That's A Racket

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.

We're internet sensations, guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3 to 7 on WSJS. Welcome to a Wednesday Drive. It is WSJS News Talk Sports for the Triad where Connor O'Neill is going to be in studio with us. Darren Bott will be answering unusual questions. WD's telling me we have tons of concerts to give away tickets to today, but we must talk about the biggest college game around here this week. And it really goes back to a question. Has Sam Hartman's Notre Dame year diminished his Wake Forest legacy at all?

Because to me, it has not. But if you're an emotionally attached Demon Deacon fan, you might feel differently. You can contact us at WSJS Radio on X if you'd like to chime in. 336-777-1600 is the phone number if you'd like to answer our poll question on X. Is Sam Hartman the greatest Demon Deacon ever?

That's where you can vote on it. We'll get to those results in a second. To me, his year at Notre Dame doesn't diminish what he did at Wake at all.

In fact, it likely enhances it. It's obvious now Sam Hartman was more special than Wake Forest's slow mesh system. Wake, Sam was not a product of Wake's system. He is better than that. To a much larger degree, it's like Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, where five years ago people would have real conversations about how Tom was a system quarterback.

That was a common discussion point. Without Belichick, Brady would not have won anything. And then Brady left Belichick and what's happened to New England?

Meanwhile, Tom won a Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who prior to Tom's arrival had not made the playoffs since the mid-2000s. Sam hasn't been amazing this year, but Notre Dame's still pretty good. And it's due in large part to Sam.

Notre Dame's still ranked in the top 20. This year, it's laid bare just how much Wake Forest misses Sam. And that will come to a head Saturday when Sam likely ends Wake Forest's seven-year-long record bowl streak. The Deacs need to win the last two games to ensure that they make a bowl game.

Likely not going to happen, though, with Wake going to South Bend and the Deacs also coming off two incredibly brutal losses to in-state competition. Sam's achievements while he was in Winston-Salem, they are still unrivaled. He is the ACC's career touchdown pass leader.

Think about that for a second. All the great quarterbacks, all the great schools, all the national championship-winning programs, all the Heisman Trophy winners. From Lamar Jackson to Trevor Lawrence to Philip Rivers to all the guys at Florida State. Nobody had more touchdown passes in their career than Sam.

And if your first thought is to think, well, Josh, he had a COVID year or whatever. No, he eclipsed Taj Boyd, who played pretty much the same number of games Sam did. So it's a completely legitimate record that belongs to a Demon Deacon. And while he was playing at Wake, he led Wake Forest to two top ten rankings, both in 2021 and in 2022. Prior to that, Wake Forest had never in their history appeared in the top ten of the AP poll. To me, he is the greatest player in Wake Forest history, which is going to make Saturday incredibly weird.

Dave Claussen, he outlined this, I felt, pretty well, talking about the emotion of it yesterday. I was joking with our team today that, you know, for five years, Sam wore a green jersey and they weren't allowed to hit him. So this is the first time any of our defensive guys will ever be allowed to hit him.

But again, I think the world is Sam. You know, quite honestly, it's hard for me to watch Notre Dame football. You know, because that's the Wake Forest quarterback playing for them. You know, he spent five years here and did a lot for our program. We're still close. When we beat Pitt, one of the very first texts I got on congratulations was from Sam.

Again, we haven't been in touch this week. I'm sure it'll be a little awkward pregame. But postgame, I'll give him a big hug and let him know how much we care about him. And, you know, I tell him I root for him every game except one this year. And this is the one.

Saturday, three thirty at Notre Dame Stadium. The poll question again on X. Is Sam Hartman the greatest player in Wake Forest football history?

Already, I put it up an hour ago, it's already got a couple hundred votes on it. Sixty one percent say no. And if you're one of those that are saying no, who? Who do you say is better than Sam Hartman? Considering the on field success, considering the statistical success, the drop off after he leaves to me, I think it's a no brainer. I think he's the greatest player in the history of the program.

And I do not say that lightly. Will Dalton, he is the executive producer of this show. W.D., what exactly are we giving away tickets to today when we do weekly positivity, unusual questions, the whole bit? We got tickets for Brian Adams.

He's going to be in Raleigh this coming March. You're going to have tickets to Sammy Hagar. And we're going to have tickets to go see the Eagles. The Eagles.

Man, I can't stand the Eagles. You still need to see it. I know it, man. It just can't win the poll. The Big Lebowski. Planes, trains and automobiles won the poll yesterday. So you'll see that next week.

The week of Thanksgiving just seems fitting. At Panthers.com, our friend Darren Gant wrote a story with the headline, how Bryce Young's first year seems familiar to those who were around Peyton Manning's rookie season, which is just a reminder that there are quite a bit of ties between the Panthers and Peyton. Bill Polian, for example, who drafted Peyton Manning was once the Panthers GM.

And he's quoted in that story that I strongly suggest you read. Frank Wright was Peyton Manning's quarterbacks coach during his prime years in Indianapolis. Peyton's rookie year is also a reminder of how valuable past history is when assessing Bryce Young's early struggles. So many have missed the point of this story, though, and missed the point why you bring up Peyton Manning's rookie year as it relates to Bryce. By the way, Peyton's numbers, a whole lot worse than Bryce's numbers are right now. In Peyton's first set, eight starts, one and seven, 55.5 completion percentage, 11 touchdown, 16 picks, 64.5 passer rating. And he would go on to lead the NFL that year in interceptions with 28.

Bryce Young through eight starts, one and seven as well. Slightly better completion percentage, eight touchdown, seven picks, 75.9 passer rating. You don't bring that up to say that Bryce is going to be better than Peyton Manning or even be Peyton Manning, who's one of the greatest quarterbacks ever.

That would be silly. You bring up the stats with Peyton just to show how equally or perhaps more silly it is to pretend like you know what Bryce Young is going to be in the future based on his first eight games. It's way too soon to make a judgment. Now, there are guys who flash early like CJ Stroud is doing right now, but that's abnormal.

We continually say it and we'll continue to bang this drum. What CJ Stroud is doing is abnormal. What Bryce is experiencing is completely normal. And while so much about the NFL has changed over time, this has always been a constant. This adjustment, guys who are taken very early in the draft, trying to figure things out, playing for bad teams. It's not just Peyton either. Troy Aikman, one and 15 his first year, either one and 15 or two and 14, I forget. He was really bad with the Cowboys.

Oh, but those are ancient history examples. Okay, Trevor Lawrence two years ago, this thing happens and those are just number one overall picks that we're talking about. If you want to expand it, we could talk about other guys too. It makes it easy to put it in perspective that this is normal, what Bryce Young is experiencing. However, that's still not easy when you're going through it like Bryce Young is right now. Here was Frank Reich speaking to that piece of it, trying to add perspective while also telling Bryce, you need to do this better.

You need to play better in certain spots. I think, you know, having the perspective of, you know, the historical perspective of rookie quarterbacks can be a backdrop to to understand and give a little perspective. But we're primarily going to be driven by the results that we're seeing now, and we should. But sometimes the historical perspective and understanding the struggles of a lot of great quarterbacks over a long time can help just give me okay, I'm not going to lose my mind. I'm not real happy right now. We all have to get better. But I understand that, you know, I'm not alone here.

Okay, there's some pretty good people, you know, alongside me that have had some similar struggles. Yes, this is a part of a segment, by the way, we call Josh Reads What Darren Gantt Wrote on Panthers.com because this is actually very interesting to me. Bill Polian suggests that the biggest improvement we will see from Bryce Young will not be during this year, but it will be next year. And here's why, reading the story that Bill Polian says, Bryce Young should enjoy his biggest jump next offseason. Instead of traveling from workouts to combines to appearances to the draft, Young will be in the Panthers facility working with what should be an improving cast around him. Quote, The moral of the story is this offseason, Bryce will learn more than he's ever learned in any offseason in his career, and that will hasten his development. As I said, Polian says, it's really mid-year three when you really start to see it next year. Number one will be physical maturity.

It'll be visible by the time you get the training camp. Secondly, comfort with the offense, ability to get in and out of the huddle, ability to spit out the nomenclature. Third, defensive recognition, and then fourth, you know, recognition and improvement in critically efficient situations. Then Polian, who by the way, I ran into at the Texans Panthers game a few weeks ago, referenced a play in that game as a really positive sign for Bryce. Going back to the story, that throw to Adam Thielen on fourth down, that was a big time throw in a situation where it had to be clinical. If it's a critical situation, you've got to be efficient. You've got to make the play. You'll see more of that. This isn't saying Bryce Young is going to be Peyton Manning, but it is saying, if you are already writing off Bryce Young based on eight games, that's the real clown shoes thing to do. That's the real overreaction that is silly if you would like tickets to go see either the Eagles, Sammy Hagar, or Bryan Adams in Raleigh, 336-777-1600 is the phone number. All you have to do is call in and tell me something good and weekly positivity.

We'll do that in a second. Real quickly, though, looking back at the basketball last night, it wasn't very good. The Hornets, boss to the Heat, Jimmy Butler banked in a three at halftime. The court looked hideous in the end-season tournament. It is not hideous. Awful.

Bowling alley, wrestling mat. Willie P said he was coming around on it. Willie P is not the ally you want. Why not?

Look at some of his food takes and then tell me that Willie P is the ally that you want. 0-2 in end-season tournament games, no Miller, no Hayward last night. And then we called it on the ACC front. We looked at it and said, listen, the ACC is not going 3-0.

Duke, Michigan State, Duke's likely to win that game. They did win it. But then we looked at Georgia Tech at home against UMass Lowell, Syracuse at home against Colgate. Big game for Colgate.

They're in upstate New York. They beat Syracuse last year. They led for a lot of the game yesterday. The Orange with Red Autry figured out a way to win that game, which then meant Georgia Tech and Damon Stoudemire stood no chance. The GO ACC came out last night as Georgia Tech lost to UMass Lowell. 2-1 night for the conference.

That wasn't very good. Now let's turn things positively. Middle of the week here, Hump Day in the Piedmont. It's time for Weekly Positivity. Oh, yeah.

Those aren't pillows. WD will get that when watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles next week. And that's good.

You know what else is good, WT? Those courts in Charlotte. Biscuit King. Wow. Biscuits. Home of the gah-normous biscuit. The gah-normous biscuit.

Wow. Three locations in Lexington, one in High Point. The only bad news I have is it's not open right now.

It's only open 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. So tomorrow morning or tomorrow during lunch, get yourself a gah-normous biscuit. Biscuits. 336-777-1600. Jason in Archdale joins us. Hi, Jason. Hey. Tell me something. I got something. Good? Good.

What's that? Listen, guys, we're one week away from Thanksgiving and the holidays in general. And I love Thanksgiving. I love family. I love friends. I love good food.

All of that is good. Tomorrow, I am super excited. I have a Friendsgiving that I'm attending. We don't really do turkey for Friendsgiving because that's a lot of effort, especially during the week. But we got a couple of hams, a rotisserie chicken from Costco. Big deal. Excited.

WD, he's very excited about that. Jason, what are you most excited to eat when we get the family together? Oh, man, I love turkey. I love dressing. I love deviled eggs. Oh, my goodness gracious. I like green beans.

And I like corn that's in the green beans. Have you ever done that? Yeah, it's big time. Yeah, love it.

I'm a Southern boy, so I can... There you go. So you know exactly what I'm talking about. Mashed potatoes with butter. You know what else is good?

What is that? You're going to a concert. Which concert do you want to go to? I want to see Sammy Hagar really bad. Oh, well, we're going to make that happen for you, Jason. Thank you so much for the call and telling us what's good.

336-777-1600 if you'd like to go see Sammy Hagar as well or the Eagles or Brian Adams. Tell me something good, WD. Well, Jason kind of stole my thunder a little bit because... You're so uncreative.

I don't create, I've got stuff here. Okay. That was going to be one of the things I was going to talk about. Well, what's the next thing? What's the B thing on your list?

So the B thing on my list, I'm going to a chili competition this weekend. Wow. You know, I spent all weekend... Is Scott Tetterman going to be there? I don't think so. You don't get the reference. I don't get the reference. It's like first season of South Park. Maybe the greatest South Park episode ever.

Oh, Scott Tetterman, your tears. Oh, that tastes so good. And then Radiohead shows up.

Wow, Radiohead. So I spent all weekend in Chapel Hill and so I was busy all weekend, but I've got the whole weekend free this weekend. So I'm going to a chili competition. I can't wait to hear about that. The chili...

In all sincerity, I've never been to a chili competition, so I'd love to hear how that goes. For those watching on YouTube, Twitch, and on X, I've got a long sleeve repping my church in Winston-Salem. Shout out to Two Cities Church. And the reason I'm wearing this today is get a chance tonight to look at our new church's building. So my church is moving into a new building and that's good. And it's also really good that we don't have to worry about getting there five, ten minutes early to ensure we have a seat.

That's how packed these things can get on Sunday morning. Let's go to Beth in Greensboro. Hi, Beth. Hi, Josh. How are you?

Let me try to think of an adjective. I'm good. Wow. Tell me something. I'm good.

Oh, I'm so sorry I didn't ask. Tell me something good, though. Well, I just want to say what's good is when I listen to the Josh Graham show on WSJF, I try every day. It's good because it makes me smile and laugh. And I love when WD doesn't know a movie and you guys play the Steve Forbes.

Well, you know, that's good. Just for you then, just for you then, I watched a movie every week. I try to watch a movie that I had not seen before, which means there's no chance that WD has seen it or heard about it. Last night, I watched Officer and a Gentleman for the first time. WD, have you seen Officer and a Gentleman? Well, can you name can you name any Richard Gere movies? Well, you should be able to name a Richard Gere movie. Pretty Woman. Pretty Woman. Oh, but I have seen a Richard Gere movie. I know you had. I'm trying to think.

There's no chance you even know who Deborah Winger is. Well, see, see what happens here, Beth. That's not very good, but I think it makes you laugh. So that makes me laugh.

It does. You guys make me laugh. Thank you for highlighting my day and making it good. That's very good. What a call from Beth.

Anything to add on the way out, WD? You know, you kind of look like an olive today. Is it because I've got matching like pants or I'm wearing sweatpants?

It's the match. You kind of look like that. I got these sweatpants from Lululemon, so they're not like trashy. You got some Lululemon. Yeah, and it matches my long sleeve. No, she was there, though.

I was about to say, like she had one of those in downtown Winston. So I just need the people to know I'm not wearing the. Should we do one more call?

I think so. Just I wish you'd played a Gary Haun drop to get me out of that awkward situation, but it's OK, you can get back to the phones. One more pair of concert tickets will give away. Weekly Positivity brought to you by Biscuit King, home of the God-normous Biscuit. Who am I going to? Lynn in Greensboro. Hi, Lynn. Hey, good afternoon, gentlemen. Oh, good afternoon to you, Lynn. Tell me something good. Well, uh, being the rascal that I am. Let me stop you real quick. You just did an excellent Steve Forbes impression without even knowing you did. Well, it's pretty good on your part, Lynn.

What do you have? Even though I'm a rascal, I'm hard to live with. My wife still loves me, and I think that's a pretty good deal. Wow. How long have you and your wife been married? Just 20 years. Just? That's that's pretty good. I've been I've been married for a year and a half.

You know, hopefully, hopefully I'll get the 20, my friend. I remember when you got married. I remember you guys talking about it. All right. Well, enjoy.

What what concert are you trying to go to? Oh, what do you have again? I think we have Sammy Hagar. We got the Eagles and we've got Brian Adams.

Oh, the Eagles would be awesome. Well, there you go. Congratulations to you. And that's been Weekly Positivity. Rand, that might be the first time we've ever run out of music for this segment.

Wow, that's crazy. Pretty long with Josh Graham, Connor O'Neill's in studio. I'm fine with this becoming his theme song the way that it's perfect. The good, the bad, the ugly theme is Stan Cotton's music. W.D., would you like to explain backstory on this at all?

Yeah, I would. So I don't remember what weight game I was at. It was Florida State. I think we were trying to entertain ourselves during the Florida State game. It was.

And Connor just kept looking at me and going, and so you're not supposed to cheer in the press box. That's right. And there may or may not have been somebody up there this particular game that was getting a little noisy. It happens in a lot of press boxes. Oh, if that was the game, that was Pit.

Pit, that's right. Great game. And because great game, the person was told, like, hey, like, stop, settle down.

Something that happens in press boxes, there are fans in the press box and there shouldn't be, but there are in every press box. So you can hear a pin drop in this place for like five minutes and then all of a sudden Connor looks at me and he goes, I do like the idea. Like, can I just hear the drop of that again? That every time Connor is mentioned on the show, that's what plays. You have your own theme music now. Congratulations, Connor O'Neill.

All I had to do was distract myself with the thing that Wake plays. I think it's before their third downs, right? Yes. I think before their defense faces a third down. Getting to a poll question that we asked today, an obvious question that somebody needed to ask at some point this week.

I'll tell you right now. No. Is Sam Hartman the greatest player in Wake Forest history? If not, who? You go to Brian Piccolo, you go to Riley Skinner. Riley Skinner is an interesting conversation point because I will hear people say, OK, well, Riley won an ACC championship while Sam did not do that. He only got to the championship game. But then many of those same people will pooh the fact that for the first time in program history, Sam Hartman led Wake to a top 10 ranking and did it in consecutive seasons saying, well, that's a Wake Forest achievement. I just think the career passing touchdown mark, if you're going to find somebody greater, you have to have somebody who is on a national stage or at least a program stage or a conference wide stage has some achievement. I've seen many Deacon fans suggest Alfonso Smith, for example, who led the ACC in interceptions.

It still does. Yeah. Was Sam ACC Player of the Year in 21?

No. Who was? ACC Player of the Year. Can he pick it?

Can he pick it? Pick it one Player of the Year that year. So he's at least the only ACC Player of the Year Wake has had is Brian Piccolo. That sounds right.

That does sound right. But I will say this. No, Chris Barkley.

I'm sorry. If you're allowed to do if Mount Rushmore is not canceled, he's on the Mount Rushmore, right? He's on Mount Rushmore. Off without doing the necessary research. I would put Sam, Riley Skinner, Brian Piccolo. Then hear an argument. Alfonso Smith, maybe Aaron Curry, Chris Barkley, Aaron Curry.

Yeah, those types. I mean, definitely when you're talking about the Dave Claussen 10 years, the decade, it's Sam. This is an even more difficult question that I've been ruminating over the last day about. What is Sam Hartman's greatest moment at Wake? Is it the Army game with the 70-56? No, it can't be a non-conference game. Okay, because it's not a bowl game.

I know that. Unless you want to go to the win against Rutgers or the game in Tampa? I mean, given what was known about Tampa and knowing that he was going to Notre Dame and that news... I don't know if it broke that day.

It certainly broke on my message board and others. And some Notre Dame people knew about it. I could hear an argument for the Gasparilla Bowl. The in-state games are tough because... The BC game that they clinched the Atlantic crown in.

That's one in 21. And then the other one in 21 in November was the game against NC State. Now, his completion percentage was under 50% and he threw three interceptions in that game. That's right. But he threw three touchdowns and threw for like 290. So it's complicated.

It really is. He's had worse moments against State. Obviously, the Carolina games were tough ones for him other than 2019, where they won and got off to that great start. He didn't play. Oh, wait. That was Newman? Yes. Oh, that's right. 2019 was Jamie Newman. Crazy to think.

That's four years ago. But Sam Hartman, his greatest moment. It is kind of a difficult question to answer.

There isn't that clear, that's it. That's it type of game for Sam. How bad does Saturday get or can it get? I don't know. I did a Q&A for another Notre Dame. I think it was for the rivals site that I said I can't see this game being close unless Wake wins in all of the margins where they've been losing badly. Special teams, they have to come up with a game-changing return of some kind or do what Duke did and have a surprise onside kick that they recover. They've got a win turnover margin by probably not just one, probably two or three. How bad can you see Notre Dame blowing them out, putting the pedal to the metal? Is there a point where they're like, we don't want to do this anymore because... Yeah, I could see it.

It's Sam Hartman versus his former team. I don't know if it would get any worse than something like 35-3 if Wake's offense is completely anemic. Maybe something in the 40s. I don't think it'll be a 50-point differential. I'll put it that way. For those who are interested, over and under for this game is 46 and a half.

Send me that cash out, family. Just throwing that out there. We were having this conversation earlier. Yeah, we might have had that conversation. Can Wake get the 10 and would Notre Dame want to lay it on thick?

I don't know. Just throwing that out there. Getting the basketball last night because you also covered Duke. How much do you think you've learned about the Blue Devils considering the level of competition they've faced in the last two games? Yeah, those are two elite teams in two different styles. We know that when they play a big athletic seven-footer that can take the ball in the post and score over or through you, that they need to find out an answer that is something different than what they tried to do against Omar Ballo.

Rim protection is going to be a question all year. And we knew that in the summer. That is not a mystery. That's not anything we didn't already know. It's just now we've seen it and we know it for sure. We know their guard play is really, really good.

What do you think that... Does that rotation evolve during the year? Or do you think that guard rotation is pretty much set the way that we see it right now? I think it's pretty set. It's pretty set as long as the plan remains that Jake can shoot red shirts. It's going to be... The thing I'm most curious about coming off of last night is whether Caleb Foster moves into the starting lineup.

Right. And I tend to think he doesn't even if... Look, I don't think Jared McCain is going to have many 0-for-5s. He's way too good of a shooter to... And he's way too confident to be discouraged by last night's game. I thought he got really good shots.

They just didn't fall. But I think Jon likes knowing that he has instant offense when he puts Caleb Foster into the game. I think that is... If we know anything about Jon, what is it?

39 games into his tenure, I think it is. We know that he likes having... Trying to think of a way to say this. He likes knowing what he's going to put into the game.

Sure. Like he does not like question marks. That's why we didn't see much of Sean Stewart. That's why we haven't seen much of Christian Reeves.

He wants to know what he's getting when he puts you into the game. And he knows he's getting instant offense with Caleb Foster. It's one of the things why when people were knocking Ryan Young so much on Friday night saying, oh, this is a guy you can't play and things like that.

Well, Jon Shire knows there are spots you can play Ryan Young. And last night seemed like one of those nights. Yeah, against a Big Ten game. Against a Big Ten team. We saw it last year in the ACC Big Ten Challenge game when they played Ohio State.

And it was just, you know, throw the ball in the post and bang, bang, bang body slamming against each other like that's Big Ten basketball. And that's that's where Ryan excels. It's not the only area where he excels. Like he can have good games. He's he's going to struggle when you ask him to guard somebody like a North Chad O'Mear.

Just the reality of it. He's limited. He will he will be the first to tell you if you go to the Duke locker room. Look, I'm a below the rim player. I'm I'm limited, but, you know, you you hope that he makes up for it in other aspects, like his toughness and his IQ, the fact that he's a sixth year guy and can read the ball off the rim. And look, he he rebounds with positioning.

He doesn't rebound by going up and getting it above everybody else's hands. And that can be effective. Connor O'Neill is hanging out in studio with us. You know, Deacon Illustrated, Devil's Illustrated.

Yes, I love that being his thing now. Real quickly, just touching on Deacon Basketball. Anything that we've really learned so far in the first couple of games with them?

Way too soon to say without Damari Monsanto. Yeah, it's it's tough to know for sure. And I guess we're still in the holding pattern with Efton Reed. They're not going to get that waiver. I don't think so either.

But until we hear that they're not, we have to act like it's a possibility. Because Steve, last we heard, they declined it a few days after they denied them a few days after ACC Media Day, he said when I asked him about it last week. The Deacs will be facing Utah tomorrow in Charleston. It's a tough matchup.

Utah starts seven to seven footers and has a lot of length other places, too. That's going to be an interesting matchup of note. Let me let me update this poll that we have here asking if Sam Hartman is the greatest ACC or greatest demon deacon of all time.

320 have voted so far in the last couple of hours. 58 percent say no, he is not. So it's an interesting conversation. Whenever Darren Vaught joins the show, I feel obligated to talk about certain subjects. He's the radio voice of ECU basketball, still does high point as well. Baseball is his forte, ACC Baseball, etc., podcast that he does with Danny Graves on the D1 Baseball Network.

So where do you want to start? You want to talk about early observations on ECU Hoops or high point hoops, or do you want to talk about Brandon Hyde and Gunnar Henderson over the last couple of days? No big deal. Being named Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year. There's probably just more to discuss, given MLB will have a lot more to discuss.

There's probably just more to discuss, given MLB awards season. It's early in the year for ECU and high point ECU undefeated. They host USC Upstate tonight, so looking to remain that way.

The third of a record record number of home games at Minjies for the Pirates. And then apparently high point because I'm not doing all of their games. Obviously, I don't travel with them and I'm not doing all the ESPN Plus, so I actually have not had them yet. But apparently they just like, they love losing by a bucket at this point. They lost at Queens by two last night, Wofford by one over the weekend.

So those are my takeaways on them. And then I should just be super excited about the Orioles. Are they going to be favorites to win the American League going into next year? Obviously, I think, you know, free agency probably will factor into that.

Free agency will factor in the the World Series champion. Texas Rangers might have something to say about that. Speaking of which, you mentioned ACC Baseball, et cetera.

We dropped it on Tuesday. Josh Spores, former UVA reliever who closed out the World Series for the Rangers, joined Gravy and me and was a lot of fun. We talked about Creed.

We talked about shower shoes. We talked about the Rangers, obviously. And then, you know, he was the most outstanding player in 2015 at the College World Series for Virginia. So no, I mean, the Orioles are going to be right up there. They're going to be right up there. They're they're they're going to be good for a while now.

And that was that's what the build was for. Josh, it's what I what I had been what I had been alluding to for years about this buildup. They're here to stay. You don't even have to worry about it now. Brandon Hyde, one manager of the year in the A.L. who won in the National League? I forget.

Skip Schumacher from the Miami Marlins. I actually not to name drop, but sure, I'll name drop. Had a little text conversation with Skip yesterday. Hey, I'm winning the award. That's my guy.

Flex. Speaking of you mentioned Creed there a second ago, we still have concert tickets to give away. So the first person to call in right now gets their choices of seeing Brian Adams in Raleigh next March. The Eagles actually don't know if we have any of those left, but if we do ask W.D.

and Sammy Hagar in Charlotte. Your choice is right now first to call in 336-777-1600. I use that as a transition to get into unusual question. 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 OK. It's time for unusual questions with Josh Graham.

And I'll get us started. The Michigan scandals had me thinking. This really does feel like, yes, Michigan broke a rule. Jim Harbaugh is trying to fight back on it.

The hearing is on Friday. We'll see if he's on the sideline for Maryland on Saturday. He was not on the sideline against Penn State. It feels like if this happened at Wake Forest, nobody cares. This is a story because it's Jim Harbaugh. It's Michigan.

They're ranked right there at the top nationally, which leads to the obvious question. What is something you do regularly in life that skirts the rules, whether it's actually breaking a law, so to speak, like speeding, something like that, or something that just violates social etiquette? I got a good one. I got a good one.

What do you got? So I teach as an adjunct instructor at UNC in Chapel Hill. I... What don't you do?

Lottery boy, teacher, baseball. That's amazing. I am supposed to park legally on campus when I go, twice a week. I have not paid for a parking pass.

This is my second semester. I just got my first parking ticket a week and a half ago, but I've been several times since. No tickets. I'm going to skirt out of this thing by paying like 30 bucks a year because I pay for a good one parking ticket that they do get me on. How much is a parking pass? How much for a year? It's at least 150 bucks worth it. I'm coming out ahead. I could get five more parking tickets and I'm fine. This might be terrible on my part, but I am selective on which what dog poops I pick up for Willow the dog like I do like the equation in my head of is a person going to walk through this by the time like it rains or it just like not like if it's outside like a home then yes I will pick up the dog poop if it's like in and around right where I live but me walking around Salem College and Willow kind of like nestles up near like a bush and then goes number two I'm not picking that up so it might seem unseemly or somebody might see it and say oh there's some dog poop there but you're not stepping in it it's not like it's in a walkway or anything so I think that violates social constructs I think so but just being honest about it I don't pick up all of Willow's poops I think I'm with you I'm with you there because like sometimes it doesn't need to and if anything it's gonna help like you know fertilize boom it's the it's the cycle the life cycle the the the circle of life type stuff right circle of life type stuff that's what it is as long as nobody's gonna get it gooped up on their shoe then yeah I think you're fine you're fine you're you're I mean again you're probably not according to most but whatever fertilization circle of life type stuff WD do you have an answer to that I do so as you know sometimes I go to goodwill to buy things to flip this is bad I do so like I'll go and I'll get what are you getting at go continue so I go and I'll get like tennis rackets because like and then resell them I'll resell them like I'll take them to a plate against sports I'll get money more money for them so keep in mind these things are donated they're not buying these I know you you you would go to goodwill the intent it's it's for people that can't afford tennis rackets like uh oh don't you're gonna you're gonna take the tennis racket and take it to a sports shop and sell it for more money than you paid for the racket guess how much do you actually make off so like what an etiquette wise I'm fine like that's sure sure I like I went through a stage in life where everything I wore on my body was from a goodwill it was like thrifting it was the cool thing to do right you get somebody else's old youth league jersey and you see how many numbers you can collect that was just like the thing you did so like whatever I'm not above it but like do you really make like considerable money that's worth the effort I mean yeah because like I can go and I can buy a tennis racket for like two dollars a pop and if they have like three or four of them I can rack up and then I can take it to a goodwill and get like ten dollars a racket or you mean to like a sports play it again yeah I'll play it again yeah I'll play it again and I can get like ten dollars a racket maybe more if it's a really good racket that's a racket that is a rack that's capitalism is what that is and if you go and you do it a handful of times like a week just let it sit okay what's your unusual question Darren um what is what is a a running bit that so like we obviously on our show your show when I am on our segments on your show we have a we have a running we have a series of bits right that out outside of the context of the show they make zero sense right there we go Brendan Martin right that's a bit what what is the bit you have in a non-on-air capacity that you have to stop yourself from using with when you're with people with people who don't know the bit oh I've been doing this thing lately where you know the expression look at look what God did like somebody will take a sunset picture it's a nice expression right you tell the sunset pictures like look look what God did yeah I love I I love saying look what God did at just like totally mundane trivial things and it's not you don't you don't flip it over to the negative right because then that that's like kind of irky yeah but just like you know so I went to the story yesterday look what God did like I have two fun examples of this one I just demonstrated before this conversation started me and my wife just had this thing where I say hey everybody I'm Sarah Bradford or hey everybody and then I do it with you guys I'm like that's just a thing with me and my wife that we do that's stupid and fun he does do it to me an on-air example well you're my radio wife my a thing that I do on air that I always have to stop myself is when I go to North Carolina basketball anything events and Armando Bacott's name is mentioned if I hear him on the telecast like Dan Schulman saying his name all I think is Armando every single time every single time he not did he not offer a bunch of money to charity for you guys to stop doing $15,000 still waiting where are we on that wait wait so you're still hammering the drop you're not taking we use word we we we're trying to work it out uh it's we're in the process behind the scenes of getting that worked out okay all right to charity I'm not pocketing it charity WD would pocket it and then buy a bunch of tennis rackets he'd sell it to somebody for $20,000 because they would overpay knowing it was Armando Bacott's $15,000 I mean listen to Aaron they would all right what's your unusual question WD so when you guys were kids growing up and you would go like what were what was an activity that you enjoy like when spending the night at a friend's house when you were a kid like for me like a lot of time it was with buddies that I played little league with so we'd play the MLB the show video game or call duty ordering pizza was a big deal at sleepovers but my favorite was prank phone calls this is why really young really young one of my best childhood friends is Canadian and he's the one that got me into hockey like taking me to like we went to hurricanes games together and all that growing up outside of Raleigh speaking of which I went to Franklin Academy High School shout out to the Patriots soccer team that are in the two-way state championship this Saturday night in Greensboro best of luck at McPherson Stadium to the FA Patriots I played soccer for four years there but we'd go into his backyard where he had a basketball hoop in his driveway but we would not play basketball we would put on the pads and play like hockey with a net the whole deal just be out there for hours and then if it was too cold we had like mini sticks and we'd turn like the foyer into like a hockey rink that we could play full pads full pads full pads just like foot hockey or were you on rollerblades no no no we were on foot still on foot but we'd have the pads on I don't think we actually had like flipped and fell while walking well no it's just it's a lot more fun Darren when you have it feels real feels real when you have the pads on it's harder to make saves like think of all the saves you can make with your legs because you have the extra padding you wouldn't know it's not it's still real to me um it would depend on the the friend group um or like the time in my life we played risk a good bit that was like a thing that a certain friend group of mine did that sounds like it would take forever though it it did we rarely finished oh that would frustrate me I'm the type of guy that if you start something you have to finish it as we as we got older and like early high school so like maybe freshman sophomore years of high school we played a lot of halo just got like get like souped up on energy drinks and played halo halo oh my gosh do you know how much I loved halo this is gonna make me sound terrible when halo 2 came out like it was a tragic day in the sense of like our cat was like found on the side of the road and my mom didn't know how to like tell me that our our cat just died but we got halo 2 that morning and I didn't really care much about the cat it was like our it was like our family cat and I remember feeling I'm sad about the cat but I've got halo 2 now that all's better I've got to get to the to the console so I can play I'm dual wielding like a sword with a mini blaster this is amazing sorry misty the cat sorry speaking of misty uh red-haired pokemon character she was the water trainer pokemon yeah that was for a stretch of life that was that consumed me and my friends I think that's a I think that's a good way to close unusual questions we covered a lot of ground from wd's racket racket to racket racket to you know misty the cat we've we've covered a lot to my you know maybe irresponsible handling of willow's poops we've we've done we've done a lot here darren you have a basketball game to broadcast tonight in greenville america so we'll let you do that mingy's coliseum no mingus coming out of your mouth no it's mingy's boom you do that thanks for the time of course uh remember acc baseball etc josh spores world series champ go download it like share with all your friends all that stuff good to see you guys