This is The Drive with Josh Graham Podcast.
We're internet sensations, guys! Tune into The Drive weekday afternoons 3 to 7 on WSJS. You are on a Thursday drive. It is WSJS, new stonk sports for the Triad. And how about this for a football doubleheader tonight? My East Carolina Pirates looking for three wins in a row at the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. The Pirates seeking bowl eligibility as well.
And on WSJS, it's the Washington Commanders at the Philadelphia Eagles. But the football can wait because we must first talk about what happened in Winston-Salem last night. Despite the 4-0 start, despite the fact Wake Forest found a way to win at Joel Coliseum, it is fair to be concerned about this Demon Deacon basketball team.
The red flags are there. There is enough there to be concerned about given the expectations for this team. Being a top 25 team.
That's what the expectation is at some point during this season. Being a team that gets back in the NCAA tournament. Wake hasn't been, even in the first four since 2017, hasn't played in the round of 64 in what's about to be 15 years. This is the best team it's supposed to be. The best Wake Forest team we've seen in 15 years and they haven't looked the part so far. They nearly lost to USC Upstate last night. Wake allowed USC Upstate to score 80 points in this game. This is the same Upstate team that NC State beat by 31 last week. Which would be okay if they hadn't looked mediocre in their other games too. If this was a one-off, okay, trap game, emotional win in Greensboro against Michigan.
This is sandwiched in between a road game at Xavier. That would be understandable if not for Wake looking unimpressive in bye games against NCA&T and Coppin State. How many times does a team have to look average and mediocre before you start believing that's what they are?
This isn't me saying I'm at that point yet. But it is me saying four games is starting to become a sample. We're starting to put the file together, if you will, on what you are, what these teams are. And you might say, well Josh, give Wake a break, they beat Michigan on Sunday. Let's not forget that Michigan was picked to finish 9th in the Big Ten this year. There's a reason Dusty May is the head coach there. They have a new coach. And it's not because the guy who preceded him did an awesome job.
There are real concerns. And the biggest surprise has been how stagnant at points the offense has looked. The ball movement. It hasn't looked fluid at all. It hasn't looked smooth in any sense. There appears to be some problems there. Surprisingly, it looks like Wake Forest misses Boopy Miller.
Boopy! Cam Hildreth, who seems to have his role changed the most from Boopy not being around anymore, initiating the offense more than he did a year ago. Right now that looks like a downgrade. Looks like a downgrade in terms of who's initiating the offense. This team could use a true point guard.
They don't have one right now. Hunter Salas can carry the ball up. Cam Hildreth can do so. You might ask Parker Fredrickson to do that a little bit. And speaking of Parker Fredrickson, can he hit a shot? The three-point shooting.
Goodness. It's still at no point has it looked good so far this year. And that's supposed to be a strength for this team. Thank goodness for Davin Cosby coming off the bench.
He's the one that saved the day. Since Parker Fredrickson wasn't hitting shots, you have Cosby come in, the Alabama transfer, and hit five threes last night. Wake hit their last nine shots. They figured it out late in the game to survive being upset. But that should not be what we're looking at when Wake is facing a team as a 31-point favorite.
So what's next? Wake has that true road game. Their first true road game of the year. And we're talking about all these concerns Wake Forest is having.
And they haven't left the triad yet. Three home games, three bye games, and then Michigan and Greensboro. Now you're going to a 3-0, Sean Miller-led Xavier team, the Skip Prosser classic. And let's not forget, playing away, playing true road games was the Achilles' heel for last year's Wake team. The reason why Wake didn't make the tournament was because Wake Forest was 2-9 on the road. And also they had that unfortunate loss at home late in the season. That was against Georgia Tech, if memory serves. This doesn't even – and all those games that they blew in the second half on the road last year.
And here was Steve Forbes stating the obvious after the game, looking ahead to Xavier, saying that it needs to look better. But I told him the same thing after we played A&T. I said, if we play like that against Michigan, it's not going to be good. And we did it. You know, but it's consistency, consistency in effort and in just playing the game to our standard, and we didn't do that tonight.
So let's hope they do. Saturday, Xavier, Xavier's 3-0, Wake Forest 4-0. But the details certainly matter, and none of that even accounts for the fact that Wake's banged up.
Omaha Blue going to be out for the next two months. You're going to be without a guy that you really hoped to have in the lineup trying to replace the guy, the one player that you didn't want to lose from last year's team. Andrew Carr, who we saw carving up Duke the other night in Atlanta.
It is fair, more than fair, to be concerned about this Wake team through four games. OnX at WSJS Radio if you want in. That's where we're streaming video in addition to YouTube and Twitch. Will Dalton, he's the executive producer of this show. W.D., remind the people what movie you're going to be reviewing today. Tommy Boy. You hadn't seen that before.
It's staggering. Send us movie suggestions for Will that we can put up on the poll today for him to watch next week. You can comment at WSJS Radio, at Josh Graham Show on X, or on our YouTube comments where we're streaming video right now. Send us some movie suggestions and we'll pick some out later this hour to throw up on our social media poll. Getting to the football tonight. We're calling this separation week in the NFL.
That's what it is. And there are three games that stand out and one of those games is tonight's the Washington commanders at the Philadelphia Eagles. There are massive stakes attached to this game. Both teams have seven wins atop the NFC East currently. Philly is at home after drubbing Dallas, embarrassing Dallas in their stadium.
Washington, they were at home lost by a point to Pittsburgh on Sunday. This is a significant game and it could be the best Thursday night game that we have all year. Washington at Philadelphia, the winner of this game very well could be the winner of the NFC East. Sunday at 1 o'clock, Raven Steelers is going to be a war. Last decade in the NFL, the 2010s we'll call it, the best rivalry in pro football was Raven Steelers. That was the best rivalry. In the 2000s, it was the Patriots against the Colts, Brady versus Manning.
The 2010s, John Harbaugh, Mike Tomlin there for the duration of the decade. Both those teams were really good and played classic games in the division. Like tonight's game, both Baltimore and Pittsburgh have seven wins apiece atop the AFC North. Baltimore favored by three points in the Steel City. So you got the better quarterback, you're favored.
The Steelers, home underdogs. And then you get to Steelers, Ravens, the best pro football rivalry of the 2010s. And then Sunday at 4 o'clock, perhaps the best rivalry of this decade, the Kansas City Chiefs at the Buffalo Bills. The two best quarterbacks in the sport right now, Josh Allen, Pat Mahomes. The playoff history, we know about what Patrick Mahomes did in 13 seconds.
And then the overtime that led to a rule change in the league. Last year, the Bills had Kansas City on the ropes, couldn't beat them. And Patrick Mahomes' only road playoff game that he's played in won that game. If Kansas City wins, you're looking at an 8-2 Bills team and 9-0 Chiefs team. If Kansas City wins, they run away with home field advantage. This is the last shot of somebody catching Kansas City in the AFC from Kansas City not being a bye team. It essentially means that Kansas City is going to be in the AFC championship game at least if they win this game on Sunday. That is what we're looking at there. Who does Kansas City play after Sunday's game?
Glad you asked. The Carolina Panthers in Charlotte next week. Panthers coming off the bye, though. Coming in hot. If you're the Panthers, you are rooting for Kansas City Sunday. You are rooting for them.
You don't want a crispy Kansas City team coming into Charlotte. Do we think Taylor Swift is going to show up for that? Sunday? Yeah. Are you talking about the Panthers game?
Probably not. Because they are... Because David Tepper can never get Taylor Swift to show up to Bank of America Stadium. And it looks like that she's going to be at Sunday's game. Apparently, she has a concert Saturday in Toronto. And it just works out, Toronto right there with Buffalo, that she'll be at the game in Buffalo. And if she's at the game in Buffalo, is she going to be in Charlotte, too?
I don't know. Maybe she has Nashville people she could see on the way, maybe. Do you think she's driving?
No, but it's close enough. Taylor Swift's just hitchhiking. That's what she's doing. That's how she gets from show to show, didn't you know?
I did not. Oh yeah, I've got to make it to Charlotte, see some more friends on my way to Nashville, which I don't even know if your geography is all that great, either. A lot for us to do today. Darren Bott's going to help us answer unusual questions, as we mentioned.
W.D., he's going to review the 95 classic. Tommy Boy, getting some questions. James writes in, have you seen The Princess Bride? Well? Well? That's what I thought. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World from Jay Davis.
That's a Michael Cera movie, have you seen that? Well. Okay, there we go. We'll get to that later. We have five college football games on the card this week, including the local game tonight, and an ACC game, and the game of the week in college football this weekend, and all that. We'll run them down. Run down the card on the picks. Next.
This is it. You ready? All right, hold on. All right, do it, do it.
All right, listen up. This is The Drive with Josh Graham. Last week's bets went two and three. Maybe the worst beat we've had this year was in Winston-Salem. Friday night, we were on the dekes against Cal. Cal could have just ran out the clock. They decided, you know, we're going to run some ball plays, and we're going to score a touchdown to run the cover play, if you will. Thus, Wake Forest plus the touchdown and change didn't get home. So it's a losing week, which means for the season, we're a game under, 40 and 41, but we're not deterred.
We are confident. We loved the card this week. I had to turn some away.
I almost had eight or nine games on this card, Will. You should know that. Navy and Tulane really liked that over, decided to stay away from it. What else do we have here? Things that we didn't touch. Virginia wanted to take them plus the points at Notre Dame.
Showed some restraint there. But there are five that I love, including a game tonight. We get to that now in Best Bets. I'm not a betting duck.
Care to make it interesting? You know you do. You're on. Call me in on this. Your best bet. But my money from the other team.
This is Josh's Best Bets. OK, well, Dalton, Thursday night unders have been kind to us. Worked out a few times with App State, including last week, App State, Coastal Carolina.
So I think we're going to do that again. East Carolina, Tulsa under 63 points. The Pirates have lit up the scoreboard the last few weeks. They've won their last two games. You know what those last two games have in common, though, Will? They were both played in Greenville, America. Tonight isn't.
Tonight's game's being played in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I've been there in the month of November. Maybe it was December. I've been there when it's cold.
It gets cold at night. It's not going to feel like Greenville, America for them. Not to say the Pirates won't win their two touchdown favorites. I just don't think Tulsa's going to do a lot of scoring, and I think the Pirates, they're going to be a little bit more conservative offensively with Kate and Houser.
I don't think he's going to be shooting it all over the field tonight. I think it's going to be well under 63. We like two games in the noon window Saturday. Let's start with Arkansas, Texas. This game's being played in Fayetteville, Texas, way overpriced. What is their best win? Go look at Texas' schedule, and what you'll probably find, W.D., without question, the best win that Texas has to this point, with the calendar having flipped to November, is Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt. That is the best win Texas has this year. Now, they have a lot of talent, don't get me wrong, but this is Arkansas' Super Bowl Saturday afternoon. This is a rivalry game that's been rekindled. Now that Texas is back in the league, these schools do not like each other. Arkansas, there's a lot of history there, going back to those big eight days way back in the day, and I can't quit Sam Pittman.
I can't quit quarterback Talon Green. Thirteen and a half points, way too much. Put the Longhorns on upset alert. Arkansas, plus the points. Give me that cash out, fam. This might be... Both the noon games are my favorite bets of the week, so I love that pick with Arkansas.
I also love this. Colorado, it's the one favorite I have. Colorado minus a big number against Utah. We're laying 11 and a half points with Colorado against the Utes. Utah poured everything it had into the rivalry game, at home, the holy war against unbeaten BYU.
Couldn't figure it out. Injuries all over the place for Utah. A freshman quarterback who's starting with Cam Rising being out for a while now.
I think they lay down. I think this being a noon game, a national window for Colorado as well. I think Coach Prime takes advantage of that national window playing at noon, and I think Colorado wins this game going away. Do you believe?
I do. Colorado minus the points. And there's one ACC play we have.
W.D., you're going to love the logic on this one. Syracuse, plus nine and a half at Cal. Give me that cash out. We're betting against Cal again.
Let's hope that doesn't burn us. Why? Their head coach is Fran Brown. Did you hear what Fran Brown had to say after Syracuse's most recent loss?
I did not. He said that after losses, he does not shower. He doesn't deserve the soap, is what he says.
Is that right? He gets so mad he doesn't shower the night of games that he loses. Now, this game's in Cal. So that sounds like, to me, this is a long, stinky flight home if Syracuse doesn't get the win.
For the sake of Syracuse's players, and the fact Cal's defense can give up a lot of points, a lot of yardage, and Kyle McCord is due one of these high-scoring games, I think it's going to be a really competitive game. For the sake of those players hopefully not being on a stinky flight because their coach didn't shower after the game, we're going Syracuse plus the nine and a half. Give me that cash out, fam. And lastly, the game of the week in college football, Georgia, Tennessee between the hedges.
Rocky Top, you'll always be home, sweet home to me. Yes, we're going Tennessee plus the points. Give me that cash out, fam. Don't love the fact that this is a night game in Athens. Don't love that. And I also don't love the fact that Nikko is questionable for this game, but that also explains why the number is where it's at.
You know what? They call it gambling for a reason, WD. I think if we knew for sure that Nikko was playing, this line would be probably like Georgia minus six and a half, Georgia minus seven. I think Nikko's going to go. I think if he wasn't playing the game, Georgia might be a two-touchdown favorite. So in terms of value, I feel like we're hitting this number. We're going to cover, and Tennessee might as well win the game if Nikko ends up playing. It's at ten and a half right now. So yes, Tennessee plus the ten and a half. And even if Nikko doesn't play, you can lean on James Pierce Jr. in that defense and hopefully figure out a way.
Send me that cash out, fam. So in review, we got low on ECU Tulsa tonight under 63. We got Arkansas, the Hogs, plus 13 in the hook against Texas. Colorado laying a big number against Utah. Syracuse plus nine and a half at an ACC showdown at Cal. Oh, but the long travel. Syracuse has to fly to Miami and been doing so for a long time. So they're not, we're the Florida State, they're not unaccustomed to long road trips at this point.
And we like Tennessee, plus double digits at the Dogs in Athens. There you go. Getting to some housekeeping notes. The Carolina Hurricanes, they did not win last night.
So don't want to make a big deal out of it. The Canes were tied. Marty Neches scored a goal. Marty Neches scored to tie things up going into the third period.
And then it was a rough third period for the Canes. I was going to turn on the game. I was watching Willow the dog and baby Daniel at the same time. And I was like, okay. First mention of baby Daniel on the show today, everybody. Yeah, that's actually really impressive.
It's 3.24. Trying to show some restraint. I see. And I saw that the game was 1-1 going into the third. I'm like, all right, well, let me finish up these things.
Getting, taking the dog out, making sure the baby's taken care of. And then I'll just throw it on the hockey game. But then by the time I threw on the game, it was five, ten minutes into the third period.
And it was 4-1. I don't want to watch this anymore. They kind of got romped. So not going to. You settle down over there, okay? Don't appreciate that type of language. Sorry.
Talking about my squad. I see. 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. We understand. Three hour show. Might not be able to catch the whole thing. Might not be able to catch Darren Vaught, who will join us to answer unusual questions later on. We have our Panthers mock draft for this week. We'll do later this hour. WD reviewing Tommy Boy.
Speaking of that, continue to send us in some movies here. Jay Davis writes in Twins. Have you seen Twins, WD? I have not. Do you know what Twins is?
Button's still working. I don't know what that is. That's Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito.
And the joke is that Danny DeVito is short, Arnold is huge, and they're twins. Oh, that's very clever. Right. I see. So that might be one worth considering.
Continue to shoot us some movie suggestions, and we'll pick out a suggestion that you guys make in addition to some other ones that we figure out in just a little bit to put on the poll for next week. The YouTube channel. Search The Drive with Josh Graham on iTunes or no, not the YouTube channel.
You can go to the YouTube channel, The Drive with Josh Graham. Ring that ring the bell notifications. I got distracted because you have Fox Sports on.
Yes. In our studio here, because you're watching Colin Cowherd rather than doing your job. And they have this. I'm bummed out, actually. I'm bummed out because I was hoping to look. They have soccer on right now.
I was hoping it'd be that Nick Wright show that's on while we're on. First things first. Yeah. Yeah. And I hate that show because I hate the graphics that they have that have those really punny topics. It's like, Chief's Kingdom or something.
My Mahoney. You know, things like that. And I hate it. It bothers me. So I can't listen to the show because I'm doing this.
I just see those graphics. And the reason I'm thinking about it, and I'm distracted by it right now, is because Sarah Bradford, while we're in... Get ready to cue the Titanic drop again. Just for this story. We're getting ready to have our baby. And she wants to be just to turn on something sports related. Like just something because, you know, it could calm her down. So she turns on the first sports show she finds and it's first things first. So while I aborted Mission from the show, because she texted me, be here right now, five minutes into the show, I thought I would be safe from the Fox Sports 1 first things first graphics. But no, my wife turned it on in the studio and I'm like, no. It was like Mahomes Mountain was the graphic that they had and a bunch of quarterbacks.
He took a picture of it and sent it to me and it made me really happy. It was my personal hell. I have a gun! You're on the drive with Josh Brail. WSJS. WD's movie this week. The 1995 comedy classic, Tommy Boy. Before we get to that, though, The Drive brought to you in part by our friends at Bossy Beulah's. As you know, they serve in the theater. They serve in the theater. They serve in the theater. They serve in the theater.
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Bossy Beulah's here in Winston-Salem right off of West First Street near the hospital in Ardmore. Now let's go to the movies with the WD. Unless you're talking about Star Wars. Obi-Wan has taught you well. Movies aren't exactly Will's thing. I don't get it.
You want cups of swine? But that's about to change because Josh can't stand it anymore. This is At the Movies with Will Dalton. What you liked, what you didn't like, best quote, which should take a minute, and Rotten Tomatoes score.
Those are the categories we'll get into. WD, what did you like about Tommy Boy? It wasn't just Chris Farley. It was the relationship between David Spade and Chris Farley.
Correct. Because they just had such a good comedic timing, which is very important. That's why they ran this movie back essentially doing the same thing with the political comedy Black Sheep.
Oh, is that right? Which did about as well as Tommy Boy, but I don't think, as time goes on, is remembered exactly the same way. You're right. It is a great comedic duo, David Spade and Tommy and Chris Farley. Yeah, like the scene where he's pitching the new brakes to the head of the company or them riding in the car. Or then when they get out and then David Spade starts beating the crap out.
It's just funny. Their timing was really good. Yeah, and my wife watched this movie for the first time a couple nights ago with me because I hadn't seen it in a while. And she was laughing more at David Spade's lines than laughing at the physical humor from Chris Farley.
So there's a lot of versatility, but I just have written down two words. Chris Farley. Yeah. David Spade will have his moment in the sun and other senses after this. I think most people will probably remember. What do you associate David Spade with? There was a... Grown-ups, maybe? A lot of kids love grown-ups, David Spade, as being a Sandler guy.
Yeah. There's a sitcom from the 2000s called Rules of Engagement that he was the main character in that I'm a big fan of. Those are probably my two things I think of him in.
Got it. I think he's probably going to be remembered the most for either this or Joe Dirt. That's probably what he'll be remembered most for.
That doesn't surprise me at all. But when it comes to Chris Farley, I think of this as somebody who now has a kid. Like, when baby Daniel gets to the age where you're showing him movies and introducing him to things. We lost Chris Farley really young, so what do you show them to best capture the essence of Chris Farley? You can fire up SNL clips.
A man down by the river! Right? You can do that.
You can find some stuff there. The Chippendales clip, sure. But I think this movie best captures all the elements. There's some great scenes of him acting. Him going for it, like on the boat with the love interest and after his dad died and some of the other things that he did in this movie. He's just so darn likable. It's the best of Chris Farley. What didn't you like about Tommy Boy?
It was so difficult to find something that I didn't like about this movie. I guess if I could nitpick something, is it really believable that they could just throw on flight attendant uniforms and they would buy it? Really? This is what we're doing? Well, I mean, it's like I said. I struggled to find something that I didn't really like about it, so I guess that could be a nitpick.
Are we really going to believe that they could just throw on flight attendant outfits and then the actual flight attendants are going to buy it? I don't know. Yeah. I mean, you can nitpick the whole darn thing. Yeah, it's a comedy.
How you get the camera crew up there after everybody, when he goes downstairs, probably recognizes that's the guy who's held up this place twice. Yeah. Probably not. To me, it's probably the dated references. There are things that I bet you if I throw at you, you have no idea what they are. The first joke of the movie was him taking the test and rather than writing John Hancock, he writes Herbie Hancock. Do you even know who Herbie Hancock is?
No. Then when he catches David Spade at the window and he goes back to his bed, he sees the pretty woman down there, right? He makes Little Rascals jokes. Have you seen the Little Rascals? Do you know who the kid is that has his hair stick up in Little Rascals?
Oh, that's Alfalfa. Okay. There you go.
But I don't think many people would get that right. Do you know who Bo Derek is? I don't know that one. Bo Derek was a huge deal in the 80s. That was the evil lady.
So that casting probably has lost its impact as well. Bo Derek there. What's the best quote? Blah! Blah! Remember when he sets the car on fire at the meeting and he's just going, Blah! That was like the one sale that you're like, oh, he's got this. You should be in and out.
This is one of our oldest clients. I got so many of these written down. I can get a good look at a T-bone. Finish it. Brothers don't shake hands.
Brothers got a hug. Fat guy in a little coat. Housekeeping! Oh, I love that scene. I love it. Hi, I'm Irv. Have we met?
No, I don't think we have. Oh, I can actually hear you getting fatter. I don't know why. It's the line readings of many of these that make me laugh. This isn't the most iconic quote, but when he backs David Spade's car and messes up the door when he's filling up the gas and then puts it back together good enough and sits in the passenger seat.
Why didn't you pump any gas? And then he opens up the door and the car door completely falls off. Chris Barley's line reading.
What'd you do? I think this movie created holy schnikes. That's it. I was wondering if that was the case because we do all these movies and I'll learn a reference for the first time and I heard that and I'm like, I wonder if that's the first time anybody's ever used holy schnikes. Yeah, I think it's the first time that's been sent. So, a lot more best quotes we could probably do. Let's go to Rotten Tomatoes score.
Can you get within five? The critics score, by the way, 39%. That's the critics.
Hey, who cares about that? The popcorn meter is now what they call it. The audience score.
Yeah, I've been pretty decent at this lately. I think I got within six last week. 74. The answer is 90.
90. A discrepancy of over 50 points between what the critics think and what the audience thinks. It's almost like critics could be out of touch sometimes. It's crazy.
It's been at the movies with the WD. He joins us now. His weekly visit will answer unusual questions in a bit. You mentioned a W basketball dunk that was number one on the SportsCenter top plays that you were on the call for.
You also call high point basketball, which is in full swing, which is why we'll start our conversation in the natural place. Where would you most like to see Juan Soto end up this offseason? Of course, that's where we're going to start. The Yankees feels like a fit, and I know that's like the villain of me thing to say. But if rooting for chaos and just like a fun storyline, I kind of want to see he and Pete Alonso swap places in New York. If we go to the Mets under Uncle Stevie Cohen and a team coming off of a great run, that's compelling if they steal him away from the Yankees.
And that can become another possible big rivalry again next year. Can I tell you why I want him to end up on the Mets? Because every other team he seems to have interest in is in the AL East.
That's number one. Number two, there is some buzz that maybe Corbin Burns could come back to the Baltimore Orioles. One of the teams that had a lot of interest in them, the Mets. If they drop all that coin on Juan Soto, maybe they're not dropping as many coins on Corbin Burns.
So, selfless interest there. Speaking of the Yankees, due to the damage done to Tropicana Field, it was announced today the Tampa Bay Rays will be playing their home games this season in the Yankee Spring training home, Steinbrenner Field. It's time for Rays baseball! It's Steinbrenner Field! You're welcome, Rays.
You're welcome for that. We're taking care of you. That's what we gotta do. If not for lack of attendance, or Tampa not wanting to pay for renovations, like the town for the Trops renovations, what will it take to finally move the Rays out of Tampa? Like, what has to happen?
Oh, man. It's a great question. Obviously, if attendance woes continue at a literal spring training facility, that's not a good look. Who do you... Let me ask actually a better question, because you know this is naturally going to lead to the MLB and Raleigh or Charlotte type conversation that I know you and I have disagreements about, but what do you actually view as being the top East Coast, Eastern time zone option for the Rays to move?
If they were to move. It kind of depends, because expansion is on the way. So there are efforts in place in various markets to build teams from the ground up. For instance, Nashville, I think, is a shoo-in for eventual expansion.
A shoo-in. Given the circumstances around their grassroots bid to get a Major League Baseball team as an expansion team, do they want anything to do with the Rays, if Major League Baseball comes to them and says, hey, you know, we're not quite there for expansion, but... What's the difference? I mean, again, in Nashville, they have a leadership team in place. Oh, so you're saying that the people that have organized efforts to land Major League Baseball in Nashville might not want the Rays, because they don't want the Rays infrastructure to come in and take jobs that they otherwise would have? 100%. Whereas for years at this point, whether it be in Nashville, or who knows what Tom Dundon has done behind the scenes in Raleigh to kind of prepare for this, you're setting up to bid for an expansion team.
So there's financial implications that you are preparing for that would be totally different. And who owns the team. Right. Exactly.
That's just it, too. You are preparing a bid as an ownership group, whereas if the Rays move, they presumably keep ownership. So it's more of a, you get to find, it's a totally different profile, right, for a market that is willing to receive an expansion team or willing to receive a relocation team.
In a lot of ways, it's just wholly different. And honestly, because there's less of an infrastructure for that on the ground up sort of level in Charlotte or Raleigh, it kind of maybe makes North Carolina a better candidate than, you know, some of the the expansion areas where I would deem like Nashville is a better candidate currently for expansion than North Carolina. You went exactly where I wanted you to go in the sense that I think when you're talking about relocation, North Carolina makes a lot of sense for that because ownership already in place is looking at geography in terms of those types of decisions, while expansion groups, so much of it is about what you've built up to appeal to Major League Baseball, which is a totally different dynamic than the relocation dynamic.
To expand, I'll just add this. To expand in Major League Baseball, you need, like we saw this with the Major League Soccer struggle between Raleigh and Charlotte, you need a central funder. You need somebody who can jump the line as a billionaire like David Tepper to say, oh, everybody else is paying $200 million to get an expansion team.
How about I pay $325 million? How about that? Not to mention Ally Bank was the big sort of linchpin sponsor for them in Charlotte. That's a Charlotte based company. The expansion markets, the ownership groups that are looking at, they're building that stuff up because you need that on the front end. A team that is simply relocating has already been through that. So it's different in that way, too. You won't find more baseball talk than the baseball talk we just had here today in the middle of November. Now let's get to unusual questions. Last week, guys, everybody made it out that I got mad at Josh and I left the press conference.
That's not right. I thought it was an unusual question and it's OK. It's time for unusual questions with Josh Gray. Just trying to picture somebody listening to this show for the first time. Oh, man, what are they going to talk about?
Football, basketball? No, we're going to talk about relocation with baseball and whatever the heck we're going to get into here. Unusual questions time. Darren, I'll get us started. We have a new drop for every time I bring up baby Daniel on the show because I don't want to be the dad that talks too much about his kids.
So W.D. is a reminder to me. I have a child. We'll play. I have a child from Titanic.
I was like, what is that? I have a child. I have a child. I have a child. So I'm asking you, what's the appropriate amount of baby content that people want? Because some of the basketball scheme I went to last night with Wake said I didn't post enough pictures or things like that. And then on the show, like this was something me and Will talked about throughout the show before it. Not wanting to be the guy that's talking too much about his kid and lacking self-awareness.
I don't know. I mean, I feel like the leeway is given initially. You've got there's a there's a threshold.
I don't know how much time you've got, but you pretty much can go nuts for the next however many weeks because of the newness. Right. I did get a cool email that people were like because they heard me say make jokes that I might be talking about it too much yesterday. That said, Josh, so many you've been here long enough now that people remember you when you were single, when you met Sarah Bradford. Like you kind of been on this journey with you together.
So it's kind of like this segment used to frequently include like bad dating stories. Right. Like that. Is that right? It's it's it's true.
Unusual questions. I mean, that's Roy Williams back when he was coaching. That's going to be four years ago.
That clip's going to be four years old in February. So, yeah, it's this this segment has it's run its course, but we're still doing it. It's evolved. It's evolved. You and I both have evolved. Even Will has evolved. We're yeah, it's just progress. It's changed. So to answer your question. You've got ultimate leeway right now.
It's still that new. Like by the time I don't know, Daniel gets like six months old, probably. Then you're just like you're in it with the rest of the parents and I don't know that they really want to hear it past that point. But maybe I don't know if he does something funny.
Kids are kids are funny. Discretion. Yeah.
Discretion at that point. OK, what's your unusual question, Darren? That will that was the cure you came into this segment with. It's been a few minutes. It was the cure. It was. Were you guys aware they put out a new record like two weeks ago?
No. Why did you say record rather than album? New The Cure. Why did you say record rather than the album?
I don't like it. Your glasses that require you to say record rather than the album. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It's my pretentiousness. They put out a band name. There's synonyms.
So why did you say record there? There's an unusual question. That's like calling a movie a picture. A film. A film.
Let's go watch the movie. You can't say movie. When's the last time anyone's put their hands on film? A motion picture. Yeah. A record. A film.
Moving pictures. Pinky up. So it is it is as someone who loves The Cure. I do, too. And worships at the altar of Robert Smith. Not the football player, the lead singer. Yes. Right. The lead singer and football analyst, former Viking running back, you know. Yeah.
Smith, the king of the king of sad. That sounds happy, right? And that's that's kind of the picture of of their existence. That's your vibe as a person.
It is, which is aligned. So like Eternal Sunshine is like your favorite movie starring Jim Carrey. It's up there. It's good.
Very good. You love Manchester by the sea. It's like I'm bummed out. What do I watch?
I just Manchester. I like to feel things when I consume art. And it just so happens that the easiest thing to feel is like utter emotional pain. That's what it that's that's it's the easiest thing for me to feel. I don't I don't think I can beat it. I don't think I can beat it. OK. All right. What's the question?
So the question. I was excited that The Cure was coming back. I was underwhelmed by the new album. It probably means they're going to tour soon, though.
And if I can hear them perform Friday, I'm in love in person, then it's going to check a bucket list item for me. What is there a band that has come back that has totally ruined themselves for you based on the quality or lack thereof? When they returned you to when they put all those songs on my phone.
I used to love you, too, but I I was so mad about that. I didn't even give the songs a chance. You know, those songs are still so I use Spotify to listen to the innocence pops up in my phone one more time. And again, I've never listened to a second of it. I see it there.
I see the print like the the art. And I don't know the song, but it's been in my phone. And I think you can relate.
I do. So sometimes I'll hop into the car and my Bluetooth will pick up automatically every now and then. It just wants to play something without my queuing it to do it. Those songs are still on my Apple Music account, even though I don't use it. I don't pay for Apple Music Premium. I listen to Spotify when I listen to music. But because that's the Apple product, oftentimes when I hop in my car and the Bluetooth picks up, it'll automatically pull that up. Well, I don't have other songs on my Apple Music downloaded.
That's just because, again, I listen to a stream on Spotify. So that's the first thing that comes up. So it occasionally barges into my life, even in 2024. And when did they do that? Like 2016?
Like that was a long time ago. Semi-related note. I don't know if my wife's car still does this.
My wife. But it used to just play the first song on her music library every time she got in the car. Yeah. Yeah. And you get to the A's and the first song that plays every time, every time we got into the car. Aaron's Party by Aaron Carter.
Nobody could do it like Aaron can. All right, W.D. That's how you beat the Age of Innocence. That's how you do it. Do you want my answer to this question? Yes.
OK. So for me personally, I'm not close enough to a band where I've been ruined by something like this. Oh, you don't have it like a band that you are super emotionally attached to the way I'm like attached to the Avids or Coldplay. I mean, Linkin Park is probably like that for me.
I don't think I'm as attached as you are to the Avids. So when Chester died, you were bummed. I was bummed because I really wanted to go see them in concert one day and then that happened. However, now they have this new vocalist who's basically taking Chester's place, Emily Armstrong. And she's not the same as Chester because who's going to be?
But she does have a similar sound, especially that like screeching sound on certain high notes. But a lot of fans are just not giving it a chance. And so it's just kind of ruining Linkin Park for them. But yeah, I kind of dig it.
And apparently they're coming to, I think, Raleigh here soon. Would you like to ask an unusual question? I would.
I would. I was I was hanging out with somebody not too long ago. Opposite sex? Yes. And was this a date, Will? Yeah. Where are we at on the Costco date, by the way? It's you know what?
It's probably coming soon. I don't believe you. This particular hangout wasn't a date because it was just me coming over and just kind of chilling and hanging out.
And did she know it wasn't a date? Yeah. Yeah.
Sorry. I'm like your father here. You continue. And I am a dad, in case you didn't know. There you go. Just I have.
Just in case it. So anyway, she she apparently had a nice plethora of board games. Love board games. And I couldn't tell you the last time I've actually played a board game.
Like it was probably like giant, either giant Jenga or giant Connect for it, like one of these pubs or something. Neither of those are a board game. Yeah, but like, OK, whatever. No, I think they fit in the same category. Jenga's not a board game, Darren. Giant Jenga's not a board game. But it's in the category of like game. It's a game. Anyway, so she gets out Battleship, right? And that's one of my favorite board games when I was growing up.
I did beat her at it, I should say. Good. So what is your favorite board game?
Oh, I like this. I love Sorry. I love Apples to Apples. That's more of a card game than it is board.
But then I'll just stick with Sorry. And you can go Trivial Pursuit was good. I like Trivial Pursuit. Yeah. And if I can go card game, Apples to Apples is a good time.
Uno. Always. All right.
So the the obvious answer that is number one for me, that everyone who knows me knows this. It's Scrabble. Yeah. Yeah. World's in Scrabble.
And as soon as you called the album, the record, I think people already knew that. Yeah, I wreck worlds in Scrabble. Give me the word the one time that you flexed most impressively. You flexed, you won Scrabble because you laid down this this word to help you win. Is there one that comes to mind?
No, I don't know. Yeah, you just won too many times. That's why.
That's it. I just literally have won my winning percentage with my immediate family growing up was seriously probably like 95 percent. I just killed the second place because it's got like a special place in my heart. A lot of people have not don't remember this one and haven't played it. It's called Payday. Oh, I love Payday. And the board is like the calendar.
Right. And so you're advancing days and payday comes and then there's a lottery day where everybody rolls the die. And there's a certain number that if you hit it, you win the lottery and you get what's in the pot in the middle. I used to play that with my twin brother and my late aunt who would watch us over like a couple of summers while my parents were working.
She was our she was she's our aunt, but she was our babysitter basically for that that particular stretch of time. We would play it like every day, every day. So that one's got a special place directly behind Scrabble. I'm going to offend some people in the audience by what I'm about to say. It's going to be at least a handful of people, but I don't mind saying it anyway.
I'm glad neither of you guys said settlers of Catan. Get out of here with that nonsense. All right.
Darren Bhatt, appreciate you. Enjoy the seven, eight, nine, maybe 12 basketball games and lottery boy things and classes that you have with exams coming up. And we'll talk to you sometime next week. Busy month, busy month. But it's good times. No complaints. We'll see you guys later. There he goes, Darren Bhatt. Yeah, I can't think of anything that could make your life any busier than just calling ball games. Yeah, I know we're going to get some good run out of that. Probably right.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-11-14 21:15:20 / 2024-11-14 21:35:51 / 21