

I'm trying to understand how things work, Darren. All right. Well, Big Poppy, as he's called David Ortiz, possibly the greatest designated hitter of all time. Chase Utley, probably a top 10 or so second baseman of all time. One of the dirtiest guys in the history of baseball, just saying, Chase Utley, yes. Gritty is the way it was packaged for a long time in his career until a nasty takeout slide late in his Major League Baseball playing days.

Also he was trying to hurt somebody. Oh yeah. I like this guy. I might like the Phillies. Don't they have the fanatic, too? The green?

He's also got great- They might lose the Philly fanatic. There's some drama going on there that maybe we can get to a later time. John Oliver, I think, covered it not too long ago. Darren, thanks for doing this, my friend. You got it. See you guys.

All right. That's Darren Vaught. He's on Twitter at Darren Vaught. Listen to his conversation with Adam Jones on the Covering the Basis USA Baseball podcast. Robert, what do we got in Ticket to the House? Much like the year 2000, Pokemon is about to take up all of my free time. That's next on The Drive.