Conspiracy Josh

He's amused Cam Newton. He's been insulted by Charles Barkley. When some idiot in the press asked him, if you know what you know now, what you scheduled this game. He's interviewed Matthew McConaughey. And he's taken on Big Blue Nation.

He's just completely taking the wind out of my face. It's time for The Drive with Josh Graham. We're on a Tuesday Drive WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where over the last 24 hours, there have been reports and speculation about the ACC's impending doom. Oh no, the Magnificent Seven.

The grant of rights being examined. Are teams going to bail? There is no clearer example of the absurdity of what's being sold to us, and really how major college athletics works in 2023, than what is happening with the ACC this week. Days after FSU's AD complained that the league was in a full-blown financial crisis, in danger of being able to compete because of it. By the way, Clemson and Miami seem to be on board with that message. Days after that, the ACC is holding its spring meetings at a beach side resort in Amelia Island, Florida, where rooms go for over $1,100 a night, and it feels like everyone's there. Football, basketball coaches, ADs, probably wives, family members.

It feels like everyone's there, and we're gonna put it on the tab. Yep, seems like the type of behavior that we'd see from a poor struggling conference, am I right? Here's the reality of the matter. Cries for needing more money is an overstatement at best, a manufactured lie by greedy university presidents at worse. And the same goes for anybody saying the ACC is in danger anytime soon. One day, maybe, when the grant of rights is close to expiring. If the grant of rights wasn't legit, we'd know it by now. If schools really were in danger of leaving, they would have already left.

So that's all premature. Talk to us six, seven years from now when you want to talk about the ACC really being in that much trouble. But back to the money piece.

This is just how college sports has worked for a long time now. There's never gonna be enough money. There's never going to be enough.

You're never gonna see a school say, you know, we're set. We're gonna save some money now. We'll turn away this money from donors.

We'll just stop asking, frankly. Schools are always gonna ask for more, selling it that they need it, just to add a barbershop that they don't need in their football facility or a bowling alley or new locker rooms every five years. That's how it works.

Everybody works in the red even though even though they're making more money hand over fist than they ever have before. To be clear, the data is legit that there is a financial gap between the ACC and the SEC in the Big Ten. That is a challenge and it's only gonna continue to grow. That is not going to be an advantage for the ACC.

It will be a disadvantage. I don't have any issue with saying that. I don't have any issue saying that you want to make more.

That you want to get closer, right? That's fine. That's American.

That's capitalistic. You want to make more? Sure. I want to make more too.

WD I'm sure does. There's no problem in wanting to make more. Just don't lie to us. They're telling us they need it or else they're not going to be able to compete anymore. They're not going to be able to, you know, match up with these top schools that they're in danger of not being able to, you know, play these Alabamas and Georges of the world.

This idea should be rejected on its face because it's not true and I can prove it. Let's look at other sports. Now, most sports are salary capped. They're probably not great examples of this, but do you know what sport isn't? Baseball. Shouldn't more money guarantee more on-field success?

Having more money should guarantee dominance, shouldn't it? Who has more money than WD's New York Yankees? And they haven't won a trophy since 09.

14 years. The Dodgers have won one championship in 35. Who's the best team in baseball right now? Is the Pirates still? Tampa Bay by a mile. Tampa Bay by a mile. The team that doesn't draw any attendance.

A team that doesn't have a huge payroll. They're dominating that sport. College sports. Look at some of the teams that win in college basketball. Remember those programs that were left for dead because of football in the Big East when they turned into the American? Villanovas won two national titles since then in a revenue generating sport. UConn turned down less money from the American to go back to the Big East and just won a national title in basketball. Oh, we're not gonna be able to compete.

TCU competed just fine and got to the national championship game. Again, is it ideal? No.

Is it an existential crisis? That's a no two. Especially with the new 12 team playoff format that's gonna be starting next year. I'd make this argument to you, WD. You'd say that, oh, Texas and Oklahoma they landed to a safe place in the SEC.

Financially, they landed to a safe place. USC and UCLA, they did the same going from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten, right? How many teams are gonna make the playoff from these conferences that are 16 teams, right? Who's gonna be okay with losing? You think Texas couldn't win in the Big 12? You think they're gonna win in the SEC now, now that they're playing LSU in Alabama?

Good luck with that. The path to getting to the playoff and having success is a lot easier, you would think, in the ACC the path would be a lot clearer to get to that point and compete for national championships in that conference than would be the SEC, right? And the playoff it's single elimination.

It's a single elimination bracket. Why should Gonzaga be allowed to win big in college basketball, be one of the top programs? Why should UConn be allowed to do so? Well, because they win their conference and get into the tournament, it's single elimination and we'll put our best against your best and figure it out. There are more great athletes in America today and across the world today than there have ever been and I got news for you, there are gonna be more great athletes than can fill up these Big 10 and SEC rosters. There's gonna be enough for several other conferences and programs to be able to win in college sports.

So the cries, the need for money in order to compete, it's an overstatement and I'd go as far to say it's a lie by greedy university presidents. On Twitter at wsgsradio if you want in 336-777-1600. We've got a really big show today for reasons we'll tell you about in a second involving the Davie County Young Life second annual golf tournament that will have live reports from an organization that means a lot to us which we'll be telling you about throughout today's show. Will Dalton is the executive producer of this show.

You can stream video on Twitter at wsjsradio in addition to YouTube and Twitch. WD, I wore this Denver Nuggets t-shirt just for you today. You did? Just for you.

Really? I wore this. Hey it begins tonight Lakers Nuggets on the road in Denver still won Lakers. Also got the NBA draft lottery tonight so a big night in the NBA more on that a little bit later on. Race week at North Wilkesboro really kicks off tonight. Tonight is when it's really gonna start feeling real at the old racetrack because late models are gonna run tonight and tomorrow. Chase Elliott gonna be among the drivers tonight. He actually raced at North Wilkesboro in a late model back in 2010 so he has a little bit of experience. Kevin Harvick and Dale Jr. they're gonna go tomorrow night just as Dale did last August.

He had the number three sundrop late model. He's gonna be in that again. Here was Dale recently on what this week means to him. I'm telling you when everybody comes out to this all-star race and stands down there right before they fire the engines for that race you're gonna feel something inside of you Larry that you ain't felt in a long time. I promise you that. It's a really really cool feeling.

When we were there in August it was amazing how nostalgic it felt and it's a special place. So it's late models tonight and tomorrow. After late models we got trucks running Friday and Saturday.

That's the real thing Saturday not an exhibition. It is the NASCAR Truck Series race coming back to North Wilkesboro first time for trucks since 1996 too and they also have concerts going starting on Friday. You got Chase Rice that's gonna be performing they got that right. You got Dierks Bentley that's gonna be performing on Sunday.

I expect biblical crowds to be showing up to Wilkes County this week. They're probably already there and then Sunday it's race day and that's when the nostalgia should hit you. Richard Petty and Darryl Waltrip the two greatest champions at North Wilkesboro. They're gonna be the co-grand marshals for the race. You got you know Darryl Waltrip is actually gonna be a guest with us on tomorrow's show.

That's pretty exciting. Boogity boogity boogity let's go race it boys! The 75th anniversary of NASCAR this year. They're doing it right having the all-star race at North Wilkesboro and this year I think is the 76 year anniversary of North Wilkesboro's existence. So North Wilkesboro Speedway which started a dirt track opened up a year before NASCAR's existence.

A lot of history of course here in the state of North Carolina. Panthers offensive coordinator Thomas Brown met with the media for the first time since Bryce Young was taken number one overall. So he was asked the million dollar question who is gonna be starting for you game one at quarterback?

From day to day standpoint obviously Andes are starting right now. Bryce is getting a lot of reps with the ones and two just because he is a rookie like most of our rookies are kind of getting some more work over some of the veterans because of just the experience and the repetition of it but you know what's today Tuesday? You know Tuesday so I'm looking forward to Wednesday and we'll see what happens tomorrow. Yeah can't wait for win today can't wait for what happens tomorrow or the day after that. Exhilarating stuff.

Perfect, thoughtful, insightful answer from Thomas Brown. We're not gonna know until preseason games are played who is gonna start for the Panthers but they're saying the right things. You have to say Andy Dalton is the starter right now because Bryce Young hasn't proven anything yet.

All we've seen from Bryce Young is him out there in shorts and the number nine jersey during Ricky minicamp with no pads on slinging it a bit. It is funny there is that video that was taken from the left of the line. Yep.

Where people are kind of overreacting I feel like. Yep. Bryce seeming a little short. Just a bit.

Josh McCowns he's a taller guy and Bryce seemed kind of small. If we were to inject Panther photographers and Panther content creators over there with truth serum and ask them this question. How do you think they're gonna answer this question? The question being this. Have you guys discussed ways to make Bryce seem taller in your pictures and videos?

I don't think they have. Hey you're gonna want to shoot him from this angle. Well. A little bit down low shoot upward and that way he seems a little bit taller.

Add a couple of inches there. After the reaction to that video that we're talking about. Uh-huh. Maybe.

Yeah. Or they just don't care. I think that conversations happen. I think that conversations happen. To be clear I'm not saying Bryce Young is telling the Panthers hey maybe you could get me at a better angle here.

I'm not saying he's saying that but I bet you that's a conversation that's happened. Thomas Brown was asked whether or not he has concerns about Bryce's size. I don't know why he's asked that question. Kind of like I don't get why he's asked who the starting quarterback is gonna be. Do you think he's gonna slip and be like oh it's gonna be Bryce?

Oh no! Just like do you think he if he honestly had concerns about Bryce's size do you think now that he's been drafted he would say under any circumstances? You know what? It's interesting you asked me that. I do have those concerns. That's out of the bag.

You know what? I couldn't tell you before but now we got him. I can't stand the fact he's only 5'10. We should have drafted CJ.

Here was Thomas Brown saying really the only thing he could have said. For me personally I never cared about it because I evaluate tape. I evaluate the person. Think about this projection to this level and I mean Bryce is himself. I'm not into comparisons about what came before who's coming in the future because I try to try to look at everybody individually of what they can do they can bring to the table. So for me personally I never cared about him.

Got it. He was an undersized player when he played at Georgia back in the day. This actually is a newsworthy piece that came out of Thomas Brown's presser. He confirmed that Frank Reich was going to be the play caller.

He confirmed but this is actually the more interesting piece. Thomas Brown said he was gonna coach from the sideline. So usually the offensive coordinator is up in the booth.

Now maybe it's less surprising because he's not calling plays but that was something he confirmed earlier today during that press conference. Looking at the other one of the other major pro sports teams in the Queen City it's a huge night for the Charlotte Hornets. This is a night that Hornet fans have circled probably before the season even tipped off last year. I know we have. As soon as they didn't get the coach they wanted and Miles Bridges had that situation that transpired that was less than ideal and Lamello was dealing with injuries before the season even started. We started to look ahead. We saw the writing on the wall. The Hornets were going to be in the Victor Wabunyama sweepstakes.

Well tonight we're gonna learn who gets Victor. Adrian Wojnarowski is on television in the last couple of hours saying this might be the most highly anticipated athlete in the history of the NBA coming in and perhaps the greatest athlete coming into a sport in the history of team sports. That's how big literally and figuratively Victor Wabunyama is. 7-5 wingspan can handle it.

It's it's pretty remarkable. Conspiracy Josh believes that this might be rigged and that the NBA is going to reward the San Antonio Spurs for being good soldiers in the league and being a model franchise and hey Greg Popovich is still around we gave you Tim Duncan and look what you did with him in 97 and now we're gonna reward you again on the way out. Tim Duncan 2.0. Conspiracy Josh thinks that the NBA isn't gonna leave it up to chance where a guy who is this talented ends up. That's what Conspiracy Josh thinks. What's the other? Who are the other types of Josh's we've learned about? There's NPR Josh. NPR Josh. What is the other? There's NPR Josh who I've been discouraged to let out because apparently people don't like guys who on the radio use words from like SAT words.

Nobody wants that. Words that you have to look up in the encyclopedia. Well why would you look it up in the encyclopedia the dictionary is what I meant to go by there but Optimistic Josh has a different viewpoint when it comes to the Hornets. Optimistic Josh thinks that maybe the NBA might want to reward a small market team if they do in fact have control of this. The Hornets have a twelve and a half percent chance at getting the number one pick which is one and a half percent worse than the three teams that had the worst record in the league's chances.

14% for the Rockets the Nuggets the Rockets the Pistons and the San Antonio Spurs. Charlotte the fourth team with more than 10% chance at getting the number one pick. Those are the teams we're gonna limit the scope to that could potentially get him. Maybe the NBA looks at it and says hey there they have a star on the mellow ball who's non-committal to staying in that market. A way to keep him around to get that organization that's been struggling competitive is by charging it up with Victor webinama and pairing them with Michael Jordan who's still owning the team as of right now. That'd be a place to send them let's do that. The same way that they sent Zion to New Orleans after they got Anthony Davis about ten years ago too.

That's optimistic Josh so there's conspiracy Josh and optimistic Josh. The Hornets need Victor webinama most and they deserve him most because unlike the three teams with worse records than Charlotte they didn't intentionally tank in order to be as bad as they were. They tried to win.

Bad things just happened to them. We mentioned the Kenny Atkinson situation to Miles Bridges and the injuries that they dealt with. San Antonio Detroit and Houston did not try to win and by the way they already have guys who they took first and second overall. Jalen Green with Houston and they got Shungun in the draft who's really good. Cade Cunningham was the number one pick just a few years ago.

They got guys already. Charlotte they got LaMelo Ball but they haven't had the number one pick since 91 W. Did you know that? 91 was the only other time they had the number one pick. They are the most playoff starved franchise in the league. Longest drought now that Sacramento made the playoffs. In the league seven years they haven't made the playoffs and they are one of two franchises to never reach a conference finals. The other team the New Orleans Pelicans who had only been around for 20 years while Charlotte's been around for close to 35. And let's not forget New Orleans stole Charlotte's basketball team close to 20 years ago. So Charlotte deserves a break.

They deserve this star player and let's hope it happens for them later on tonight. It's The Drive with Josh Graham. A couple of sports media notes before we take it to the house. Pat McAfee taking his show to ESPN where he already does College Game Day and a bunch of other things for the network. So that's going to be a shift.

Good on him though. The way that he's grown his brand it's a pretty special thing and it seems pretty clear that his future is going to be intertwined with ESPN whether it be something regarding the Monday Night Football booth one day or you know college football as well. Seemingly already replaced Lee Corso as the guy that people turn to on that show. He's on the show more than Corso is or was this past season bringing a lot of energy to that show.

That's something to pass along. And then you have, well W.D. we called this before the series even started, Lakers-Warriors the most highly rated second round series in the history of the NBA. Lakers-Warriors.

Who could have saw that coming? Lebron facing Steph and company. Big win for the NBA this entire offseason.

And a big night tonight. Lakers-Nuggets. I like the Nuggets in six games to take down the Lakers and we're having our fingers crossed prior to that game what's gonna happen with the NBA draft lottery. The Hornets with a ten and a half percent chance. So you're telling me there's a chance or twelve and a half percent chance.

Two percent better than that. Let's take it to the house. Brought to you by East Coast Wings and Grill. Served up for you a story that we close out today's show with. Police walked up to this man's house who appeared to be working on his car. They were there to arrest him something about a warrant for contempt of court.

That's why they were there. So as they closed in on him he darts. He gets in his car and he bolts. He leaves ran over several fences all over the curb. In his car. In his car. Police in pursuit and eventually he pulled his car over and got out and ran. Right? So then he runs and he made several pit stops and burglarized multiple homes. And in one of the homes a woman who lived there found like three missing Capri Suns. Yeah.

And her clothes thrown all over the place. Eventually with the K-9 unit, a police helicopter and about 20 deputy cars in pursuit. They got him. The guy was in somebody's yard running. He turns around.

Yes. Bleep you. And then he collapses on the ground and they arrested him. Capri Suns.

Capri Suns. He was on crack by the way. In case you didn't know. Well or Stephen A. would say. On crack!

As he would say. Yeah not surprising. Flaw to me.

Flaw to me on crack. Not surprising at all. But um. It is. I do have questions about the lady who noticed that some Capri Suns were taken.

How would you notice that? Well they were left on her yard. Got it. Yeah. Uh-huh. Empty. When's the last time you had a Capri Sun?

Lunch when I was in second grade. Not since then. I don't think so. I could do for a Capri Sun. Maybe get one of those Lunchables as well. Do with that. Great stuff today. Tomorrow Darryl Waltrip is gonna join the show. Boogity boogity boogity. On a Wednesday drive.