Jason Derulo

Yes, Josh Cram has opinions. There is nothing that entertains the audience and the masses more than me being bothered. And yes, he's got attitude.

Really, none of the game made sense to me. And that's exactly why you love him. When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together. You're on The Drive with Josh Cram. We've made it to a Friday Drive. This is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad, where one of the oldest clichés in the book around the time any sports season begins is, every team's different. You'll hear it from coaches.

You'll hear it from players. Regardless of how much we have back, no two teams are ever the same. And when it comes to Hubert Davis' Tar Heels next season, that is especially true. This week was the start of summer practices for the North Carolina basketball team. And you don't have to think about the makeup of this team all that much or glance at a roster for maybe more than five minutes to realize that this team is different.

And not in the they're gonna breathe fire kind of way, but instead in the I don't think we've literally seen a Tar Heel team quite like this type of way. Let's just start with the backcourt pairing of Cormac Ryan and Elliott Cadeau. Looking at this roster and doing something as simple as just looking up the birth dates of some of these players, Elliott Cadeau is 18 years old. When the season begins, Cormac Ryan is going to be 25.

Now, my education comes from East Carolina University. I certainly wasn't a math major. But that is a seven-year difference between two players that are likely going to be starting in the same backcourt. A seven-year difference.

You tell me the last time you ever saw that happen. The reason that is Elliott Cadeau, a reclassified high school senior. He should be playing high school basketball a senior year. He's now playing college hoops. We're seeing more and more of that in college basketball, but we really haven't seen it a lot in Chapel Hill. So that's different.

Obviously, college basketball's changed so much with the transfer portal and the one-time transfer, so you have more guys coming in who's going to help you immediately. But aside from Cam Johnson a few years ago, Carolina hasn't had a lot of guards who've come into the portal and helped the way that they suspect Cormac Ryan is going to help. That is going to be a bit different. There is no more Caleb Love.

There is no more Leaky Black. So another makeup of this roster is going to be different too. This is going to be a Hubert Davis lineup.

We've heard that the last couple of years. These are the same starters that Roy Williams has had, and there's a lot of truth to that. It's restricted what Huberts wanted to do, or perhaps disallowed us to see what his ideal vision of a lineup should be at the collegiate level. And we're going to see that this year, even as RJ Davis is back and Armando Baycott, of course, is back too.

Hubert Davis' lineups this year, you could probably describe it in short this way. Not very big, but they could shoot. Other than Armando, everybody can shoot. Who steps on the floor for Carolina. Even Jalen Withers coming off the bench, Harrison Ingram from Stanford, everybody should be able to shoot. But this is probably going to be the smallest Carolina lineup we've seen in five years.

Maybe even more than that. You have to go to the 17-18 Carolina team, where late in the year, they weren't starting Garrison Brooks as that second big. Theo Pensim was the four. The five in that lineup was often Luke May. So you had Luke May, who was starting the year paired with Garrison Brooks.

Brooks then came off the bench. May became the five and you had Theo Pensim playing the four because Cam Johnson was a big wing as a three. That's a pretty small lineup that they had then. This lineup is going to be even smaller than that.

That's just another way. But this is going to be different. We get to see what Hubert Davis' ideal vision for a lineup is for the first time.

It's going to be a smaller team than we've seen in a very long time. You're going to have different types of players, a reclassified player in Elliott Cadeau, who's seven years younger than Cormac Ryan because of COVID, who's allowed to continue playing college basketball, transferring in from Notre Dame. And by the way, that Armando Bacot guy, Armando, he's going to shatter some records this year. He already has the rebounding record over Tyler Hansbrough. This year, he's going to make sure that record isn't touched ever because he's playing for a fifth season.

That, of course, is a very different deal. But here are some other records he should break. Games played.

Minutes played. Every other rebounding record. And he's likely, it's obtainable for him, he's likely to finish second in career scoring behind Tyler Hansbrough.

And he can do all those things, W.D., and still, quite remarkably, not have his name up in the rafters. That could happen because there's a legit criteria you need to meet because of how successful and decorated the Tar Heel basketball program is. Armando Bacot has not won ACC Player of the Year. He's come close. He has not been a first team All-American, and he has not been a Final Four Most Outstanding Player. He's come close on ACC Player of the Year. He's come close on Final Four Most Outstanding Player. If Carolina held on to that lead against Kansas in the national title game. But since those things didn't happen, this is his last crack to try and get up into the rafters.

All those records he has still does not meet the criteria that you would have to meet. But we've never seen a Tar Heel team quite like this one. And that's what makes them particularly compelling one week into their summer practices beginning. On Twitter, at WSJS Radio, if you want in on today's show, that's us on Twitter. That's where you can stream the show in addition to YouTube and Twitch.

Will Dalton is the executive producer of this show. W.D., we will not be having a live show Monday or Tuesday. That's because of the holiday, 4th of July. So have you decided how you're going to be spending the 4th? I have not.

Probably some... I might even watch movies. I don't know why you say that, because every time you say that, you don't. Yeah. And then you get upset at me.

Every single time. I might go. I might go watch movies. Indiana Jones is out. Oh, yeah. Oh, that Indiana Jones. That looks great.

I think so. I might go to Costco too. Doesn't look good. Went to Costco this morning. Grabbed the hot dog at like 1030 in the morning before East Coast Wangs. Brought in some stuff for us. Shout out to Angela at the Kernersville in Greensboro stores.

Kernersville! A hot dog for breakfast? Well, it's not breakfast. I mean, they serve lunch at McDonald's and Bojangles after 1030. That's when people start eating.

So I think the cutoff is after 1030. It's been established. I see.

It's no longer breakfast. Right when we get off the air at six o'clock, the NBA's free agency period, previously known as the legal tampering period, will begin. So between then and our next show, which will be in the middle of next week, you should expect to see a lot of movement and a lot of Woge tweets. However, for the NBA standard, this might be the least compelling free agency we've seen in at least the last 15 years. The NBA's free agency, oh, boy, they do it right.

Usually they do. The free agency stuff, the July 1st stuff, it's usually more entertaining than the regular season that they have. People talk about the free agency period during the actual season. There's no other sport that that ever really happens.

So usually there's a lot to get excited for. Not really this year. None of these free agents are game changers. Oh, we're going to see where Kyrie Irving's going to end up. OK, how's that going for his last three teams? Boston, without him in the playoffs, got to a conference finals in Jason Tatum's rookie year. Without him, that happened. Brooklyn, without Kyrie, nearly went to the NBA finals. If KD's foot was back just a couple of feet on a turnaround three in game seven, which was actually a two, then they're probably cutting down nets that year. Do you cut down nets in the NBA? I don't think you do.

My apologies then. And, you know, Dallas didn't even make the playoffs this year. But I need to be dialed in to see whether or not, according to CBS Sports, he's going to be in Dallas, Phoenix, Miami, Houston, the Lakers, the Clippers.

All of them are interested. James Harden, oh, he might end up being a Clipper 2 based on what we hear. That's not the same guy anymore. And he was even five years ago. These are not game changer, world mover type of guys that are being moved.

It's just not that compelling. And the very few stars there are, are probably going to get overpaid. Like good players, not great players, but they're going to be paid like they're great players. I'm looking at you, Fred Van Vliet, with respect to our guy Steve Forbes. Don't get mad at me. Coached him at Wichita State. Well?

Sorry about that. Yeah, he's going to get paid. Jeremy Grant, the same way. It reminds me of Jalen Brunson last year. Good player.

Yeah, very good. Might even be a star, but can he be the best player on a playoff contender? Probably not. But he's getting paid like one. Just like Fred Van Vliet's probably going to, or Jeremy Grant's going to.

Because why? Teams have money and there just aren't top free agents. And teams are just going to take swings to take swings. The guys who would make this an interesting free agency, probably going to end up at the teams that they played for last year. Brook Lopez and Chris Middleton, technically free agents, but both expect to return to the Milwaukee Bucks. Draymond Green expected still to return to the Golden State Warriors. If that doesn't happen, that's actually an impactful player. He's probably the player I'm most fascinated to see where he ends up. Not Kyrie, not James Harden, not Fred Van Vliet, not, you know, any of these other guys I name. Draymond Green. Because that's a dude that is very good and very important to a team that's won titles over the last decade and a lot of them. And with Chris Paul back at Golden State, that would be interesting if Draymond were to return. If he were to go somewhere else, see him what he does away from that nucleus would be a compelling storyline. But aside from that, not a lot of interesting.

Just not. We talked about North Carolina basketball. There are concerns in Wake Forest baseball circles about the number of guys over the last week who have entered the transfer portal. We're only eight days removed from Tommy Tank's hitting that home run to extinguish the number one seed from Winston-Salem. And who better to extinguish any concerns that folks might have or who knows, perhaps even ignite some of those concerns depending on his opinion when it comes to the subject than Darren Vaught, our friend, ACC baseball, et cetera, and few know college baseball in our state as well as Darren does.

My read on it was that this is a math equation. You're talking about scholarships in college baseball being a lesser number than the number you even see in men's college basketball and women's college basketball. And many of the guys who are entering the portal are four-year starters that are not getting drafted or four-year players that are not getting drafted, which tells me, maybe with the exception of Danny Corona, who also might have struggled to find a starting spot defensively and certainly might not have it guaranteed going into next year. These are guys that Wake Forest isn't exactly heartbroken that they've lost. What's your read on the outgoing transfer situation for Wake? Yeah, I mean, look, this is the way it's going to be. This is the way it has to be. And I think if your head coach, Tom Walter, who just was rewarded with a lofty contract extension, it's sort of what you expected.

Again, it's business as usual. And in some of these cases, like you look over at an NC State, Cannon Peebles had a tremendous freshman season for them as a hitter, but he's their second catcher. He's been playing behind a guy who had an even better season than Jacob Cozart, High Point native Jacob Cozart. Well, he transfers out and goes to Tennessee, and Peebles was a pretty big draft prospect coming out of high school who decided to take the college route, impressed at NC State, still was going to be in a position where he was not the starter.

So he's just going to a place where he's going to have that opportunity. I mean, look, Tennessee was a really, really good baseball team this year. They didn't have a starting catcher. They rotated between three guys who were basically, I mean, effectively they were all bullpen guys.

So Cannon found a good situation for him. I mean, there's going to be turnover, right? I mean, Rhett Louder is obviously going in the draft.

He's not coming back. They've got some other guys who are draft eligible who are not going to come back because they're good enough players to be picked relatively high. But what made Wake Forest so good this season in most cases was their depth.

So there's a pipeline there. I know the names. Look, this is sort of new again to Wake Forest baseball fans. I know the names that you grew accustomed to this season aren't going to be there, but that's just the nature of the sport. It's the nature of college athletics at this point. Trust in Coach Walter's building of a roster and trust that it's going to be fine.

For as many guys that leave and go elsewhere, you're going to be getting more. I'm glad you expanded it to say that's the way college athletics is nowadays, because when you were describing that, I'm reminded of being on the field for the ACC championship game when Clemson was playing North Carolina this past year in football. And I'm talking to somebody who is a pretty prominent football insider. And I'm just looking at these guys on Clemson that I don't recognize because they hadn't put on their uniforms yet. They were just in tights and they're working out on the field, short sleeves and their shorts. And I'm thinking, this guy looks like an NFL draft pick.

This guy looks awesome. Oh, yeah, those are the guys who don't play yet. And all I'm thinking is the B team that Clemson has, given the recruiting level, probably would be the A team at 90% of schools in America, even in the power five.

And that's the way people describe Georgia, too. It's like, hey, this guy right here would be a draft pick if he was given the opportunity to play this year. But you have other draft picks who are playing ahead of them. The same could be true for a program that's now recruiting the way Wake Forest is. Yeah, and I don't know that it's exactly the same just because of the sort of strained nature of recruiting in baseball specifically.

But, I mean, it's going to be close to that, right? Wake Forest's top eight starting pitchers were all sub-three ERAs this year. They're not all leaving. No, Josh Hartle's going to be coming back and that Nick Kurtz guy, they expect him back at first base, too.

So the cupboard's not going to be empty. No, not at all. And, you know, again, Brock Wilkin, gone, right? He's going to be a first rounder. Rhett Louder, gone. But that's what good programs are accustomed to.

So if you are going to be one of those top tier upper echelon programs, that's what you're going to do. And with Josh Hartle coming back, the left-handed pitcher for them, you're basically getting Rhett Louder over again, right? When Rhett won ACC pitcher of the year, you knew he was coming back because of his age and ineligibility for the draft. Well, Josh is the same way.

And Josh, I got news for you guys, might end next season better than Rhett ended this season. Like, he's that good. First team All-American and he's going to be the front, the face of your staff next year. And Nick Kurtz might have the smoothest swing in college baseball right now. It's worth noting when Rhett Louder in that game against LSU set the Wake Forest single season strikeout record, it was just going back and forth with Josh Hartle.

Every time they pitched, it was Josh Hartle breaking the record then Rhett Louder breaking that record and they were going back and forth. I got a Major League Baseball question to ask you before we get to unusual questions. I try not to get mad about All-Star games. I try not to get mad about it. But then when I saw the American League starters yesterday and the nine come from four teams and being an Orioles fan, Adlai Rutschman's not included, Austin Hayes not included despite the fact he's hitting like 330 right now, I got a little upset.

I got a little upset when I saw four Texas Rangers there. And I just need to know if you took any issue with the All-Star selections. No.

And I never do. Like, it'd be different if for whatever reason we were all missing the point with a guy like Shohei Ohtani and people weren't appreciating him enough and I mean, I think Adlai's going to be there, just not voted in as the starter. So you're not necessarily taking anything away from him. Would I also tell you that he's the best catcher in baseball right now and it is a little bit bananas that he's not the starter in the All-Star game? Sure.

Yeah. I mean, if there were no other Texas Rangers that were in the starting lineup, no issues from Josh Graham. Hey, you've got to celebrate a team that's been awesome in the first half. But Segar's there, Seaman's here. I mean, you look at the team that they have, that rookie whose name slips me at third base that they have. Josh Graham, former Texas Tech Red Raider. He's incredible.

He's there. Like, you've got guys. I mean, the All-Star game's supposed to be for the fans.

Let's spread this thing out and not have nine starters amongst four teams. That's all I'm saying. No, I get what you're saying. But also, your premise there, it's for the fans. This was a fan vote. The starters are done by fan vote.

So it's kind of hard to push back. I mean, you can argue that fans don't know what's best for them. In a lot of cases, I would... Again, if they weren't putting Otani in the starting lineup, I would push back hard against the fans and be like, you dummies, put Otani in.

We're going to put him in and override your vote. I'm mad at Ranger fans. I'm mad at them. Yeah, sure. I get that. I get that. I'm mad at them. This sounds like a personal problem, Josh. It's very personal.

I have my bird's hat and I'm about to leave to go to Baltimore for the weekend in T-minus 20 minutes. So how about we get to unusual questions? Last week, guys, everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference. That's not right. I thought it was an unusual question and it's okay.

It's time for unusual questions with Josh Graham. On that note, since you're a Virginia guy, this doesn't qualify as an unusual question. This is a very usual and practical question I need answered. Am I making the right choice trying to hit 95 on a holiday weekend tonight versus in the daylight tomorrow morning? Because I feel like the former is the better idea. I could be wrong on that though. I don't know that it's going to make a ton of difference. Yeah, I just feel like by the time I get to that major highway, it's going to be probably around 8.30, 9 o'clock at night and I'll chance myself on that time 95 versus 6, 7, 8 in the morning in daylight. That's probably my thinking.

And on a similar note, Darren, this is my unusual question. Best place to spend the 4th of July, four options for you. The beach, the pool, a baseball stadium, home cookout. Well, I mean, seeing as how it's been with the exception of 2020, it has been like 10 years since I have not spent the 4th at a baseball game. I'm going to pick baseball here and I'll be in Fayetteville, Segra Stadium, the site, collegiate national team hosting. I think that's one of the Japan games.

I could be wrong. It could be at the tail end of the Chinese Taipei series, but that's where I usually am. That's where I'll be again, so it's kind of hard for me to go against that.

Here's the problem. Here's why I like going to baseball games on the 4th of July. You have big crowds and they're all usually there for the fireworks afterwards. I don't care about the fireworks, so I get out right after the game ends and there's really no traffic because everyone's sticking around for the fireworks.

Slip out before the fireworks. You get the best of both worlds. You get your baseball game, you get a smooth ride home. That's perfect.

W.D., how would you answer that question? Beach pool, baseball stadium, home cookout. See, I'm all about the home cookout. Yeah.

But see, I feel like you could attach a few at a time. Like, do a home cookout at the pool. Yeah, well, that wasn't the question.

At the beach. That wasn't the question. And then go to a baseball game.

That wasn't the question. I guess you could have a cookout. I mean, I guess you could have a full day. I guess you could have a cookout at a baseball game, too, right?

At the beach. But that wasn't the question. Well, I made it the answer. You only get to pick one. That's a terrible way to answer that question. I don't think so. I'm going to make you ask a question.

That's a lot of fun. OK. I actually like this, because going off of that, we're coming up on 4th of July. If you ask me something about a hot dog, I'm going to fight you. Shut up. So we're going to be having a lot of hot dogs and burgers.

Just stay over there. My question is. Keeping the David Glenn Show tradition alive. Here we go.

What's the question? What's the best type of bread? Oh!

That's a great question. Oh. Best kind of bread? I would say whole wheat.

Oh. I thought you were asking, like, do you like hot dog buns versus hamburger buns? Like, what is the best type of bread?

I guess you can go there. That's just the shape, Josh. That's not the type of bread. It's all the same bread. See, well, I guess it depends on what we're having.

If it's a cookout, I'm fine with white. If we're having a sandwich, or like a sub, I'm a wheat guy. Not whole grain, but wheat. Got to be whole grain.

For what? I don't do white bread. I do enjoy a good sourdough in the right instance. Good rye? Sure. Yeah. No, I mean, in like the most common use. Yeah. Just give me whole grain, whole wheat. Just the one that people avoid in the grocery store.

And it's got good flavor to it. Darren Bhatt, what's your unusual question? I think I'm going to be guilty of the DG Show stuff here.

All right, keep the tradition alive. David Glenn every year would do the same exact radio show for about 10, 15 years talking about condiments on hot dogs. What do you have? Yeah, how do you dress your dog?

What are we going with? I had a Costco hot dog this morning. Of course you did. Before we had lunch at the studio. And we had wings for lunch. I was there at 10. No, no, no. All right, I changed my question. How early is too early in the day to consume a hot dog?

That's the question. I had it at 10.45 this morning after getting gas. Only you. At Costco. I can't resist. Every time I'm at Costco, I'm like, all right, got to go get the Buck 50 dog and drink. I did it. And then knowing that we had wings at the office, East Coast wings, thanks to Angela, you know, the Greensboro and Kernersville locations for hooking us up with some wings today. Yeah, I did that.

I did that. And every single time I have a hot dog, it's only one answer. It's ketchup and mustard. Can't go without either. I need them both.

They work in concert together. Even your breakfast dog. You don't dress the breakfast dog differently? Nope. Ketchup and mustard.

Need it. I'm fine with the spicy mustard. I can deal with that. I could eat like if I was desperately hungry and they only had mustard, I can do it. I can't do it with just ketchup.

Can't. All right, I'm stuck on the time. Is 1045 the earliest in the day that you have consumed a hot dog? Yes. Like on the bun. Never had it earlier. As just a hot dog. Okay. Today was the earliest I've ever consumed a hot dog. That's encouraging to me. Okay.

A breakfast dog. They were selling them. They were there. I wasn't the only one that got one either. That was my next question. Somebody else 1030 a.m. just chowing down on a dog. A mom with three kids got all of them hot dogs.

1045 this morning at the Costco in Winston-Salem. Phew. Answer your own question. Yeah, I'm a relish and slaw kind of guy. I can give or take some spicy mustard. But honestly, if there's relish and slaw on it, I'll eat it just that way. I don't even need ketchup or anything like that.

WD? See, I like mustard on mine. Just regular yellow. I liked it with chili on it too, but to me it's just too much going on, so I go just mustard and some hot sauce. What type of hot sauce? I like the Cholula.

Which they have at Costco, by the way. That's weird. I don't think I've heard that. Have you heard Cholula on a hot dog before, Darren?

It's so good. I'm not even necessarily objecting. Maybe not specifically. I mean, you know, hot sauce. I mean, look, there are renditions of hot dogs elsewhere in the country that like it, or not the country, elsewhere in the world, other countries that like it sort of spicier. I'm not objecting what Will said. If he only said ketchup, then we have issues.

Yeah, for sure. If you just put ketchup on a hot dog, you better be 12. I don't want ketchup at all.

Now, see, I'm fine. I do ketchup and mustard, but if you only do ketchup, you're probably 12. I don't know, man.

You're toeing a thin line and then also finger-wagging it. Supposed to 12-year-olds. Like, I don't... Well, no, only ketchup? Yeah, Mr. Chocolate Milk.

But, like, what's the difference? Only ketchup. I mean, if I Google hot dog, if I just Google, like, typical hot dog photo, it's going to be a picture of a hot dog that has mustard and ketchup on it.

Like, it's all reliable. Making fun of that is like making fun of pepperoni pizza. You want to do it. I'm not even making fun of it. I'm just saying there's very little difference.

You understand how close you are to being your accused, air quotes, 12-year-old. World of difference. World of difference. Darren Vaught, before you make me mad, I'm going to say goodbye. It's good to see you. Enjoy your fourth. Same to you guys. We'll talk later.

Now back to The Drive with Josh Graham. I remember Fourth of July last year. I was having dinner on a beach, listening to music just like this in Turks and Caicos.

Oh, yeah. American flag, t-shirt on, rocking it. Do some dancing some point this weekend. I'm all about it. We'll keep it simple in about 15 minutes. There'll be a dance break included with that.

I guarantee you that. The ACC SEC Challenge release came out this week. That's one of the last big dominoes to drop before we get the full schedule with conference opponents.

That's expected before the football season arrives. And so I think it's fair to look at the team that is going to be the favorite to win the ACC next year and probably the favorite to win it all in college basketball, Duke. Because for a contender, a legit national title contender, Duke has a perfect schedule to have. You need the right mix of talent.

Yeah, let's go. Come on, Duke. And when I say the right mix of talent, I mean the types of teams that you play, a nice variation of tests to get you ready for the NCAA tournament, to get you ready for a tough ACC slate. And they've got that in the non-conference. First week of the year, they open up with Arizona plus Caleb Love playing Cameron Indoor Stadium. That's a big game at Cameron to get things started. Then you got big neutral site games. You're going to play in Chicago against Michigan State, the type of venues that you hope to be playing in in March. The Bulls building, you play at MSG against Baylor top of the line programs, national championship caliber programs. And then because of the ACC-SEC challenge, you got a road game in there. True road game where you're playing in Fayetteville against an Arkansas team. That might be the best team in the SEC next year.

They might just be that. Eric Musselman is an incredible coach. And that's where Duke is headed. That's a pretty good gauntlet to test yourself before ACC play gets here. And then when you look at the ACC schedule, WD, no 20 game ACC schedule is easy.

So that's not what I'm saying here. But you can catch breaks given the opponents that you get. You have to play in an ACC schedule, five opponents home and away. Five teams you play home and away. And these are the five teams for Duke. North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Louisville, and Notre Dame. You want to know what those five teams have in common?

What's that? None of them made the NCAA tournament last year. Those are the five teams that Duke plays twice. And then when you look at other top programs, Clemson, Virginia, they go to Durham, but Duke does not have to go to Littlejohn. Yeah!

Or go to Charlottesville, which is a huge plus. This team should be the number one seed or a number one seed heading into March. I want to give myself a little wiggle room there. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. One of the top four number one seeds. You got four starters back. You going to turn that into a drop?

It might have some new members in the club. Do you know what song that's from? I do, but I don't remember the title of it. I think it's titled Wiggle by Jason Derulo. Jason Derulo's got some bangers, man.

Yeah, he does. And what a marketing move to always say your name in the songs. Jason Derulo. Jason Derulo. I wish I'd do that in radio. Can you give me the bump that you just played again if we were starting a segment?

Let's scrap this and just imagine that we were starting a segment just like, or any type of music really, but I do have some of the shaky shake type of music in my mind. Josh Graham. So let's talk about the salary cap. Why don't we? No, I mean.

Please do it. Brand. This is the whole show today. Brand the segment. Maybe for Keep It Simple. That should be your new thing.

Josh Graham. It's Friday. You got to figure out 4th of July plans, man. I know it. I just, I work so hard. I don't even have time to think about it. I haven't gotten that far. As soon as the show ends, I'm going to be driving up to Baltimore because I think it's a smart idea to try to attack 95 on a business or on a holiday weekend tonight versus trying to leave in the morning tomorrow. I think that's a smart idea. If I'm wrong on that.

336-777-1600 is the phone number. I'm going to watch the birds play a couple of games against the twins. This is the first time I've been to Camden Yards in a couple of years. A reminder, no live shows on Monday or Tuesday.

It's live action, Tracy. We'll have a best of on Monday. Honestly, I don't know what's going to be airing at this time on Tuesday.

You'll figure it out. It'll be a surprise to both of us. But, you know, there are a few interesting things to watch for this weekend.

Like history in the state of North Carolina and specifically the triad. The Carolina Disco Turkeys. Is that the best team name we have here in the state of North Carolina? I think so. Wooden bat team in Winston.

Disco Turkeys. I think so. It's pretty good. They're going to be playing at Bowman Gray Stadium on Sunday. That's so cool. I heard about this earlier in the week. Sean Dell has been doing some reporting on this.

He's going to join us next hour. We'll give us some more details about that and the history of it. But Bowman Gray has been around forever and they've never had a pro baseball game. Of course, you have Winston-Salem State Football. You've got, you know, the racing that they have there. And speaking of racing, the street race is this weekend in Chicago. NASCAR street race. That's pretty darn cool.

Downtown Chicago. It reminds me, Jeremy Markovits, he was in studio with us after the North Wilkesboro race. And he said, post-pandemic, the reason why, or at least in part, you're seeing this push to get back to short tracks is because fewer people want to consume things through screens. They want an experience. And they want it to be kind of right in front of them. And if you go to a NASCAR race, it's at one of these mega super speedways, you're going to be watching a lot of it on screens.

You just are. And that's not as cool of an experience as watching, say, the NASCAR All-Star race at North Wilkesboro about a month ago. It's not as cool as that.

It's not as much of an experience. So whether it be the L.A. Coliseum race last year that NASCAR had or what we're going to see this weekend in Chicago, I think that does play a part in what not just NASCAR fans, but consumers of entertainment, what we want in 2023. That's why I think these ski goggles that Apple's pushing out there, oh, you have this computer that's like goggles attached to your face. I think it's going to fail. I think it's going to flop because I don't think that's what people want. They're reading the pandemic as being the same way that Zuckerberg read it a few years ago. Oh, yeah, we're going to have the virtual reality, the metaverse. That's what it's going to be.

I haven't heard many people talking about the metaverse in the last year and a half. I don't think that's what people want. I think they misread the pandemic as people preferring to do things digitally and to stay at home when I think most people would prefer the opposite of that, to get out of their home and being away from screens, being away from screens.

I don't know. Am I misreading this? What side do you stand on this? I tend to go, it just showed us, okay, we do have a virtual possibility there. We can do both. I don't think it's more so like we just want more screens.

Well, you either want more or less. Odds are it's not neutral. It can be neutral. I don't think it is.

Post-pandemic, do you think we want more screens or less screens? I don't know. I mean, I don't know. I'm asking you. I think there's some people. I don't think it's got anything to do with screens.

What about you? I think it makes jobs easier, like virtual meetings. Oh, no, no, I'm not talking about jobs.

You're right, for sure. People might prefer to be at home and work remotely and all that. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking in terms of leisure. I mean, there are certain things you can do like in virtual that you can't do.

Give me an example. Okay, like if I put on a virtual reality headset, I could literally be up in outer space. You're not in outer space, though. But you can think you are. There you go.

You can think you are. Josh Graham! To recap the busy stop-and-start kind of week we've had here on the show, we're going to keep it simple next on The Drive.

Josh Graham! My voice, not as great as Jason Derulo's is, but we're going to make this thing catch on. It's a thing.

Keep it simple. Definitely a thing. Something that WD looks forward to every week, kind of like Rhinestone Cowboy. On this Rhinestone Cowboy Friday, we're so glad you're either watching or listening to the show. However you're with us, we appreciate that. Let's recap the week in the most efficient way possible by, yes, keeping it simple. Five words or less. It's simple, man.

That's all Josh gets to tell you where your favorite teams are at. It's as marvelous and as simple as that. Let's keep it simple. All right. Those who've been around a while, they know the deal.

If you haven't been around a while, you probably don't. It's 3.35 in the afternoon on this Friday. I'm sure some folks are in the club, starting their holiday weekend the right way. It's been a stop-and-start kind of week for us here on the show. How about we get a dance break in there and see who's in the club with us? Our mom. And we were swinging.

Yeah, well, 70s were a special time. Do you want me to put in a request for some Drake? I'm used to silent. We accepted for a time.

Just let me know when the honeymoon is so I can get out of here. EA Sports. It's in the game. EA Sports? Why did that make an appearance?

Did that happen this week? Anything with that? They're in the club. Oh, good to know. Yeah, yeah.

A lot of variety in the club. Shout out to Lisa, one of our salespeople, who said that my rendition of John Anderson got her head swinging stuck in her head all day. Oh, boy. Great song. Not lump of coal.

Brother was on the sofa eating chocolate pie. You just give me the content all day. That's what we do.

That's right. That's what we do. That's what we have. Let's start with the NSMA's. A special organization that's ours.

You might not know it. We try to let you know about it. The National Sports Media Associates. It is home to North Carolina. It is home here to the Triad.

It's a nonprofit that needs supporting. We love helping support it. If you're a sports fan in this area, we strongly suggest you go next year if you haven't been.

It's one of my favorite weekends of the year. And this week it was Lee Corso in town. I was leading a church group last night. Some folks came over and saw a picture of me and Charles Barkley at our home and asked, what's that from? Lee Corso? Sunshine Scooter was in town?

Yeah. Oh, and Ernie Johnson was in town? Congrats to him for being in the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame, by the way. I mean, Lee Corso was inducted. It's a special, special event that we have.

And it was a special evening we had on Monday. LSU beating Florida for the College World Series. Wake was LSU's greatest test. I hope and I think it's going to be remembered, LSU's national title run, the same way that many people remember NC State beating UCLA in Greensboro in 1974 or the US Olympic hockey team beating the Russians in 1980. Not as huge colossal upset, but the fact that those were not the championship games. NC State won the title in 74, but it wasn't against UCLA. That was the semifinal. And in 80, you know, everybody remembers the US beating the Russians, still had to beat Finland in the gold medal game in order to stand at the top of the podium.

I hope when people remember this year's College World Series, it's that classic iconic Wake Forest LSU game that's going to be remembered more than the fact that LSU beat Florida in an all SEC national championship series. The ACC SEC Challenge schedule drop. It's an underwhelming slate. Is that four or is that five? That's four. It is an underwhelming slate.

ECU education, man. Four, five, I can count six. Look at you, proud. But it is. It's missed opportunities. If you're a basketball fan and odds are you listen to the show, the hardcores are going to love Duke, Arkansas and Miami facing Kentucky. And that's fine. But you're not going to rope in the casuals, the folks that are in football mode in late November with those matchups the way that you would if it was Duke facing Kentucky and that happening on campus. Duke hasn't been to Kentucky in over 20 years and Kentucky hasn't been to Duke since 1958. And John Calipari hasn't coached in Cameron ever. So it just seems like a missed opportunity there. Even if it wasn't Duke, Kentucky, but like maybe Tennessee facing Duke, given what happened in the NCAA tournament last year.

It just seems like with your biggest brand and the biggest brand in college basketball, Duke, it's a missed opportunity for where you set up. This week's editions of the Panthers Blueprint. Bryce Young's given us goods.

Yeah, you heard some of it there. Josh Pecan talking to him about Drake. We're starting to learn just how boring Bryce is. We're starting to get the good. I just wonder how many goods there are to get. Like if you're on the cutting edge or in the editing room, the editing bays for this series, what are you cutting out that Bryce says that's actually interesting? Or are you just mining it the way that I mine his press conference quotes, trying to find something, something that's a gem or a sapphire? I don't think he's given you much. I don't think so.

And I think that's intentional. Domingo Herman, perfect game for the Yankees. A memorable edition.

Watch the count in your head. Yeah. Let me word this differently. A memorable perfect game member.

It's an exclusive club. That's what I'm trying to get at. 24 guys who've ever done it. Like in baseball, you could track stats to the 1800s. The first perfect game was thrown in June this month of 1880. The second one was thrown a week later, and then no one did it for two plus decades. And since those two threw it in 1880 in the same week, 22 men have ever done that.

That's 150 years. So I'm always in awe when somebody is able to throw a perfect game. 27 up, 27 down.

Domingo Herman. It had me rooting for the Yankees. That's just how powerful it is. And that's been Keep It Simple. One more dance break. That's another look at this golf. Golf. Dang, Josh. My bad.

Well, I just reject your hypothesis. Let's golf. You're playing golf, and you're going to like it.

You're a lean, mean, fighting machine. Josh Graham. So let's talk about the salary cap. Why don't we?

The Josh Graham thing. I don't know if that's going to stick. Might have to workshop it a bit. Maybe. Could be a Keep It Simple exclusive. Maybe.

We are in the club over here. Paying homage to Jason Derulo, Chris Paul. Valerie Cap. Giving me some love. Or not giving me some love.

The opposite of that. Dang, man. Sorry about that. Sorry I couldn't help you out there and come on your show the last two years.

Then B-dot texts you, and you're on the show in a heartbeat. Funny how that works. We're not mad, though. Not bitter at all. Who's bitter? You're bitter. Now comes the moment you have all been waiting for.

Alright, whenever you're ready. This is The Drive with Josh Graham. John Dell from the Winston-Salem Journal is in studio with us. And, W.D., you know why we really like John Dell? Why is that? He comes bearing gifts.

Always. What is that? For those on YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter, I'm holding something up.

What am I holding up, John Dell? It is Masters food that is... I don't even know what it is. I guess it's a popcorn from the Masters. Oh, it is caramel popcorn. I've got a long road ahead of me tonight to Baltimore once I get off the air, and I'm going to be enjoying some of these Georgia pecan caramel popcorn. Still fresh from April when I was at the Masters. Yeah.

Not open. I can't wait, and I'm excited for that. I also got a copy of Chris Paul's 61 that I can't wait to read.

Really excited about that. You say you've already started to read the Chris Paul book. How far into it are you? About halfway through. It's very good. They've done a nice job with it. Kind of lays it out. Starts it out with his 61 points that he scored to honor his late grandfather.

He did it a couple days after his funeral. So, it's so far so good. And Mike Wilbon and Chris did a real nice job with it, I thought.

Yeah. Mike Wilbon, for years, had been contacting me about this book that I thought originally was going to be an e-book. And I thought it was going to be just Wilbon writing it. I had no idea that Chris was writing large portions of this book. And so, it's been very well researched, is my understanding. And hearing from folks who know the family really well, there are stories that they're not even aware of that are in this book. So, you know it's really good. Okay. You were writing about this this week.

That's why I wanted to talk to you about something that I don't know if the larger triad really is that aware of at the moment. But there is a historic event that's happening at Bowman Gray Stadium this weekend in Winston. It is the Carolina Disco Turkeys wooden bat team that is playing at Bowman Gray.

Why is this so significant? Well, Bowman Gray Stadium has been around since 1937. And they've never played baseball, an organized baseball game there. It's really not big enough for baseball because of the way the cement bleachers are, you know, constructed in the kind of the U-shaped. So, I think it's pretty cool that they're playing baseball. Right field fence is going to be about 215 feet away from home plate.

So, left handers are going to have an advantage. And as Greg Sullivan and the manager Scott Kirby told me, there's no limits on home run. It's not like a softball tournament where you can have hit three home runs in a game and that's it.

You can't hit any more home runs. So, I think it's pretty cool because they've done everything at Bowman Gray except play baseball. So, they're going to put in the field and I think they've sold maybe more than a thousand tickets already. It's Sunday at four o'clock. So, I just think it's pretty cool that they're doing something different over at Bowman Gray.

Greg and company, they've been really excited about this for a while now. So, be sure to support that on Sunday. When I think of Fourth of July weekend, I think of baseball and what better place than a historic setting like Bowman Gray to watch baseball. Few people in the media know Bowman Gray Stadium as well as you do. When you consider the football element of it and you consider what you do covering racing there as well. What's your favorite part of the history when you dive through it the way that you have trying to research the stories that you've done here?

When you look at it's done everything to quote you, they've done everything there other than baseball. Well, I like the Joe Lewis story. I mean, the boxer Joe Lewis, his last four rounds he ever boxed was an exhibition match at Bowman Gray.

To me, that's so cool. It was some former Atkins football player that started to get into boxing. He talked Joe Lewis into coming down for an exhibition because this guy was moving on up to the heavyweight. Joe Lewis said, yeah, I'll come down there. So, Joe Lewis fought at Bowman Gray Stadium. Then, of course, Bob Hope and Doris Day singing and dancing at Bowman Gray Stadium is, to me, an even better story.

Because it was, I guess, in the 40s or 50s and they came and did a show here at Bowman Gray Stadium. Bob Hope. Bob Hope. The Bob Hope.

And it wasn't for the military or anything. Somehow somebody got him to Winston-Salem and a couple days ago I saw an ad for it. They had an ad in one of the journals that someone dug up and it said, yep, Bob Hope and Doris Day are coming to Bowman Gray Stadium. So, pretty cool.

It really is. And W.D. and I, we were talking about this last hour. You had the North Wilkes-Barreau race about a month ago that was so big up at North Wilkes-Barreau Speedway. And Jeremy Markovich, who's covered the revitalization at that track for such a long time. His theory is, like, the reason they came back and the reason why we're seeing Chicago have, you know, a short track this weekend that NASCAR is trying to, and last year it was the L.A. Coliseum, is out of the pandemic, people want experiences that are not, that do not require a screen being in front of you. These mega race tracks, you have to have a screen in order to see what's happening.

You want an experience that you can have right in front of you that feels exclusive to you being there. And I just wonder, like, what do you make, as somebody who follows short track racing at Bowman Gray Stadium, what do you make of what we're seeing within the sport and how that's growing popular again? Well, I think it's no secret before the pandemic, NASCAR's, you know, they had the same tracks and people weren't going. They've got these mega tracks that they have 110,000 and people aren't going anymore. So I think even before the pandemic, NASCAR was hurting a little bit as far as the Cup Series is concerned. So I think they're trying new things to attract fans. And, you know, I've talked to my family from Chicago.

My brother's up there. I mean, they're going to go check out that race. He doesn't know anything about NASCAR, but he just thinks it's cool they're going to be driving around Lake Michigan, near Lake Michigan on the magnificent mile there and in Chicago. So that's pretty cool. And when I, you know, I'm going to watch it on Sunday night.

I probably wouldn't otherwise. But since it's something different, I think fans, that's what is attracting fans these days. What's the next thing that Bowman Gray could do? Well, I asked recently a smart tour, you know, the smart tour that, well, they've been there before. But the cars tour that Dale Earnhardt Jr. owns, why can't they go to Bowman Gray Stadium? And I talked to somebody in the city and they haven't heard from Dale yet, but he owns that tour.

So that'd be cool if that tour came to Bowman Gray at some point. Do you know if Dale Jr. has an opinion, positive or negative, about Bowman Gray Stadium? He tested there last year.

I think it was last year. He tested there and loves it. And he talked to us.

We were there out out there when he was. They tested the cars before the L.A. Coliseum race. So they had the new NASCAR model and they tested. Tony Stewart was there and they tested at Bowman Gray.

He had nothing but positive to say about Bowman Gray. Now, I know the current Saturday night crew and that they have their their series at 17 weeks, so they don't want to interfere with that. But maybe, you know, maybe in the fall before Winston-Salem State plays a football game or starts their season, they can have one of those tours come to Bowman Gray. I think that'd be cool because, you know, Bowman Gray, they pack them in every Saturday night.

They do. I've been trying to get you there and it's let's do it. There's twelve thirteen thousand that come every Saturday night. And it's a historic place. And this is the seventy fifth season of Bowman Gray racing. I haven't covered all of them.

Some people might think, but it's it's definitely a cool experience out there. Let's pick a weekend before football season. All right. All right. See, we're all about trying to close up the loose ends on things that have been year long bits, multiple year long bits.

I'm talking about Stan Cotton over four and a half years saying that we're going to watch the outlaw Josie Wales at his house. And then W.D. and I did so last month. Nice. Nice. And now I mean, this is something that we've been talking about doing for such a long time that now we need to do that.

That's what we need to do. And you also got to come to the Gain Center and see a basketball game. Oh, well, that that's that's a done deal.

That'll get you a good seat. Yeah. Well, they got the Heritage hardwood floors down at Gain Center at the Gain Center.

All right. Let's go to Beth in Greensboro who wants to. Do you have anything to add on Doris Day and Bob Hope being at Bowman Gray back in the day?

I do. It used to be called the Crosby. It was a golf tournament. It was like a charity event that they would have years ago. And it was Bing Crosby's wife, Catherine Crosby, would hold that event and there would be a golf tournament. And I believe it was at Tanglewood. And I used to help assist that. But anyway, then there would be this big show the night before the golf tournament and Bob Hope was there and Catherine Crosby was there.

And then they would have other entertainers. You have to look it up. It was like quite the event and so much fun. What time of year would this happen? Oh, my goodness. I don't know. It was warm out.

It wasn't cold because golf was going on and stuff. Maybe. I don't know. I can't remember.

That's pretty cool, though. I mean, Bing Crosby at Tanglewood? Well, I don't know if he was still alive at that point, but Catherine Crosby was and she was always there. I have a signed picture of Bing from her.

But anyway, Bob Hope and his wife were always there. That's tremendous. And the bridge over there near Tanglewood is the Catherine. Catherine Crosby Bridge. They named a bridge after her out there right before we meet around.

Yep. Thank you for the call, Beth. By the way, I appreciate you calling in from Greensboro.

It's good to hear your voice. Yes, I covered the Crosby many years. I forgot about that. Oprah Winfrey used to come out there because Stedman played and my wife and I used to follow. She was a big Oprah fan, so she followed Oprah around.

And this is before we had kids. I'm like, we're really following Stedman around because you can't play. He wasn't a very good golfer, but she wanted to see Oprah. So Oprah used to come to the to the Crosby every year and not to play.

No, not to play. But Dean Smith played in the Crosby and Yogi Berra. And I mean, so I remember the Crosby and that makes sense that Catherine would get Bob Hope and Doris Day to Winston-Salem. Who was the better player, Roy Williams or Dean Smith? I think Roy was better. Dean Dean struggled. He was I think Dean had so much on his plate and Roy kind of he taught.

I think Roy's about an eight or nine handicap. Yeah, I understand. Yeah. And he what are you? Are you an eight or nine? No, I'm about a 15. And as my kids get older, my handicap gets higher.