The Roman Empire

Yes, Josh Graham 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 Graham. Welcome in to a Rhinestone Cowboy Friday Drive. You are listening to The Drive without Josh Graham on WSJS News Talk Sports. For the Triad, this is W.D., aka Will Dalton, aka the executive producer of this show. Glad to have you in with us.

Glad to have DJ Turner back there behind the glass. What's up? What's up?

Trying to keep this thing on the tracks, make sure it doesn't burn down. You know, every time Josh is out and every time he comes back, the first thing he asks me when we get back on air, you didn't wreck the Porsche, did you? No. Do you really think I would, Josh?

Do you really think I would? No, of course not. We come on.

We're better than that. But yeah, Josh is out. He is at Hilton Head with Sarah Bradford.

She's hosting a conference down there doing some professional stuff. And Josh is just hanging on the beach with Willow the dog. Hopefully he doesn't have his shoes and socks on.

I know he did something like that on his honeymoon, so we'll see if he does that again. It makes me just cringe just thinking about it. It does. I mean, is it because he doesn't like the sand between his toes? I mean, what? I don't know.

That would make it worse. Yeah, I just... whatever. Josh isn't here.

Forget about it. But I'm glad you are. We got some football to talk about here. Thursday Night Football.

Josh would be proud of me. He really would because he's been giving me grief for like a year now because since... so last year Thursday Night Football moved to Amazon Prime and I didn't have Amazon Prime. So he's like, why are you watching the games? I'm like, I just watched the highlights on YouTube, you know, to see what happened. He's like, well, you're not gonna get a good picture of the game that way. You produce a sports radio show. You need to watch the whole thing.

So I got Amazon Prime. Josh can be happy about that. And we watched the game Giants Niners last night and you know, we kind of talked about this yesterday. The Niners were pretty much the story. The Niners catch the win at home. Now, I think... I don't know.

It depends on how you want to look at this. Like, the Niners are definitely the story because they might be... I don't know if there's a better team in the NFC right now than the San Francisco 49ers when you look at how well-rounded they are. They've got a dual threat in Deebo Samuel who's just ridiculous. And they've got that dude named Christian McCaffrey. Maybe you've heard of him in the backfield playing as good as he ever has. He's a weapon. And then that defense, man. That defense is is also an absolute unit. I would know that because I have them in fantasy.

So there's a good reason for that. You know, do you feel like that he gets the attention he deserves? Who?

McCaffrey. You know what? Up until this point, no. But I think he's starting to. I think he's starting to.

Like, listening to a lot of what people have said in reaction to this game and seeing what he's doing. He's gonna get some attention now, I think. He just seems to fly under the radar.

And all of a sudden, you know, he comes back. Oh, he had two touchdowns. He had almost 100 yards rushing and about 75 yards receiving and yeah. Well, and I feel like the reason he flew under the radar kind of like that was because, you know, he was. And no offense, and I'm a Carolina Panther fan, but like I feel like because he was in Carolina and, you know, they've been irrelevant for the last handful of years.

You know, I feel like that would lead you to fly under the radar just a bit. But McCaffrey something. Their defense is something.

And listen, they've got not an elite, but they've got a good solid quarterback in Brock Purdy. And it's just, it's been impressive to kind of see what the Niners have done with slightly a revolving door of quarterbacks the last decade or so. Like, when you go back to, you know, Colin Kaepernick. When he was over there, they, well, they went to a Super Bowl with him against the Ravens back, I forget what year that was, but they went to the Super Bowl and then, you know, it kind of went downhill. They move off him and then you have Garoppolo come in and he was solid and you go to a Super Bowl with him and you tear up the NFC a lot with him. And then, you know, it's so funny. It's like you went to the Super Bowl, but you still move off him because it's like, yeah, he's just not quite what we're looking for.

He's not quite it. And then you draft Trey Lance. You trade up to get that number three pick. You draft Trey Lance and we see what that became. I'm still of the belief that Trey Lance might still be something. Like, he didn't play very much. I don't even remember how many games it was he played in college. Not many.

And I don't know. I just, I feel like I didn't see him play very much. And now I know he had some injury stuff as well, but Trey Lance was in and out in two seconds and now he's in Dallas.

I'll be curious to see. I, you know, if you want a hot take, I'm of the belief that eventually Trey Lance is gonna get him. And the Cowboys are great right now. The Cowboys are great now. It is the regular season.

They tend to be great in the regular season, but when the playoff kind of starts sneaking up on us, that's when the Cowboys kind of implode a little bit historically. And I don't think Dak Prescott's a lead either. I think he's solid. I think he's good. And he's got a great team around him with C.D. Lamb and others.

But I don't know, man. I think Trey Lance could come lurking in the background a little bit at some point, but I think that's gonna be later down the line. Not quite there yet. Back to the Niners though. So Trey Lance, he was in and out in two seconds and now you've got Mr. Irrelevant, Brock Purdy, who came on towards the back half of last year and led you deep into the playoffs and then got hurt due to a lot of injuries there for the Niners. They, you know, made their way out of the playoffs, but they made a heck of a run with one of the best teams in the league last year. And now they look like one of the best teams in the league again. And I would be stunned if come playoff time, you know, in the NFC title chase, you don't have some type of combination of Niners, Eagles.

We'll figure out, you know, what they are. They kind of have like an identity crisis right now. I don't think you're, a lot of people are saying Dallas would be in this conversation too. I hate to say it to our six man of the Tar Heels beat out that we love so much. I don't think they're gonna be in the mix come NFC title time because I feel like the Cowboys will have been bloated and done what the Cowboys do by that point. But the Niners, all they need, all they need is kind of what the Jets need from Zach Wilson is, now it's a little bit to a lesser degree because I think the Niners are better than the Jets, but the Jets also have a lot of good pieces too. They got a good run game in Dalvin Cook, they got good receivers Garrett Wilson, they got good defense, great defensive line. They just need Zach Wilson to kind of manage things until Aaron Rodgers gets back next year. But that's all they, that's all the Niners need from Brock Purdy and so far they've gotten that.

So far they have gotten that. Like listening to a lot of people talk about this game from last night, like they say how elite the Niners are, all they, it's not even a hole. Like people like struggle like, it's not a hole, it's just the fact that Brock Purdy's not really elite, he's just good enough and that's fine. So you know it's kind of like Scott Fitter's method that he's talked about all the time, you know drafting Bryce Young, you know we've got all the nuts and bolts and everything for the Panthers now we just drop the quarterback in. It's kind of like that to a degree only the Niners are actually like doing it and we'll see how things end up going with Bryce Young. But yeah like watching McCaffrey play like he's been playing as a Panthers fan, it's it's like that X-Man meme where X-Man's laying there on the bed and he's got the picture that he's looking at and he's sad because it's somebody he doesn't have around anymore and that's kind of like what McCaffrey is, Panthers fans watching him right now. Kind of the same deal, also kind of miss Graham Genno too.

Like I know Josh told me one time, they don't need him. I know but Graham Genno was Mr. Reliable, he was really good in some long field goal spots and I think many of you Panthers fans out there would agree but I don't think it's a hot take to say McCaffrey's been the best back in football since getting to the Niners. The way they use him, like he was hurt a lot with the Panthers and now you know I'm telling you right now McCaffrey he got that payday with the Panthers several a few years ago. I think he's gonna get if he keeps this up and knock on wood I hope for his sake that he does and I think he will there with Kyle Shanahan, I think he's gonna get another payday. He's one of the quarter or he's one of the running backs that are proving like okay this is how good running backs can be. So I don't know if there's a better team in the NFC than the Niners right now and and what's really scary about it is the fact that listening to all the postgame stuff from the Niners, nobody's satisfied. Everybody like like a theme and like go back and listen to Brock Purdy talk and some of the other players and McCaffrey said it too I think and I think Kyle Shanahan may have said it too like the theme is we're still we're not satisfied like as good as they are as good as they have been through towards the tail end of last year and leading into this year so far they're not satisfied and that's scary that's scary when a team can be that good and they're not fed yet they're not full yet they're like they see the bigger picture they know that there's something bigger that they want I mean it's easy to you know it's easy not to be hungry when you've already been fed and they've been fed some success in the regular season so far and they are not satisfied at all and that is really scary now on the flip side if you're the Giants man if you're the Giants you got you got some things to think about cuz like I just don't know if Daniel Jones is it man and you just paid him all that no no no no oh yeah I'm not gonna hear that, I'm not gonna listen to that, the dude was running for his life the entire night I don't know he just doesn't have any juice okay would you have juice back there maybe they'll get Riley Leonard he's got some juice all I know is after watching the first quarter I couldn't watch anymore that it was awful I mean mm-hmm it reminds me of David Carr Derek Carr's brother yeah first year in the NFL dude got sacked like 75 times and then his first two maybe three years of existence in the NFL he had been sacked well over 200 times no wonder his career went down the tube that's fair now Derek Carr on the other hand mm-hmm he might he's making some noise already and I think he might do some stuff there with the Saints I didn't realize I told Josh I didn't realize Michael Thomas was back right like he's I feel like he's been gone forever and you know he made some big plays against the Panthers unfortunately last week so but the Giants have some serious problems I mean and Barkley's out Barkley is out high so they're like okay you don't have a running game and we're just gonna go after the quarterback and how many times did he get hit last night like by the time he'd done a two-step drop BAM it was it was ugly so I'm not making Daniel Jones accountable for any of this stuff this is I mean that o-line is bad it is it is and but the unfortunate thing is even with that is like a lot of times because the Giants it I don't think it's gonna get any easier for them so much of the time like eventually like they're gonna look for Daniel Jones to go out there and make something happen and and win with some games I don't know if they're going to so anyway but it is a rhinestone cowboy Friday we're gonna talk some more about this game we're gonna talk about the Panthers some some new developments on Bryce Young we've got a big college football weekend Dave Pulaski our high school football game of the week he's gonna be in here and probably maybe less than 15 minutes so we're gonna talk to him Darren Vaught's next hour and Stan Cotton is gonna hang out with us later in the five o'clock hour so we're just getting started glad to have you with us on a rhinestone cowboy Friday Drive with Josh Graham WSJS back on the drive without Josh Graham WD filling in and we've got our high school football game of the week guy the voice of our high school football game of the week Dave Pulaski in studio with us no hello darkness my old friend this week now do you choose the music that comes back especially when Josh is out of town is this all is this all you oh that was all me that was all you that's all me cool uh-huh yeah see DJ last week you know because Dave's a Jets fan we'll get into that here in just a minute because of the Aaron Rodgers thing we played hello darkness my old friend or what's the actual title of the song by disturbed the sound of silence and it's not by the disturbed version thinking like that was it no like I didn't know the cover and Josh wanted to come through that glass right there yeah so anyway you haven't watched a graduate yet have you no okay yeah no I've watched several movies this week I watched Fast Times at Ridgeway I Ridgemont Ridgemont there's high school football in that movie yes there is Forest Whitaker right yeah Jefferson tears up the joint a little bit cuz that car gets wrecked that's right but I you know ideally you should be playing Elton John's Benny and the Jets well what about jets when I lived up in New Jersey there was a parody song Vinnie and the Jets for Vinnie Testaverde perfect yeah no I loved it it was hilarious yeah and then I also did Beverly Hills cop this week okay so were you we did all the franchise yeah we we did a double feature got a little Eddie Murphy in here so uh but yeah day so WD this is our time this is our time our time not my time or not your time it can be anybody's time I share can I have a pizza delivered here during the segment oh I love it that was hilarious Sean Penn get the pizza yo dude I was wondering how many lines I had to drop before you would get that reference the pizza got it because that was hysterical that was quick I'm getting better man Tony Ein Eagle he came on with us yesterday he's he's impressed with me like he's he's like what about airplane seeing it Ferris Bueller's Day off it's one of my favorite movies like we're making real progress all right good so Dave it has to be on the queue now graduate the graduate I will write that down in my notes there so we got Dave Pulaski in with us and we finally did get a competitive high school football game here did on SJ s last week Reagan at East Forsyth it was Reagan's for a opener mm-hmm and ultimately East Forsyth banged it out 29 to 21 and but I tell you that oh and for the side Reagan does not tell the story I mean I said it going into the game I said this is the best oh and three team in the state yeah and that you know they were a threat to beat East Forsyth even though East Forsyth came in ranked top ten in the entire state so that was a great back and forth game great atmosphere as it always is in Kernersville just a tremendous high school football game and ultimately East Forsyth made the plays that mattered most when they had to and your your best teams tend to do that when it matters more often than not that's right now tonight we'll be back at it on our high school football game of the week coverage and we've got a good one we got Grimsley at Forno they're gonna be at Northwest Guilford at three and one 7 p.m. coverage start Dave Pulaski drew bracket is he back this week no we'll have a Luke out with us awesome I'll be here in studio 730 kick give us the preview yeah I'm Grimsley comes in not only ranked in the top five in the entire state but ranked in the top 50 in the nation number 47 in the country and this is a program that had gone through 10 straight losing seasons between 2008 and 2017 Darryl Brown took over as Grimsley head coach in 2016 went through a couple of four and seven seasons and then the steady climb and now they're at a point where they've won 34 straight regular season games going back almost four calendar years and they are a threat to win the state championship every single year they made it to the final last year before losing the New Bern and they have as deeper roster this season as they did last year and it's unbelievable what they built now on the other side what do we know about Northwest Guilford this yeah Northwest Guilford has a new head coach in place Chris for sevich he was the former Guilford College head coach for nine years winning his coach in that program's history during the last couple of years you know after the pandemic came around he kind of bounced around he was the defensive coordinator at Northern Guilford then he was a defensive coordinator at Greensboro College last season when Kevin Wallace went over to West Forsyth the opening popped up and he said you know what I want to coach high school again I want to be you know I want to be a head coach in high school so they went with him and they had the very first game hiccup against Burlington Williams this is a Northwest Guilford team that's coming off a ten and three season last year made it to the third round of the playoffs so they were widely favored against Burlington Williams but ended up getting tripped up at home 39 34 and we're savage says that was probably the best thing that happened to him because it was kind of a wake-up call to the guys of hey ten wins isn't just gonna happen you know sitting in our laps we we're gonna have to go out and work for it since then they've given up 17 points total in the last three games all wins not bad not bad now they're gonna they'll have their hands full yeah the competition's different yeah competition's different they're going up against you know Faison Brandon who already has nine division one offers as a sophomore quarterback the two receivers on the outside for Grimsley future Wolfpack future Tar Heel Terrell Anderson and Alex Taylor respectively I mean there's a lot of future of college football on the field tonight on both sides because Northwest Guilford features their star receiver Trent cloud who's going to East Carolina next year so there's a lot of a lot of talent out there on the field and this could arguably be the two most talented teams in the metro for a conference going head-to-head Faison is unfazed that's right that's that's exactly right that coverage will start tonight at seven o'clock and we can't wait to hear you as always on the call now as we alluded to with playing the sound of silence right last week you are a Jets fan we do have to console you from time to time and you give us the scoop on this the Jets are one in one they were able to squeak it out against the bills not so much against the Cowboys they lost in Dallas last week and you know people think that woody johnson knows the Jets but bill Belichick he actually owns the Jets because what is it like the streak 14 games or something like that yeah we're somewhere around there right now okay now we were talking about this before we came on air you don't think that Wilson's the guy no I thought coming into this year especially with Aaron Rodgers kind of serving as a mentor along the way in addition to being the star quarterback I was hopeful that maybe Zach could kind of turn things around and going back to you know through Jets history you know relatively recent history at quarterback I thought maybe he could turn into Mark Sanchez a game manager where if he doesn't do if he doesn't make enough mistakes to cost the team the game they should be okay because of all the other pieces that they have and then watching that game against the Cowboys last week a couple of the throws he made I was like now I think I'm done with this well and to be fair that was I mean in the first half he looked alright like he had that bomb to Garrett Wilson yeah yeah the deep post to Garrett Wilson that results in a touchdown and and that was when I was thought oh man you know Sanchez would make throws like that to Brandon Edwards or you know guys like that over the top and you know for a brief moment I was encouraged but then in the second half he threw one that was like five yards behind the receiver on a check down that ended up as a Cowboys interception I was like okay I've seen enough it's like he'll pop off like it in the first half on that one throw but then plays like no flashes but you need consistency especially when you have a defense that could potentially be generational oh yeah the D lines dynamic like we saw those in Charlotte against the Panthers and preseason we're like oh okay yes that's nice I mean basically a quarterbacks job in in that kind of role is here's the keys to the car don't crash it well cuz you're gonna probably get Aaron back next year right I would think yeah and with the talent you've got like you could still sneak into the playoffs like I thought and Zach Wilson last week was Spicoli with Jefferson's car and I I get that reference I know you and I appreciate that reference I really like that now UCLA they beat NC Central last week and for those of you that don't know Dave does Learfield work studio hosting work for for UCLA we've got a big week a big weekend college football weekend and one of those games that has a potential to be one of the better ones is UCLA and Utah Utah's ranked 11 UCLA jumped up two spots to 22 there three you know this is their PAC 12 opener yeah do we think they're gonna see cam rising that's kind of what we're hearing lately yeah that the line rising is starting to move toward being the starter they held him out last week you know they're playing Weber State so you know why not give him the extra week of rest and and give him a chance to fully recover or at least you know recover even more from that ACL surgery that he had after hurting his knee in the Rose Bowl game last year yeah and that's the interesting part because Utah has struggled at quarterback this year Nate Johnson who was the quarterback against Weber State not sure if if he's you know really the answer going forward for them so the question is do you take a rusty and what 80 85 percent cam rising over what they have at quarterback right now yeah potentially yeah potentially could if you're the Utes and playing at home in Salt Lake City I think that's gonna help them as well but I mean the Bruins have been playing some pretty good football well and they're cool they surpassed my expectations and they're and they're quarterback Dante Moore yeah like a really good freshman right and I don't know a ton like I don't watch a ton of UCLA football but from what I'm I've read what I've watched a lot of you feel like this could maybe be the game because it is gonna be such a big game that this could maybe be his coming-out party over at UCLA right I mean he was initially committed to Oregon from from the Detroit area initially committed to Oregon and then after Bo Nix said he was coming back you know to Eugene to play for the Ducks for another year he decided to look elsewhere and saw that Dorian Thompson Robinson who's now in the NFL was you know on the verge of graduating that opened up the opportunity saw that there were some question marks at quarterback and Dante threw himself into the mix and so far he's acclimated himself to LA really well I can't wait for the weekend man so much good football you got to read on Clemson what do you think's got got to happen in Clemson FSU what do you got well I used to work for Florida State so I yeah I have to take FSU and the Knowles in that one yeah I think I would too I don't think Clemson's got the juice like they usually do this year so Dave Pulaski we appreciate you coming in as always and we will get the coverage to you tonight Northwest Guilford hosting Grimsley hopefully we get a really another great game this week I mean Grimsley's really good potentials there yeah so we're that's what we're hoping for catch that coverage starting here on WSJS at 7 o'clock kickoff as at 730 Dave we appreciate you being here man well thanks as always back on the drive without Josh Graham WD filling in and it is good to be on this side of the glass with our guy Darren Bob this is weird this is like a it's like a like a proud Big Brother moment uh-huh former intern of mine now hosting and and I'm the guest interesting this is it's a little weird I'm not gonna lie we've done a lot of different dynamics like I like very early on like I've produced a show where you filled in here for Josh and that's true and then produced you guys on regular shows and how this like I feel like we just did you ever produce with me filling in for for DG no on the David Glenn show I never did that was still the end I was still intern will back then I didn't little baby intern little baby intern will like I there were some times I wanted to get on that board yeah uh yeah so Darren Vaught voice of USA baseball and he is the co-host alongside Danny Graves of the ACC baseball etc podcast and they actually had an interesting announcement on Monday's pod and I'm just gonna turn this one over to Darren yeah so we're now part of the d1 baseball podcast network for new college baseball fans you won baseball is like where you go to get info on college baseball at the start of last season Kendall Rogers Aaron fit Mike Rooney those guys they had started an SEC specific podcast for baseball in the Southeastern Conference and that went well for them so the natural progression is an ACC show Danny and I were already doing one we're friends with those guys so they were like well we're not gonna try and outdo what you guys are doing so would you like to come aboard so it's gonna be big for the show it's fun now it'll be great in the spring when we've got games to talk about some things to do with the show maybe go on site some places and do do live editions we're still toying around with that stuff but it it greatly enhances what we can do with it and it moves it successfully from something that we were just kind of doing for fun that's what we're talking about and and it moves it into this space where you know we're just gonna be more a little more rigid with it a little more structured and have our ducks in a row which can be can be better for the for the content I guess I can't wait to listen to a man like I'm subscribed to you guys and like the art like I was telling Darren this before we came on like the the cartoon art yeah that's like cover so then cover that's that's my guy Kev Rocher and he's based out of South Carolina graphic designer if you see the artwork you probably recognize it I think he got his start with ESPN doing artwork for for Scott van pelt not and rasilla when they had the radio show not bad and so so like van pelt does the SV pod as part of the ESPN network of podcasts Kev did that artwork Kev's constantly posting he gets he gets work with college game day with baseball tonight he illustrates players and this it's this cool he's big yeah it's this cool unique style of cartooning that he does so he and I had been Twitter friends for a long time I don't even remember how it happened but when Danny and I started the show I was like hey what do you what do you think about doing this and portraying both of us so no we're really really pleased with it again that's Kev Rocher Kev draws calm if you want to check out his work he's awesome did you by any chance see what Josh had to do yesterday yeah I got questions I've got questions I'm free to answer so alright so he was in that exact seat that you're in yes probably should have just sweats a lot anyway so he does with the nerves of fulfilling a bet so alright so we had an app state helmet on football helmet mm-hmm what was the genesis of the the top that he was wearing it looked to be something from it like a cheerleading uniform yeah so he had this bet for the app ECU game right with this longtime listener mountaineer John okay not familiar with mountaineer okay as you would imagine app fan yeah I'm given the name so Josh bets ECU is gonna win and buy a nice margin as he does DJ back there shaking his head yeah he does this stuff to himself he really does so he bets ECU is gonna win they don't right by a large margin and so the bet was if app beats ECU as long as mountaineer John brought this cheerleading because apparently this was from an old bet that they did that just it was never fulfilled he never brought apparently he never brought it in or whatever okay all right so the deal was he had to bring it in by Wednesday of this week to get it done he did he fulfilled it this time and so yesterday we we did a Sarah McLachlan where you know I pull oh I saw the clip yeah yeah so I got to hear Josh very brazenly predict that ECU was was gonna win that game which is just like Nebraska was going to be Colorado oh yeah we had to get him on that one too that didn't go over so well to be fair buffs have surprised everybody so I don't blame him as much for that one but nah man the ECU pick not not good for two weeks away now from you and I's both probably favorite time of the year one of them yeah the MLB playoffs now there's some teams that have already clinched you got Josh's owes you got the Braves the Rays the Dodgers twins and Brewers are probably closing in on that I would imagine what so getting close to the playoffs as we are what fascinates you the most with this two weeks ready to go or what questions do you have going into this this isn't specifically about the two weeks but it's more of just sort of what intrigues me going in is the the Braves like rarely do you see a team go wire to wire Braves have been probably the best team in Major League Baseball all season long is it is it sustainable right like it's it's this is this is one of the most unruly postseason's that we have in all of pro sports may be second to the Stanley Cup playoffs right in hockey and so often you see the team that wins the wild card just get hot at the right time and make a run and win it all in baseball way less often do you see the team that was head and shoulders better for the majority of the year if not the entirety of it and come through with with the title at the end it usually runs out of gas yeah it's something happens right raise be in this conversation as well with how they started yeah I mean they've had their peaks and valleys in a way that that the Braves haven't but no they're they're good also for sure and they're just like man they're steady Eddie with the way that they manage their their pitching staff and it's they're always an interesting team this time of year because I always wonder okay is this the point is the point for the Rays to win in the postseason or is it just to get there every year with this minimum viable product where they get the absolute most out of every player that they have and don't have to pay as much as other franchises so the Rays are always interesting in that way this time of year I'm fascinated by the O's I think they have a team that could do it talk about overachieving like they were coming at the end of last year like just being well yeah I think last year was the overachieving part they arrived a little ahead of schedule yeah last year and Matt and holiday he's not even there yet yeah Jackson holidays not even there yet so although he's a couple of strides away from the big leagues already yeah so the Orioles are interesting to me starting pitching would be maybe the one spot you could criticize in this at this juncture but you know they interest me too and man the Dodgers I think we all we all sort of overlooked the Dodgers they've maybe had their best season of this run but everybody's talking about the Braves yeah nobody's talking about I mean like the Dodgers could easily just like roll roll through the postseason and and come away with the World Series title and it's again we're just kind of like overlooking them and it's you know they slumped a little bit and it's like oh next thing you know they're on this like 93 win pace or whatever it is they're they're really good that the Dodgers are really good and because of I guess proximity geography where we are and the fact that they've been good for so long for so many years we just kind of expect it with the Dodgers they've just been a little overlooked so I'm I'm intrigued by a lot when it comes to the the upcoming postseason so before we get to unusual questions and take a quick break what's your thoughts on the Otani stuff cuz like he cleaned out his locker a couple weeks ago everybody freaked out about that and then you know we had his surgery I think was earlier this week that that happened on his elbow and they said he should be ready to hit by opening day of next year we don't know for who yet and then he should be able to pitch in 2025 yeah it's it's a it's his free agency is really interesting you know it's the injuries had sort of become a concern or at least something teams could could point to as fodder in the argument against paying him so much it's it's it's his second UCL injury second Tommy John surgery he's still a really good hitter but it also doesn't help his case that he he ended the season as a hitter on injury with the oblique strain or whatever it was so I think it's it would be fair of a team to question hmm do I really want to pay this guy five or six hundred million dollars if he's not gonna be what he's been yeah or if there's a if there's an increased chance that he's not gonna be what he's been I think my inclination is he wants to stay out west I don't think it'll be the Angels now could be the Dodgers could be the Giants I think the Mariners have an appealing case too but hear me out big market anytime a free agent like this hits the market mmm-hmm New York comes into play absolutely I don't think he's gonna be a Yankee yeah but so Ox were heavy early of him potentially going to the Mets because of Stevie Cohen and all the money he's got to that's around would it not be the most Mets thing ever for them to pay Shohei six hundred plus million dollars to come be the two-way star that he is and then it turns out he's just a hitter and they've overpaid this here but I think they would be okay with it too though is the thing it to me aside from the him wanting his desire to be on the west coast it if that scenario plays out as it's almost kind of a perfect fit for him to be a met Darren Vaught he's in in studio with us and after this break unusual questions are coming up the drive with Josh Graham back in studio with Darren Vaught Josh not here today out at Hilton head with Sarah Bradford so we're keeping this thing on the tracks I hope he found a pier to sit underneath that the photo he posted earlier of the the dog did not suggest that there was a pier anywhere near oh no so I told him I texted him was just like no piers your toast your toast man he doesn't do the whole pier thing he didn't do that if I recall right no he sits underneath the pier that wasn't that a bit it got to the point of being on this show he refuses he goes to the beach and refuses to sit in the Sun I couldn't remember and then it's like are you crazy for getting in the water around the pier right I mean that's the worst place to swim apparently he also gets in the sand with his shoes and socks stolen apparently that's a thing socks to be done Lee B dot gave him some grief about that after his honeymoon what it would have what a weird man who regularly hosts this show and on that note let's ask weird and 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 gray and you know what I'll start us off okay because I've got one it's probably gonna get made fun of but what I was gonna say it's is it a donut with the food is it a donut if you if it doesn't have a hole yeah Josh and I had this conversation earlier in the week and I'll say you know what that'd be a great unusual question because I was talking about cream filled donuts he's like that's not a donut hold on did you say Kareem filled donuts like it may have came out that way when I said cream okay and Josh told me that's not a donut it doesn't have a hole it does have a hole where the cream went in sure well yeah but like not like it's still yeah like if you go to get donuts you're not gonna get ostracized for getting an eclair which does not have a hole in the middle but is a it is a is a category of donut is see clear see he told me it was more like a pastry if it's a cream filled or like um what do they call them a Boston cream pie oh yeah yeah those are good oh don't get started on that no but I think I've said these exact words on this show before as a guest that a donut is like the one thing that you could just put in front of my face my willpower disappear guys just like that I'm eating the donut eating the donut in any scenario oh yes don't donut I do yeah I enjoy duck donuts I like to I like to you know me I like to go wherever I am to it like a local spot find it find a little local bakery that does very pancake yeah all day who Darren but yeah it's a donut if it doesn't have a hole what is your unusual question have you guys seen this social media trend where where girls and women are asking the men in their lives how often they think about the Roman Empire yeah you know it's supposed to be a thing it's a it's a thing that apparently like yeah miss this so so it started with asking like their significant others how often do you think about the Roman Empire and it it turned into someone posted it was like ask the men in your life this question you'll be shocked at the answer because and they'll post the responses so it's turned into this trend where they post the screenshots of the texts from the men in their lives and most men according to these posts are just like yeah pretty frequently actually like maybe daily I think about the Roman Empire all right we'll we'll start with you yeah how often do you think about the Roman Empire I I don't think about it I mean I love medieval stuff so I can understand why a guy would be thinking about it you know it's funny because like I actually have seen this trend and I thought about I'm like hmm this be my unusual question I'd bet Darren would love this well so are you food we're going food so I it with some self-reflection given this question yeah do you think like I was a I was a literature major so like I kind of geek out on Greek and mythology anyway up your alley mainly Greek so like that would I would think about that more but then I got to thinking about it man I went to I went to Rome like ten years ago on a trip you know what's been my lock screen on my phone ever since Rome it's the Coliseum it's the Coliseum so like without actually thinking about it every day I guess I kind of do it proves the theory right hey DJ do you think about it only the fact that I want to go to Rome well beautiful beautiful outside of that no so like what I thought was just like this cool weird reminder at first cuz like you know when I was mid 20s I guess when I went early 20s when I went everything's gonna have a purpose it's like oh I'm gonna make this my lock screen it's just like a reminder that you know wasn't built in a day you know you work in a way then that's a lot of words reasons we're thinking about work in a way that like it's still gonna be standing later right cuz that's that's what amazes me about the Coliseum is it it's it's there through everything so you know it was like this proverbial thing and I'm just too lazy to change the lock screen on my phone now but it's been that way for like 10 years now so for 10 years yeah I've had no choice but to think about the Roman Empire I changed mine on every trip after every trip nice fair cuz you do get a lot of good pictures on these trips yeah so like my right now is the blue water at Cozumel oh nice soak that's good mine could use some more color yeah you know what we're gonna off air we're gonna change my lock screen we're gonna get that done we're gonna get that done today DJ do you have an unusual question you know mines more of a pet peeve is it literally or literally it would be neither for Josh cuz Josh hates when I say or anybody says literally so so my pet peeve with this word in mind less about the way that it's pronounced the more about the way and I can't believe we conceded I think it's Merriam-Webster put an actual alternative alternate definition to this word to mean the opposite so you know like it it started to become a thing where you're just like literally when you have when you say something figurative which is the opposite right there they are antonyms but no it is it is technically right to say literally and use it meaning the complete opposite of the definition of literally now and that that guy's drives me batty see Josh I feel dumb now sorry and that's been unusual questions with Darren bond Aaron appreciate you hopping in yeah no fun as always more fun without Josh you've got your camera work here is great for those listening and not watching on the YouTube first will is extremely aware of the stand cotton is the voice of the Deeks on the Wake Forest Sports Network and he's out there get on our YouTube channel right now you can see him out at the stand cotton radio ranch Stan cotton how are you I'm good man this is a it's a first for me uh-huh why are you laughing already I don't know just I'm all giddy I'm excited to talk to you oh no well likewise I have a hat on oh yeah I've never done a radio interview that's also you can see us uh-huh and a hat ever huh I just realized a couple of minutes ago I had I've had a hat on all day and I'm like well well you look great if that house I got over at least it's a weight cap right absolutely but uh I'm good how are you I'm doing well I'm I'm trying to keep this thing on the tracks you know last time last time we spoke you were sitting in this chair and I was over there across the glass and that is true had Dave Gorin in here so no so I did want to start with you before we get in you know wake Georgia Tech tomorrow at 630 on the CW how about that I told DJ it's weird to say right I was trying to explain that to my parents last night and they're like the what it's on the you'll you'll find it they have to watch the games and listen to us but I was having a hard time explaining to where this was gonna be but no it's it'll be actually good I think so yeah on the CW tomorrow night so before we get to that game we saw some really really cool news today when Steve Forbes posted on his Twitter his wife Janetta I hope I'm pronouncing that right he was walking her to the car to finally go home and just just kind of take us through like you know cuz you're around Wake Forest a lot more than I am how cool was that to see oh it's just great I mean she she's a fighter you can just tell by you know coach Forbes has posted some videos of her working hard trying to get out of the Shepherd Center down there in Atlanta she had a stroke back you know 8th of August the team was in the Middle East touring and playing and she was down in Florida and unfortunately had a stroke and she was in a hospital in Pensacola about 10 days and they moved her from there to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta and they're fantastic down there from what I understand and she's coming home today so coach had some video and you know she was she walked out had a cane and had a little assistance from coach but but walked out got in that car and and they're headed home so all of us in the Wake family are thrilled to see her looking so good she's looked good all the way through I mean her eyes have been bright she's got that beautiful smile and it's just it warms our hearts today to to see her walk out of that Shepherd Center and come home where her family can be around her more easily and and all that so well we're looking forward to getting her back and I second everything that you just said because I mean I know I mean we're right up the road from Wake Forest so we cover we cover Wake Forest a lot and we love Steve Forbes he's nothing but a content machine for us with his little quips sometime so we root for him and we were really you know praying hard for her so that that was great news to see first thing today so getting to this game against Georgia Tech Wake Forest is 3-0 and this is their first ACC action so it was against Elon and then they ran the crap out of the ball against Vanderbilt they did however have a little scare against ODU maybe take some of the people that we didn't through through that well maybe took a step back offensively and those are the words of coach Clausen last week for about two and a half quarters turn the ball over a couple of times it turned into 14 points and you know you just can't expect to win very much when you do that but to Mitch Griffith's credit he settled down the last quarter and a half did some good things the offense got going the defense was what was terrific I mean wake shut out old Dominion and three of the four quarters and and in the second half shut him out the ODU defense got a touchdown but you know so you know it was the first road game for a lot of those guys certainly the first road game for Mitch Griffiths is a starting quarterback and I think he learned some hard lessons last week but you know the good thing I guess will is wake found a way to hang in there not quit and and win on the road at a Sunbelt team's place that's not an easy thing to do old Dominion's got a lot of really good football players they do and they've they have worked the portal hard they've got players from all over as has Georgia Tech I mean the yellow jackets have really they've got players from everywhere all over the south and Notre Dame and West Coast I mean it's just kind of the way they're building their their team back right now so you know jackets come in at one and two but they've had a hard schedule I mean they they played at Ole Miss they had a shootout with Louisville they beat South Carolina State like they should have pretty easily but I think that you know you look on paper I Georgia Tech one and two but they're a lot better than maybe I think a lot of people believe that they are so since they did and you brought up that Mitch Griffiths guy and this is his first year as a starter I mean he's how many years has he been awake now he was it three years here sophomores this is third year okay so he's he's been there a while he's gelled with the guys and I I've heard some of those receivers talk about him and you can see it after the game just the way they gel and vibe with him and which is what you have to have as a quarterback and as a leader so how close do you think we are to Mitch Griffiths maybe having that game where he just you know he shows us something he just goes off that's a good question about you know I think he's played really well for the most part I mean he's third in the league in passing yards and and you know he's he's got a lot of people he can throw to and spreads the ball around pretty well to get the good thing about Mitch is he's just such a competitor I mean and he's a really good guy in the locker room will they he just he's just a good teammate you know and you know he wasn't having his best game as we all know last week but he he was not down on himself he was you know he had the he had the thumb going he was pointing that at himself he wasn't blaming anybody else and that's the kind of guy you want and you need to have at that quarterback spot because you know even in games where things aren't going well he's still your leader and he's a vocal guy he's got a lot of energy he's up and down the sidelines talking to his linemen his other players and all that but I you know I think last week will be really good for him I think he's really gonna play well tomorrow night now weather aside I mean if it's if it's blowing 30 miles an hour he knows what it's gonna be when the system kind of moves through and hopefully it's out of here by game time tomorrow but that's going to affect you know both teams showing Georgia Tech can throw it to and wake likes to throw it as we know so but but if that's okay you know I look for him to have a good game I really do because I think that that was kind of a wake-up call in a lot of ways for him last week I'm sure he's been aggressively counseled this week during practice from coach Clausen and coach Rosario so we'll see but I you know he has been around a while he's one of those players you know coach Clausen's talked about that well we're we're inexperienced now we have to say we're young but we're inexperienced we're not young but ran experience right he's been around a long time it hadn't played all that much right so he's still just kind of you know working his way through what it means to be a starting quarterback and and having that pressure on you whether it's pressure from outside or inside pressure I'm sure Mitch puts a lot of pressure on himself to play well but I think last week will help in the long run because he obviously can step back now and look at what he did maybe trying to do too much last week and sometimes you just got to eat the ball you got to throw it away you got to live to play another down instead of giving the ball over that that's you know turning the ball over is is is not a closet deal that that that won't happen very long and you stay on the field so I think it'll be good for him and I think he'll play well tomorrow night you know I was in Chapel Hill last week when Carolina beat Minnesota and listening to Mack Brown in the postgame he was talking about how a lot of teams don't know who they are yet at this point in the season but he said he felt like they know who they are do you think who do you think Wake Forest is like what their identity is at this point or do you think they're still kind of because they've been with Sam Hartman forever like are they still kind of trying to figure that out no I don't think so I mean I think not a whole lot has changed I mean they're running the same offense you know different quarterback in there and anytime you change quarterbacks that's a big deal I get it but again Mitch has been around the team knows him they understand him they like him they certainly rallied behind him last week so I you know I think that this is just the ball still rolling down down the hill it's just a different guy and he's got to learn some things and he's got to work through some of the mistakes that he's made and some of the points I made a minute ago so I think they're fine I think they're you know defensively they're they're really having a good year right now and I think you know coach Brad Lambert's in his second year a lot of the players have talked about that really is is a big deal because now they understand terminology more they understand his personality that like Brad he's he's a players coach and so you know they've got a deep linebacker room and a deep safety room they've got more team speed I think on the defensive side of the ball they've turned teams over you know ten sacks last week my goodness I mean that's a school record that's never happened at wait before so they're getting to the quarterback and so I think you know you know you ask you know what what is this wait team you know for years it's it's been an offensive minded team and right now maybe a little bit the defense is kind of leading the way that's okay you know whatever it takes to win a game I think Dave Clawson is fine with that but you know when both those sides of the ball are clicking it at full speed and hopefully that comes sooner than later I think what's gonna be pretty good again I think you know they'll be in a postseason game and again that's still a great bet that you can make and probably win against a lot of your buddies who's got the second longest bowl streak in the league and it's wake behind Clemson a lot of people don't don't know that but you know Wicks trying to make eight in a row here so so a ways to go before you get there but but but I think this team will get there so looking ahead just a little bit briefly I mean cuz after this game do they they have a bye next week correct yeah so they'll have a bye and then they've got some some tough opponents coming up on the schedule they go to Clemson Florida State's gonna be coming in I mean they're gonna be going to Duke and you know Duke Duke has been what Duke has been so far this year how do you think they're gonna fare against like the more elite teams at least as of right now in the ACC how would you size them up well it's gonna be tough I mean the schedule does really get hard going forward you mentioned the open date next week which I think comes in and I asked coach Clausen about this this past week on his radio show and he's he thinks it comes at a great time that it's not you know you look at you know what could be four games in that's not the halfway point of the season in terms of games when you go back to fall camp you know they've still been going at it for a lot of weeks and it is kind of the halfway point of the entire year when you factor in all the practice before the first game started so it's good time to kind of heal the bumps and bruises maybe get a guy or two back that you really need to go down to Clemson and and and try and compete but you know you're at Clemson right after that you're at Virginia Tech and I know that a lot of people kind of soft on the Hokies but Virginia Tech at home is just tough I don't care what kind of team they have so that you know you you mentioned the others Florida State Duke is really really good I remember watching the the Duke Clemson game it was just really impressed at how coach Elko's got Duke playing I mean playing hard and smart they've got a good quarterback so you know it's just gonna be a hard trudge through the through the league well and and you know how wake will fare I don't know I don't know that's why I think maybe tomorrow night's game if they can get that if the digs can get that get to 4-0 before the break and then you know you you start really really having tough tough you know assignments every week and tomorrow night's is a tough one to you know I again I think Georgia Tech's better than a lot of people would think but so we'll see you know who knows that's why you play the games right but you know as Mitch Griffiths continues to grow at quarterback and you know some other things gel and develop now I think what could be okay I you know weights got good players and they're well coached and you know if they can just get some of these little inexperienced players some more games behind their belt they'll be okay so the last thing I need from you on the way out I gotta know what is the most recent Clint Eastwood movie you've watched I know you've probably seen them all multiple times the most recent yeah Wow well I've seen blips of Gran Torino and a couple others but the the the last full one I watched was with you oh yeah yeah that was the last I you know what you would be proud of me I actually finished watching Lonesome Dove last night have you seen that one yeah I'm a big I assume you're a big fan of that one well I all that that whole genre I like but you know it's I haven't watched a ton of movies in the last I don't know several months and I'm not sure why I've gotten into a lot of series things like that you know on Netflix and haven't watched a lot of movies but I I'm trying to think I think the last movie I sat down and watched from start to finish was with you and Josh right here at my house the outlaw Josie Wales oh it was fantastic we were great it was and I tell you what DJ Stan was just the greatest host I mean I bet he vacuumed that house for us and he had he had he just had the works man he gave us cookies and I mean just open the fridges to us just all the you know you only get that one chance to make that first impression you here you got did Johnson will out that was pressure now oh man Stan cotton thank you so much for coming on hopefully I see you tomorrow I'll be out there and let's hope the D's can pull this thing out and get the four now hope so that'd be great I think they need to get to four no I really think game four is a big one