EXTREME Team (7-8-24)

This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast. Three internet sensations, guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons, 3 to 7 on WSJS.

You are on a Monday drive. It is WSJS, News Talk Sports for the Triad, where in about 15 minutes, the new radio voice of NC State Athletics, Matt Chazenow, will be making his maiden voyage on the show. No, we are not going to ask him for his thoughts on the situation at the border. Let's go to the sidelines. Tony Haines. Not going to do that.

It'll still be great to connect with him, though. But before we do that, we must hit on the local bombshell from over the weekend in the NBA. The moment of truth for Miles Bridges and the Charlotte Hornets arrived, and the Hornets got their man.

Hot double indeed! Miles signs an extension to remain in Charlotte, and putting all the predictable outside noise aside for a moment, all the outrage that came from this, it's a massive win for new GM, Jeff Peterson. It's a massive win for Hornets basketball and for that front office, because this is the reality of the situation.

They extended Miles Bridges at below his expected market value. That's hard to do when you're the Hornets and you're not. In terms of on-the-court achievement, no organization in the NBA has achieved less than Charlotte has.

That's hard to do. ESPN's Bobby Marks had him at between $27 to $29 million average annual value for his salary. Given he's a clutch client with Rich Paul and Company, and we're again talking about the Hornets, he could have demanded around $30 million a year, take it or leave it. Instead, Jeff Peterson and Charlotte got Miles to agree to a three-year $75 million extension. That is $25 million a year for those who are mathematically challenged. I went to East Carolina after all.

Just a burden that we have to deal with. $25 million a year. Eric Collins, your reaction to that contract?

A DIVIL IN D! It's important that Charlotte didn't lose him, even if he's not a long-term answer on the team. And three years would suggest that he isn't exactly a long-term answer.

He will be up again when he's 29. Probably that was his choice, so he could sign one more large contract, you'd think, before he exits his prime. But he was a budding All-Star before his off-court issues. He was the leading scorer of this team. And the team was pretty good. Before all this crap happened and James Borrego was let go.

He's entering his prime, LeBron was once tweeting about him all the time. They would have received scraps in exchange for Miles Bridges if it was a sign-and-trade. Or, of course, if they let him walk, you would have gotten nothing in return. Remember, back in March or February, whenever the trade deadline was, they could not have moved him because he decided he wasn't going to waive his no-trade clause. Who's to say that he wouldn't waive it, assuming he has a no-trade clause again, when next March rolls around. And Charlotte gets a lot more in exchange for Miles Bridges then than they would have had in a sign-and-trade. Or even if they moved him at the deadline earlier this year. It also was a huge win, underrated move for Charlotte this weekend. Very young team, they add Reggie Jackson, so you have some experience in that room.

But from the Dallas Mavericks, fresh off the NBA Finals, you get Josh Green who's 23, probably going to be inserted into the starting lineup. A lot of good, the Hornets continuing this run of competency that we had not seen in a very long time. But we knew what the reaction would be if they extended Miles. And we saw a lot of it. Oh, how can you enable somebody who is accused of doing what he did? You're enabling abuse and yadda yadda yadda.

He's such a bad guy. Maybe. Maybe all that's right.

Maybe it is. However, we have to be adults about this. His off-court problems should not factor into the basketball calculus for Charlotte. The folks who should consider whether or not Miles Bridges should be playing basketball are in the NBA office in New York City. That's Adam Silver's call. That's the league's call. If the league says he can play, Charlotte is not in a position to be self-righteous. You're not good enough as an organization to discard potential All-Star talent when you can almost certainly not replicate it on your roster. The reality is, if Charlotte didn't sign Miles Bridges, somebody was going to. So if he was going to play and help somebody win basketball games, why not have him help you win basketball games? Also, he served his punishment. He lost almost two seasons. And then you had the official punishment of eight or ten games that he had.

This isn't me diminishing all the accusations of what he was accused of doing. He's probably a bad guy. I'm not a fan of Miles Bridges the person.

Probably a bad dude. But he's a really good basketball player, and he can help you. And if he's going to play somewhere, you've got to be an adult about this and say, All right, well, it's good that he's extended on our team for now. Might not be a long-term piece on this team, but somebody we could easily flip at the deadline and get a lot more than we could get right now or even earlier this year. And who knows, maybe the Hornets could be better sooner than a lot of people think if Brandon Miller takes a next step. And LaMelo Ball is healthy, and Miles Bridges does turn into an NBA All-Star. Getting that at below market value, a huge win for the Charlotte Hornets. On X at WSJS Radio, if you want in, that's where we're streaming video.

In addition to YouTube and Twitch, Will Dalton, he is the executive producer of this show. From a baseball standpoint, morale remains high in this studio and for my Baltimore Orioles. But in your control room over there, the vibes, it's tangible. It's dark. Bleak. Not great for you and your New York Yankees. I thought Saturday night was going to be an epic moment when Ben Rice saved the season. Three home runs in the leadoff spot.

Only rookie to ever do it for the Yankees. You didn't get a sense that things weren't great when two strikes, two outs in the ninth up two, you allow a home run to a seven hitter? Not great. That wasn't great, losing an extra innings to the Red Sox then?

And then yesterday, lost again. Uh-huh. You know what?

I'm not sure what to do. Let's really get into this really quickly. Wasn't going to do this originally, but we'll do this before Matt Chazanel drops by in a few minutes. The Yankees collapse that we're seeing right now, it's become the biggest story in baseball. Perhaps the biggest story in American sports at the moment, considering where we're at on the sports calendar. The Yankees are 5-15 in their last 20 games. 5-15.

Let me put that in perspective. Going into this stretch of 5-15, let's go back. Three weeks ago, before this stretch began, the Yankees were up three and a half games on my Orioles in the AL East. They were 14 games ahead of the Boston Red Sox. They had the best record in baseball.

Three weeks ago. Today, the Yankees trail my Orioles by three games. They're only up four and a half games on the Red Sox.

Think about what I just said. The Red Sox have made up 10 games on the Yankees in three weeks. That just happened.

Now, how did this happen? It started with injuries in Yankee form, then it moved to the mound. So Anthony Rizzo went out.

That was the first sign of bad things to come. That was followed by Giancarlo Stanton missing at least a month. Then, oh well the good news is Garrett Cole's coming back.

That's good. Garrett Cole, oh watch out! Garrett Cole, he's returning. Garrett Cole, his return has been a disaster. His ERA is close to seven.

Carlos Rodon, former NC State Wolfpacker, has imploded. His ERA is around 4.5. Klay Holmes has been figured out as the Yankees closer, blowing saves left and right. Bad June for him. Jose Trevino, ever since that Red Sox Sunday night baseball game where they stole seven bases off of him, he can't hold any runners. Teams are just stealing left and right off Jose Trevino. Bad news all around.

And again, banged up. Which leads us to, is this about to be Aaron Boon's head here? You know, if this was George Steinbrenner back in the 70s, he's already fired.

I fired twice this year and then brought back in Billy Martin fashion. But we know he's on the hot seat. We know it.

Here's how much on the hot seat he is. When WD and I ran into Aaron Boon at the Duke Carolina game in Chapel Hill earlier this year, WD recognizing him and asking for a picture. I almost put out the picture on Twitter and said former Yankee manager Aaron Boon because I had just assumed that he had been fired. Yeah.

You kill off people prematurely and you fire people prematurely. Julian writes in. Oh, it was nine bases that they stole in that Sunday night game. Nine times. So the collapse, it's become the biggest story in baseball. Perhaps the biggest story in American sports right now. The Yankees collapsing the way that they have. And it's a little bit of a rerun of 2022 because if. And Nestor Cortez hasn't been good.

He hasn't because in 2022. He was great. He was. And they had a historic start to the season towards the All-Star break. Like a great pace. Like apparently they were on a track to be as good as the 2001 Mariners. And then they went 35 and 35.

Not good in the playoffs. And there you have it. The last five minutes for me, it's just been the sports talk equivalent of like Sunday with ice cream.

Yeah, we only do Yankee segments when they're not doing well. It was indulgent. I'm sorry. That's just not. That was very. Yeah. Very indulgent.

You know what you did. The new radio voice for NC State Athletics is Matt Chazenel. We'll meet him together. This is like a first date. Like a getting to know you sesh. Next on the drive and now on with the show. Back to the drive with Josh Grab. Let's view this segment as if it's a first date. We swiped right on Tinder with the new voice of the NC State Wolfpack, Matt Chazenel.

I see on the profile it says he's front. He's an ACC legend. Went to Syracuse, Washington State's play-by-play man, and now just hired to be the new voice of NC State Athletics. Matt, congratulations. Do I have it right? Once upon a time, you called Winston-Salem home.

Yeah, for 10 years. You sure do. I didn't realize we were going to be so intimate on, you know, it's just the first date. Get to know each other. I appreciate your style.

You just kind of get right to it. You know, it's great. Yeah, for 10 years. Just under 10 years.

Like I think, you know, a couple calendar months under 10 years. I lived in Winston till football season of 2015, and I left home to go to school and never came back home and lived in this beautiful state that I'm back in. And I'm so grateful to be here. I read your wife is also from the Triad. I read Jonesville is the town. I didn't recognize it, but then I looked it up and it's right outside Elkin, which we know very well. So how pumped is she?

She's the only person maybe happier on the planet than me is my wife, which is a wonderful thing to be able to say anytime. So she's really psyched. Yes, she's from Jonesville and she often prefaces that with she's basically from Elkin.

So you got it exactly right. Yeah, we have a lot of callers from Elkin. And, you know, every time Merle Fest rolls around, we're up the mountain watching bluegrass.

You know exactly what I'm talking about. Did you guys meet in Winston-Salem? We did. You know, I wish I could tell you that I had a good enough segue to say we met at Merle Fest, but we didn't. We met in Winston-Salem and then I stole her out west for the period of time we were out there in eastern Washington. And now we're back here, back home.

You and I have that in common. We both met our wives in Winston-Salem, us having been here now for six years. Matt Chazanal, new voice of NC State athletics with us here on WSJS. So while you were 2,500 miles or so away, looking at this opportunity, all right, maybe I'll be the voice of NC State, how instructive were your experiences in North Carolina and run-ins with state fans in terms of the appeal of this gig?

I mean, if you're in college athletics, you know NC State, you know, I don't care where they are in the country, 2,500 miles west or living in Winston-Salem for 10 years. I mean, that was really more directly, locally instructive. And I've known what the pack, I feel like I know the pack and no one in the pack knows me. So there's going to be a get to know you process for sure, which is really healthy and natural and part of what this is. That's part of what we're doing here right now, right? First date. Exactly, exactly. Exactly.

So I think with regard to the time I was out there, it was probably less instructive to answer your question specifically about the pack, more about how to do this, you know, how to do this as a professional. I kind of went out there as a kid, you know, in my own way. I was 30, which really isn't a kid, but I was a very young pup and very wide-eyed. And, you know, now I've left a grizzled veteran and here I am now back in Raleigh and just really excited, chomping at the bit to get the season started. We've known for a while that Gary Hahn would be stepping aside after his legendary tenure with the team. So was it before or after March Madness and what NC State did that the process really started to take hold? After.

It was all after. It was all after the Final Four, all one of those deals where I knew it was open, but there was nothing popping with it for good. I forget the exact timeline. He announced his retirement at some point.

Football season. Yeah, and then finished out basketball. So, yeah, it was all after one of those deals that happened. There's that cliche. It's like things happen really, really slowly.

And then all at once, I think is how it goes. So it was more like that. Are you going to be able to see old friends at Stanford, Cal, and considering the ACC additions? Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. That was what a handful of people who know me well and know how excited I am to be here in North Carolina. They're joking like, man, you can't get away from Berkeley, can you? You got a road game in league play in Berkeley, California. Sure you do.

Yeah. So when you're in the broadcast booth in Berkeley and you turn around, you look at the Golden Gate Bridge. It's a really cool view. And then if you look straight across, there's a hill called Strawberry Canyon.

It's called Tightwad Hill because you cannot pay to go watch a game there. So, yeah, there have been some fun moments. There are some odd moments. It can be a really weird place. They actually pride themselves on that.

So I'm not afraid to say it in public. In all sincerity, though, everybody talks about the stress that exists with revenue generation and realignment of schools jumping in different locations. But at the very human level of what you do, was there any stress associated with the realignment with the Pac-12 disintegrating the way it did that made jumping to a conference like the ACC more appealing? There's always more than one reason why anything happens, right? So I think it was more like another stick on a large pile of reasons that would cause this kind of fire to burn, if you'll run that analogy out with me.

I think that NC State in a vacuum, aside from all that stuff that I don't control. And it affects what I do. It affects what you do because it's part of the story.

But it doesn't change the job and what you're doing day to day, right? But there's some factors, larger factors at play, macro factors that you don't control that are instructive. To some degree, Washington State and Oregon State, which is in a very similar situation, are in a very awkward position. And in other ways, honestly, they're fine. And they're going to figure it out. And they're going to blaze their own path and blow with whatever business wins can fill their sales and they'll do their best. And so it's obviously something you're aware of and something you see.

But it was not like the motivating factor. NC State's just incredible. And I'm excited to be here.

Will Dalton, he's the single one that's on the show. Is this how most of the first dates now go? Like, I guess you strike me as the guy who's doing coffee date. Like, we're just going to meet for a little bit, but we're not going to be super committed to this?

Yeah. I mean, you always do coffee or drinks as opposed to dinner first, because then you can, after one, if it's not going well, it's nice to meet you. But I actually think this was a lot like my first dates because it went really well.

So there you have that. I'm trying to think. First place I took my wife in Winston-Salem. It was the day after we met because she told me after a Panther game, how about you just come over?

We can meet and get to know each other a little bit. And it worked out great. And then the next night we went to a burger bar. I forget the name of the burger bar in Winston-Salem that we went to.

But you've been to it with me before. I don't know. Where did you and your wife have your first date? What was the second? Well, it's a two-part answer.

If we're really trying to get to know me. I ran Salem Lake with her. She's a big runner. And so we did the whole deal. And it's probably the furthest I've run since.

And I was highly motivated. And then the first actual date was, is Meridian still around? Yes. That's where me and my wife went for Valentine's Day in February. There you go. Well, I hope it was a wonderful Valentine's Day.

It was a great first date for me. No, no, no. You know what? You know what? We, prior to that, went to Mary's, of course, for brunch.

Mary's. And yeah. And I was right down the street from my office at the time. In fairness, though, in fairness to our first date here, those were not at 3.20 in the afternoon on a Monday.

That matters. That's part of that story there, too. We'll see if there's a second date. Chin Chin Burger Bar was the name of the place. Still very good. Oh, yeah.

Matt Chazen out. The next time you're back in your old stomping grounds, we'd love to have a second or a third date in person so we can meet you face to face. If not, we'll see you at games all throughout the year. Congratulations on this opportunity.

And we look forward to getting to know you over what we hope to be a very long career with NC State. I love that. I love all that.

Thank you very much for that. Those kind words. And I'd love to do it in person. And it's a pleasure to meet you. And dare I say, a pleasure to date you.

You know, this is my if WD is cool with that, I'm cool with that. He's my radio wife. I will allow it. Modern relationships, Matt.

Modern relationships. Very open. Fine. All right. Matt Chazen out.

We'll see you later. Thanks, guys. Here he goes.

New voice of NC State. I didn't ask him about Costco dates. No. Oh, yeah. That's right. That you still haven't done that. Yeah. Gosh, it's been over two years.

We've made you watch 100 movies and you still have it taken. It's kind of a running bid at this point. The fact that like, hey, Costco.

Well, the running joke has now become. You don't want to do it because you're scared I'm going to be right. That you're going to meet your wife there. I told you that it's going to happen. And the person that you take on the Costco dates eventually going to be your wife.

And we're all going to have the greatest story ever told in the history of Triad Media. That's that's what I'm expecting. Expectations are high.

I'm not afraid of that. So when you come into the office today and say, oh, yeah, I met this person. It was really exciting. Like, where was the Costco date? Well, we went had drinks. I know. Evening date. I'm not going to go to Costco at night. I know. Then I'm going to hear about another time in two weeks because it's not going to work out.

And like just first date Costco. That's what I one of these times got to make it happen. I don't know what I have to do to make it happen. Well, we'll figure it out. Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast.

If you aren't already, search The Drive with Josh Graham, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Anchor, the YouTube channel. I say that's a good enough first date that we you could catch more from Matt Chazanow later on tonight on the YouTube channel. Yeah.

Watch their first date. Yeah. Check it out. That can happen over the years sometimes.

I did an on-air audition here prior to getting the job six years ago. Did you? Yeah.

With no no time to prep. No. Hey, how about you just go in the air for two hours? Okay. My parents listened. They're like, hey, they called me afterwards. How did it go?

You could listen. How did you think it went? Yeah. You think it was pretty good? If you did, then it probably went well enough. It worked out. And we're in this position. Scott writes him.

Why didn't you get movie recommendations from Matt? That seems like a second date type of question. Yeah. We'll get there. We'll address that. Yeah.

That seems like a second date type of. Yeah. Because WD already knows his movie that he has to watch tonight because he probably didn't watch it over the weekend. Primal Fear. Primal Fear.

That's right. He's going to watch that. We have tickets to go see Styx and Foreigner together that we'll give away when we answer unusual questions with Darren Vaught at 5 30. That shows in Charlotte on July 21st.

So a lot to do on today's show, but moving it along. There's the dream team and the redeem team. This upcoming 2024 Olympic team doesn't have a nickname yet, but looks like a team that will deserve one. And that's next on the drive, we need to come up with the new nickname for USA basketball. The great teams get nicknames or the ones that are terrible.

The 2004 team, the World Cup team from a couple of years ago, you have the dream team, you have the redeem team. 2024, they're going to win the gold medal. And this seems like it's going to be an all time US Olympic team.

For one, the urgency is there. And when the United States is focused, it can get ugly. Let's not forget, they did win four years ago and they won in 2016. And when you look at some of these rosters, you wonder, wait a minute, that guy was on the US Olympic team? Go and look at the 2016 US Olympic team and list off some of the players. I think Jeremy Grant was on the 2016 US Olympic team, if memory serves.

Don't want to denigrate an ACC legend like Jeremy Grant, but will for the context of this US basketball. But this team, the urgency is going to be there after the third place finish in the 2022 World Cup. Worst outing in international play since 2004.

This Olympics, it coincides. Kevin Harlan kind of hit at the heart of this last week. It coincides at a time where a lot of people have been knocking USA basketball and questioning the United States' place internationally with basketball. Look at Luka and Giannis and Jokic and sometimes you got to give people a reminder of who the top dog still is. And when you look at the roster that we got for this team, it's a Mac Daddy roster compared to say 2016.

I mean, it's not a terrible roster. I mean, Kevin Durant was on this team. Durant, Carmelo. Carmelo was, Jimmy Butler, Paul George. I don't want to know who the best players were. I want to know some of the stragglers that made it on the team that on this year's team, who are the stragglers?

The stragglers, it's Drew Holiday as a straggler this year. That guy, come on. Harrison Barnes. Harrison Barnes was on an Olympic team.

That's correct. Wow. Kyle Lowry. DeAndre Jordan. How come every time I hear Kyle Lowry's name, I think bad boys?

I have no idea. My name's Kyle Lowry. Draymond Green. I don't care anymore. Yep.

I think you made your point with Harrison Barnes. With, what was the nickname that he had in Chapel Hill that never caught on? It was something Falcon. Was it Black Falcon? Oh, I don't know. Carolina fans could correct me on this.

336-777-1600. Harrison Barnes. Wasn't he called Black Falcon? I think that's what I remember.

It was something Falcon. But looking at this US roster, this is Steph Curry's only Olympic team. Steph Curry never played for the United States in the Olympics. He played in a World Cup in 2014, but not.

He skipped 2016, skipped 2021. So he's on this team, and he will join the two other greatest players of this generation on a team. This is the only time, as far as I know, that LeBron, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry all played together. So seeing that, well, I'm sure it happened at an All-Star game. But that's not competitive. No. So LeBron, Katie, and Steph are all going to be on the same team.

Then you've got young guns like Anthony Edwards and Jason Tatum. Training's underway. The first exhibition will be Wednesday. The first Olympic game, less than three weeks. Less than three weeks, Sunday, July 28th against Serbia. That will be the United States-Paris debut.

They have some games in London in less than a couple of weeks. Here was LeBron James on this Olympic squad. I mean, I've played on a lot of great, talented teams in the USA. Right now, we'll see. Yes, a lot of talent on this team. A lot, a lot of talent on this team. But talent only gets you so far.

It's how well can we mesh and come together and have that camaraderie both on the floor and off the floor, which will give us the ability to win gold. We can agree that it needs to rhyme with redeem and dream, right? If you're going to keep going that path?

Yeah, I mean, unless you want to come up with something original or something new. No, I don't. Do you? The cream team? Because they cream everybody?

I don't know if we want to call them the cream team. No, you don't want to do that? I don't know if we want to do that. No.

Let's go to the sidelines. Tony Haynes. Black Falcon is Harrison Barnes' former nickname in Chapel Hill. But no one ever called him that. No one ever called him Black Falcon. No one's like, hey, Black Falcon!

Not a thing. That sounds like something Harrison Barnes came up with. I'm the number one player in high school.

Number one player in the country. I need a nickname that people can call me. Call me Black Falcon.

Yes, sure, we'll do that. Just come to Chapel Hill, and then he shows up. I'm Black Falcon. No, you're not. No one's going to call you that. Nope. Fetch is never going to happen, Harrison Barnes. It's just not. So if you have a redeem team, dream team type of nicknames for this 2024 team, all ears for it.

336-777-1600. We got best bets to do in just a little bit. Let's actually get to some baseball now. We're a week away from the home run derby. This is the final week of the first half. Air quote, first half of the baseball season. And we already know half the field for the derby. It was pretty cool how we learned that Gunnar Henderson was going to be in from the Orioles.

He was miked up during Sunday night baseball at shortstop. And they're like, hey man, you're up there in home runs. Adly Rutchman, he did it last year. Have you ever considered being in the home run derby?

Oh, it's funny you should say that. I just agreed to that today. So yeah, I'm going to be in the home run derby.

Pretty cool. The two best young shortstops in baseball right now. Kansas City's Bobby Witt Jr. and Gunnar Henderson are in the field.

Pete Alonso is going to be going for his third title. And Philadelphia third baseman Alex Boehm is going to be in there as well. That dude's good. Philly has a lot of great players. So it's easy to get overshadowed. Boehm kind of has been. This is great for him. Like out of those four guys, if I had to pick one to win the home run derby right now, I'm taking Boehm.

That might be my pick to do so. Because that guy can hit it hard and hit it a long way. And baseball, such a great place they're in right now with potential entries. Did you see how many first time all-stars there were this year? I did not.

32. Jeez. That's baseball. A lot of turnover and new blood and really good players across the sport. Maybe Adly Rutchman gets back in there. Remember last year, he hit from both sides of the plate during the home run derby.

Something we had never seen before. I doubt Aaron Judge will get in there. Juan Soto. It'd be cool if one of those two did it though. Who was the other Yankee all-star? Oh, Klay Holmes. Yeah. So Judge, Soto, and Klay Holmes.

That was a commissioner's office choice by the way. What, Holmes? Mhm. Oh, I see.

Mhm. Not upset about that at all though. You're mad. I'm not mad.

You're mad. The rules, they're going to be different this year for the home run derby too. So, there's been this theory that the home run derby, those who participate in it, enhance their risk of being hurt for swinging it so many times, maybe hurting themselves, swinging their arms out. To prevent that, it's no longer, they have the three-minute clock, but they're limiting you to 40 swings.

So, whatever comes first, three minutes or 40 swings, and then the final round is two minutes or 27 swings. That's how they're going to do it. And if you get bonus, a bonus period, then they're going to bring outs back. Like you have this many outs for the bonus period. That's how they're doing the home run derby.

Which, sounds fine to me. One week from tonight. Redeemed team. What are we going to call this team after what we saw in the U.S. Championships a couple years ago where they finished third? Shout out to Smitty in the comments here that says, extreme team. That has me thinking as Darren Vaught joins us, he's got USA Baseball up to his ears this summer. You also should listen to the ACC Baseball etc podcast where you had J.D.

Drew on recently, which is entertaining. When I hear extreme team, all I think about is the gas station kayaking scene from Harold and Kumar. Extreme!

Oh, and a listener called in and said, this is probably the right answer. Supreme team. That's what they are. Supreme team. Supreme sounds right. The snapshot of this team is that it's a bunch of hall of famers. It's the three greatest players of this generation. Steph, LeBron, and KD playing together on a team for the first time.

Supreme seems right. I started to mention Joel Embiid. I'm still a little bit lost on to how he is on this team. Whatever. I come from baseball where in the World Baseball Classic, do you remember the first one where it was super controversial who A-Rod was going to play for? And he ended up choosing between the Dominican Republic and Team USA. And it's just because the requirements were so lenient that, I mean, if you've got a singular tie with a country, you can play for that country.

I mean, Joel Embiid was born in Cameroon, didn't move to the States until he was 16 years old, yet he's on this USA team. I'm not, whatever. I don't care because it's going to be fun.

It is a little confusing though. Let's do some rapid fire baseball questions. So don't, this is me saying to Darren Vaught, don't tell five-minute stories here. I went to my first AAA game in a long time over the weekend, and they've been experimenting with challenging balls and strikes with the virtual strike zone. I've been against virtual strike zone in the sense of getting rid of the home plate umpire, calling balls and strikes altogether.

Eric Burns had been pushing for that. He shouldn't have even called balls and strike. They get it right 94% of the time, so I'm in favor of having the home plate umpire still call it. But challenging it like tennis, where they then play the Wii sports music on the scoreboard at the DBAP when they challenge a pitch and they have the graphic pop up.

ABS rocks. Like a coach challenges or a manager challenges, whether it was a ball or a strike, and they pull up the virtual strike zone with where the pitch hit or missed on the video board. You get to interact with the challenge. It's awesome. That's it. It's just like tennis where you get to see it, and I'm in favor of this.

It sounds like you are as well. In terms of the actual fundamentals of it, though, you can't do it. It has to be initiated by a pitcher, catcher, or by a batter. It can't be helped by the dugout at all.

If the umpire felt that it was triggered by the dugout in any type of way, it'll be disallowed the challenge. You get three of them. If you're right, you keep your challenge.

If you're wrong, you don't. It seems perfect to me. Yeah, it's awesome. And it's pacey.

It keeps things moving. It doesn't show up an umpire, which I know has been concerned with other systems. Umpires are worried that they're going to get shown up. I think it's the opposite, like the game I went to, three challenges happened and the ump was right on all three of them. Yeah. No, and I think I haven't seen recent numbers, but if I'm not mistaken, their first full season of trying it out, it proved the umpire correct more often than it didn't. Getting to the next rapid fire question, what is wrong with the Yankees?

What is the root of 5 and 15 over the last 20? I it's just it's a roster issue. They're not deep. They like Aaron Judge is nice. Jean Carlos Stanton is sometimes nice. So if you lose Rizzo and Stanton for any stretch of time, you just look at this lineup and you're like, get past the first three and who are you worried about? Yeah, I've long felt that it's a it's a farm system that has not built up. People, people from the early 2000s, Yankees teams or the late 90s, 2000s, they want to just say that those those teams went out and bought players when that wasn't the case at all. Like Jeter was homegrown. Mariano Rivera was homegrown.

Guys like Paul O'Neill were homegrown. It was the mix and and the greater portion of the mix or farm system guys who who the Yankees developed, they just don't have that in the cupboard right now. It's been a long time since the Yankees had a what would be considered to be against the average, a good farm system.

Guys like Anthony Volpe has recently come up and that's that's cool and all. But they just they just lack depth. Darren Vaught, did the Orioles get screwed in the All-Star selection? They got three. They got three. They got three. Santander should be an All-Star.

Over a guy who hasn't played in a month and a week. Yeah, I think I agree with that. I'll give you that one.

I'll give you that one. I do think if we're going to single out teams, I think the Mets got snubbed even worse. Brandon Nemo should be an All-Star. Francisco Lindor is maybe the best shortstop in baseball this season. Clay Holmes should not be the closer.

Craig Kimbrel, our guy, should be either him or Jansen. Sure. Sure. I just. It's fine.

It's fine. They got the there are going to be players who are left out that are good and deserving. Phillies got seven. We got three.

We have one less win. The Royals got four. They got four. We got three. The Royals.

The Padres got five. Yeah. You want to answer some unusual questions? Yeah, sure. Let's do that. 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.

If you want to go see Sticks and Foreigner two weeks from now in Charlotte, give us a call, ask us a question. It can be sports related, but usually it's more fun when it's not. Tell us what's on your mind. Ask us what's on your mind.

336-777-1600. We have three pairs of those tickets. Yes, we do. Huh? That's a good show.

It does. I mean, together. Are you kidding? Bangers. Sounds great. So since WD's fielding calls, I'll ask this question of you to start us out. What's your policy?

This sounds like a Curb Your Enthusiasm bit, but it's something I thought about yesterday while eating in downtown Winston-Salem. What's your policy? You're with a large group of people, six, seven people at a table, on waiting to order food and or eating food upon it arriving at the table. I think this largely depends on the group.

If people like my mother and my father are in the group or like aunts and uncles are in the group, certainly none of my grandparents are with us, but certainly like if a grandparent is in the group, you got to wait for them. If this was like us and three or four more of media nerds. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

I don't care. Nor should you order eat whenever it comes. Because I felt bad. There was like a guy who showed up 15 minutes later and we had already ordered. And then food, some guy's food arrived a lot earlier than others because he didn't get, we were at a pizza place and he got wings and the wings came out earlier.

And so I was like, you know what? You could just eat, man, your food. I don't want your food to get cold. Just a lot of your food. That's what I'm saying. A lot of variables. A lot of variables, right? Like there's nuance to, okay, the guy who's 15 minutes late, is that on him then?

Yeah. I'm not waiting to eat because he's a chump. And his reaction was such that I, he made it seem like I should have waited was the way I kind of felt.

And I don't think I should have, which is why I didn't. I'm with you. Don't wait.

We don't wait. Well, Dalton, I have an answer to this question. Okay.

So I agree with what Darren said. I think if it's like, if it was us, like just eat it. Family though. Family. That's where you draw the line. Well, I was thinking like on a date. Yeah.

Her, if my food comes before hers, I'm not eating it. That's yeah. I'm going to wait. A hundred percent. Yeah. The context of the group. The large, large group is what we're talking about. We're not saying like on a date with you or with your one other guy, like I can wait for your food to get here, man. There's two, three of us here. I'm talking more than four.

Yeah. You pro it just depends on how that group is. Like if it's an uppity type of group or like a very proper type of group. It's an uppity type of group.

We're not hanging with them. Let's go to a Jennifer who's in Winston. Jennifer, what's your unusual question? Why do they call it Turkey Ham? If there is no pork in it. Excellent.

Thank you, Jennifer. Turkey Ham? You don't know what Turkey Ham is? Is it like Turkey bacon except bacon with ham?

That's exactly that. I mean, it doesn't surprise me that that's a thing, but that, um, yeah, it's, you know, it's, I'm trying to think of, um, what's the Canadian, is it Canadian Turkey? That's different. Canadian bacon is ham.

Yeah, it is. So I think there's the honest answer. I think Jennifer is, I think there's criminally loose definitions of what makes bacon, turkey, or other deli type products.

What you can label things as, I think it's criminally loose, how you can define these things, like people that say barbecue and it's burgers and hot dogs, and you can get very confused that way. I think, you know, it's an election year. What, how did Jake Tapper not bring this up at the debate a couple of weeks ago? Like I'd vote on this issue.

I would, what's your take? I think in all seriousness, it is an FDA issue. Like they call mystery meat, what is essentially mystery meat, all kinds of things. Let's get to the bottom of this.

How far can beyond products go in labeling things certain ways? That's what I want to know. Darren, what's your unusual question? Which former president would win a home run derby? Yeah, that'd be great. See, if, if they were talking about their home run swings rather than the golf swings, it'd be great. It's like, I just wish, cause like last, last home run derby, I hit 12.

Part of me wishes we could just get them, you know, in a vacuum, in their athletic primes. Actually, give them a bat. Home run derby, you know, let's be a little bit more realistic. What if it was first pitches? Like, did George Bush just run away with it altogether because of 2001 World Series?

It's a non-starter. And he's like an owner of a team. Like he owned a team, like you better be able to throw a better pitch than, you know, any of the two guys running right now. Home run derby, Josh. Home run derby.

I need you to focus. Is it Taft? Is it big boy Taft? Teddy. Teddy Roosevelt.

Teddy Roosevelt. Ford was an incredible athlete. Teddy was a sportsman too because, yeah, Ford's probably the answer. Ford was a great athlete. He was a great athlete. Yeah, Ford's probably the answer. Yeah, Ford's probably the answer, but Teddy was a sportsman with hunting and was also like a huge football fan in the early iterations of it.

Had a kid play football, almost get killed playing football. So those would be the first two that come to mind for me. W.D., I'm not going to ask you about history. Instead, I'm going to ask you to give me an unusual question. So the other night when I got home from the NSMA, do you want to field this call first before we get to that?

I've got something while he does that to add on to the presidential. That was a question at Collegiate National Teams Media Day. So Team USA, the guys got into town and we recorded some videos and asked them that question. I'm not going to say who it was, but there was a member of Team USA who when asked which president would win a home run derby said, I don't really know many presidents. My wife also just texted me, Ronald Reagan played football. No, he didn't. He played a Notre Dame football player in a movie where he said win-win for the Gipper. He was a sportscaster and then an actor. He might have played high school football, but Ronald Reagan did not play college football, babe. Sorry. So the other night I got home after the NSMA. It's going to start a fight later.

Ronald Reagan did! No, anyway, what were you saying? So the following morning I noticed that one AirPod of mine was missing. Oh, at the NSMA? Well, at some point, I think after the NSMA, I had lost it.

Not sure how. I eventually found it actually yesterday, like a week after the fact. But so like, what's something random that you've lost for like a period of time and then just randomly out of nowhere, it's like, oh, there it is. It just turns up.

I'm not going to. Yeah. Oh, so it has to randomly turn up. You don't have to like go into a trash can to try and find your flipper that has your retainer in it and trash at a McDonald's parking lot on Thanksgiving Day.

It could be whatever you like. Well, that would be my answer then, having to dig through trash on Thanksgiving Day, because after McCain's game, I went to McDonald's and accidentally threw it away in the trash can like a retainer that had a tooth in it. Oh, not great. No. I can't really recall anything turning up after me thinking it was totally lost.

Sorry, Will. I don't think I have a good answer to this. I think it fell out of my ear when I was, I thought I think I passed it. When I was, I think I passed out that night and fell asleep and I must've fell out of my ear at some point in the night because I was under the bed. The headphone fell out of your ear.

What was it doing in there? I have a lot of questions. I have a lot of questions.

You live alone. Sure. Yeah. Why on earth do you have AirPods in while you're in bed when you live alone? I don't know. You know, that's a very good question. I don't know.

Maybe I did it out of habit because like when I listen to stuff here in the studio, I'll put a headphone in. I don't know. I don't know why I did what I did that night. More important question. What were you listening to? You know what? I think I was listening to a podcast of some kind. You know what? I might've been listening to the rewatchables. Oh, that's a great movie podcast. I'm also wrong by the way, according to Mike.

Darren's got something out. That my wife said that he played, apparently he played at Eureka College. Illinois.

Eureka, Illinois. He didn't play much, but he was on the team for three years. So I was wrong. Sorry, babe. You were right.

I'm wrong. I'm the worst. Can I just follow up?

Sure. Well, whether it's a podcast or music, as you're trying to fall asleep, I don't see the point in either. See, I do listen to podcasts while I'm like winding down and get in bed. I do do that.

I think that's what I was doing. Falling asleep to it because you want to hear it. I say this, WD, because I do have an AirPod. I understand the phenomenon of what you're describing, but I have a live human being that I'm getting into bed with.

My wife that I do not want to disrupt. So that's why I have the AirPod in my ear, right? Yeah. That would make sense.

I think I just started to listen to it and I was very tired and just passed out with it in my ear. And at some point in the night, it fell out. I'm going to close on this. Please.

A pointer. If you don't want to be so tired that you unknowingly fall asleep anymore, Will, music as you fall asleep in your ears is going to mess with your circadian rhythm. Podcasts are meant to be heard every word. So just like ditch the listening and just go to sleep. Just go to sleep.

There are not USA baseball keeps you busy and ACC baseball, et cetera. We will people should be listening to your JD Drew conversation because it's great. JD was awesome. Yeah. That was, that was incredible.

A lot of fun. ACC legend. I started to tell Will to hit the Nickelback, but he's too good. Too good.

He is too good. What was the player we were arguing? Oh, we were quoting. Hideki Matsui.

Yeah, we're quoting 40 year old Virgin. And there's the scene where Paul Rudd gets found out. She thought that he was cheating on him or cheating on her and catches him doing a major league baseball draft. He's wearing an Oriole hat and he got draft. He's like, I got Matsui. Hey honey, I got Matsui and, uh, and I thought Matsui was a Nickelback, but he claims Matsui is too good. I think he is right there. Did he make an all star game ever Matsui?

Probably he was, although see, he's, you get to incorporate his, um, buying you to get the Nickelback drought by the way. Or maybe we don't incorporate his Japanese professional career. He was a two time all star and he was a nine time all star in Japan. So a two time all star and a world series champ. That's probably too good. And he was the world series MVP.

And he was a two time all star. I think that's too good. I think he's right.

And mentioned by Paul Rudd in an MLB draft in 40 year old Virgin. This is knocked up. This is knocked up. Nevermind. The drop. Yeah.

Where's the drop? I'll give you that one. That's not a Nickelback.

This doesn't doesn't apply. That's a accounting crow. I got to find the Nickelback. Oh, that's right. I forgot we did.

For the nineties. Yeah. All right, Darren. I got to go talk to you later. See ya.