AFP Podcasts: Recent Episodes
Chris Graham
Street Knowledge is hosted by Chris Graham, the award-winning editor of The Augusta Free Press (Waynesboro, Va.), with episodes highlighting local news, Virginia and national politics, arts and culture, mental health, sports and professional wrestling.
Award-winning documentary filmmaker Chris Farina, in 2016, began work on a new project with the working title “Death Becomes You,” with the idea of tackling what is very much a taboo subject: death.
For obvious reasons, we don’t like talking about it – death – because, while it’s inevitable, it’s, you know, it’s death, the end.
The film, as he envisioned it, at the outset, would have Farina, a 1982 UVA alum, speaking with funeral directors, hospice workers, grief counselors – people whose jobs bring them into daily contact with that which the rest of us don’t want to think about, much less base our lives around.
The goal: to get us thinking, get us talking, and maybe edge us toward accepting death as a natural part of life.
Then, as happens, life intervened.
First, it was other projects – “Seats at the Table,” a documentary on a class taught by UVA lecturer Andrew Kaufman that brought together university students with residents of a maximum-security juvenile correctional center through the study of Russian literature; “Pep Banned,” a doc on the rise and fall of the irreverant University of Virginia Pep Band; “A Bridge to Life,” which tells the story of The Bridge Ministry, a Buckingham County-based ministry that works to save lives of men dealing with serious addiction issues.
Then, the intervention was, life itself.
Farina was diagnosed with ALS in 2022.
How you can help
Rosalia Films is currently raising funds to support the film's release to create significant social impact. A generous donor is matching every dollar raised up to $35,000, meaning roughly $5,000 more in new donations would trigger the full match. The goal is to raise the funds quickly, so the film can be shared while Chris is here to see it happen.
Donate (tax-deductible via The Film Collaborative):
thefilmcollaborative.org/fiscalsponsorship/projects/deathbecomesus
Baltimore Orioles fans are going to be upset at the news of the trade of former #1 overall pick Adley Rutschman to AL East rival Boston, and that the O’s didn’t get back any big-league talent in return.
No need to fret: this one’s actually a good deal.
The Stafford County man who died by suicide on Sunday while in custody at the Rappahannock Regional Jail never had a chance.
“He said, ‘Sissy, I didn’t do this, but men don’t beat rape charges. I’m going to die in jail,’” said Elizabeth Self, whose brother, Christopher Lee Franklin, 40, was awaiting an Aug. 19 jury trial on charges related to the alleged Jan. 17 rape of an ex-girlfriend in Stafford.
Not the oligarchs, surprisingly. The obscenely wealthy are nothing new; their obscenity dates back to the ancients.
It's MAGA voters, the far, far, far, far, far left, and elected Democrats who don't want to rock the boat - who are afraid to stand up, and so, give up.
Those people piss me the eff off.
democrats #maga #politics
There’s an alternate universe, in which the Virginia Supreme Court follows the law instead of trying to write it, in which Adam Dunigan is running for a congressional nomination in a district that represents Augusta County.
The Marine Corps and CIA veteran is now focused on pulling an upset in the Eighth District, where the incumbent is Don Beyer, a Democrat seeking a seventh term in Congress.
I caught up with Dunigan on Friday to talk about his upstart campaign, and the issues of the day.
The 30-win UVA Basketball team had one second-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, in Ugonna Onyenso, the backup center.
Ryan Odom can squeeze value out of the talent, I tell you.
I break down how Onyenso fits at the next level, and the impact of new NCAA eligibility rules on UVA Hoops, here in the pod.
We’re all tired of the headlines about the latest nonsense coming out of DC, and while we can’t change how we got here – 2016, 2020, 2024 – we can change things going forward.
It’s not enough to snark online, to your spouse, among friends.
I’m not the biggest fan of just going to rallies with signs, though if that helps you vent off some steam, by all means.
The 2026 midterms are four months and change out from now.
There are millions of doors that need to be knocked on.
The right at 175,000 Social Security recipients in the Sixth District in Virginia could vote en masse for the party that has a plan for saving Social Security from going insolvent by 2032, and in so doing, get us moving toward saving Social Security from going insolvent by 2032.
We all know that won’t happen.
Sixty percent or more of that population will still vote for the MAGA incumbent, Ben Cline, whose bright idea is to raise the retirement age to 69, which justs kicks the can down the road a couple of years.
All I can do is try to convince you to do what’s best for you.
I can’t make you drink the water.
So, that’s on the podcast today, along with:
- Does Donald Trump know from one minute to the next how to get us out of the mess that he created in Iran?
- Gregory Bovino thinks there are “106 million illegals” in America; the math ain’t mathing.
- Ben Cline wants your photos of the Sixth District for some dumb time capsule. How about a photo of a Ben Cline town hall?
- Rob Schilling still has a radio show, and it’s the fault of UVA Athletics.
This time last year, UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom was introducing a bunch of strangers to each other, and trying to convince them, and everybody else, that they could get Virginia Basketball back to where it had been not that long ago.
Heading into his second summer as the head coach, Odom is building on a 30-win season, and it’s looking like he’s put together a roster for next season that … might be an improvement?
We discuss, plus go over the latest news from the world of UVA Football and the non-revenue sports on Grounds.
uva
uvabasketball
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collegebasketball
sports
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It was odd that Waynesboro and Staunton were each able to maintain their local daily newspapers for so long, given the realities of the media market, but we couldn’t keep the good thing going forever, it seems.
The News Virginian, based in Waynesboro, let go its final remaining full-time news reporter earlier this year, and now The News Leader, based in Staunton, appears to be licensing out its local content to its competitor.
Could what we’ve been seeing here the past few months be a sign that we could soon be losing both of our local papers?
TeamAFP editors Chris Graham and Crystal Graham discuss – and, spoiler alert: we sure hope what we’re seeing isn’t what we think we might be seeing, if only because, the more of there are watching local government, the better, is our opinion on the matter.
“Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is no more, replaced by an infomercial, but AFP editor Crystal Graham is keeping the spirit alive.
Crystal engaged fellow editor Chris Graham in a game of 15 questions, ripped straight from the 15 questions that Colbert would often lob at celebrity guests.
How do our local Z list celebrities fare?
A situation similar to what we just saw play out with UVA Lacrosse coach Lars Tiffany could be in the works with the coach at UVA Men’s Golf, Bowen Sargent.
Sargent’s contract expires at the end of the academic sports year, on June 30, and word around the clubhouse is, the first offer on the table for an extension comes with his salary flat from what he signed for in 2022 – i.e., no raise.
Massive bipartisan majorities voted to pass the Affordable Medicine Act that Gov. Abigail Spanberger is signaling today that she plans to veto.
State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, one of the authors of the legislation, which would create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to review prescription drug prices and set payment ceilings on what certain state-regulated health plans can pay, said on Tuesday that Spanberger called him to tell him that she was planning to veto the bills.
What’s going on here, right?
A Virginia man who used a MAGA social media platform linked to a former Trump aide to threaten Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Barack Obama and former Trump FBI Director Christopher Wray, among many others, is, for now, at least, facing 30 months in prison.
Who knows, Frank Lucio Carillo, 68, of Winchester, could end up being in line for some of that sweet Trump slush fund money for his troubles.
Will the real Abigail Spanberger please stand up, please stand up, please stand up?
The one who ran for governor last year didn’t end up being the one who took the oath of office; that’s all we know now.
We found this out this week, with her gutting of paid family and medical leave, and her veto of collective bargaining for public-sector employees.
This is what Democrats do when they get elected; they forget who put them there, and try to reach out to the other side.
Predictable reaction from the other side to Spanberger reaching out: they’re still calling her a commie.
Why do we do this?
We eventually get around to breaking down the latest addition to the UVA Basketball rotation on our podcast, but first.
Gotta start with how UVA Athletics is stonewalling me on the status of assistant swim team coach Gary Taylor, who is in Year 2 of a probation handed down in 2025 for emotional abuse of athletes at two other schools and a local YMCA.
After going into detail on Gary Taylor, we talk UVA hoops, how much it will cost the 1 percent to watch UVA Football play in Brazil, and how far UVA Baseball will get in the NCAA Tournament (spoiler: not very).
We don’t want to be stuck with Ben Cline just because the feckless MAGA congressman was successful spending other people’s millions to convince four MAGAs on the Supreme Court of Virginia to overturn the April 21 referendum.
Want to know more about Ben Cline than you ever knew before?
Wrong question; you don’t want to know any more about Ben Cline than you have to.
The Insane Cline Posse edition of “Street Knowledge,” debuting today, isn’t medicine, I promise.
I’ll tell you how much money Ben Cline, who pretends to hate government, has made working in government over the years.
(Hint: it’s a lot!)
Also on the show: we discuss SoCal transplant Rob Schilling, who so hated the libs on the Left Coast that he moved to Charlottesville – which, no, makes no sense at all – and hosts a MAGA radio talk show that five people listen to.
For some reason, UVA Athletics supports this crap.
Everybody has a breaking point. I got to mine today cleaning out the comment section on AFP on two of my recent UVA Basketball articles.
Seems that a lot of folks want fanzine coverage of their favorite team.
This ain’t the place to get your coverage, then.
Want to know what a guy who has been covering the program for 30 years really thinks?
That’s all I can do.
I apologize in advance for the language.
Actually, nah.
UVA Athletics is going to give us a chance to wine and dine our clients on the field at Scott Stadium this fall.
The cost: $2,500 minimum.
I’m going to hold out for something bigger, which I explain on this week’s rundown of what’s making news in UVA sports.
Also, if you could, tell everybody you know to click on the YouTube version – I want to beat the viewer number for Seth Davis and Andy Katz for their recent pod with Ryan Odom.
Rob Tracinski, running for the Democratic Party nomination in the new Sixth District, is – and hear me out on this – a former Tea Party guy.
I know, a lot of y’all area already turned off, but.
Hear him out, is all I’ll say here.
Tracinski joined me today for what I’ll call good political conversation, since I don’t think of myself as an interviewer.
We talked about his former Tea Party-ness, and how that no doubt makes it hard to get his foot in the door with some Democrats, but also, in a +3 D Sixth District, having crossover appeal can be a benefit in the November part of the cycle.
Again, hear him out.
I make my return to the podcast airwaves today with a deep dive into UVA Basketball and UVA Baseball.
First, on the hoops: there’s no news, and I explain why, and apologize, because the silence is all my fault.
Seriously. I’m the reason we’re all having to read the smoke wafting up from JPJ.
Baseball: have to apologize here. I so desperately want the ’Hoos to get back to Omaha this year, and to beat Brian O’Connor in getting there, that I’m holding Chris Pollard to ridiculously high standards.
https://youtu.be/s7LK6GEt7UA
Actually, first, this week’s “Street Knowledge” acknowledges that, it’s going to be hot in our part of the world in the next few days – with temperatures forecast to get near or above 90 this week.
A little early for that.
Crystal Graham joins the show to keep me in line – good luck with that.
Her job this week: to keep me on task talking about the April 21 congressional redistricting referendum.
We also discussed the ongoing decline of the Virginia news media, and what we’re trying to do to forge a new path forward.
Why not try to overturn the tables in front of that particular temple, right?
Something is going on down at Virginia Tech, where the school’s president, Tim Sands, announced to Hokie Nation on Thursday, in a shock move, that he will be stepping down in the coming months.
And it took a sports guy – not me – to figure it out.
TNA President Carlos Silva, obviously getting marching orders from big brother WWE, has forced Nic Nemeth, the former Dolph Ziggler, out of a May 1 indy match with AEW champ MJF, citing “partner conflicts.”
Uh, huh.
Abigail Spanberger isn’t polling well right now, but I think I’ve got the solution.
No, not better policies.
I mean, a big part of the problem is that she’s not doing well with Democrats and independents, because she’s governing like a center-right Republican.
We don’t fix bad poll numbers these days by course corrections.
The solution: bombs.
Iran got Donald Trump to agree to a two-week ceasefire in which the Iranians basically give up nothing, and actually secured the right to charge tolls on ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz – and Ben Cline thinks this is “a beautiful thing.”
ESPN.com college basketball scribe Jeff Borzello has his “Way-Too-Early Top 25” for next season out this morning, and has Virginia at #9.
Donald Trump, not at all off his rocker, is, today, threatening Iran with total genocide.
“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account, timestamp: 8:06 a.m. Tuesday.
Deadline, per the post: “tonight.”
Unless, from Trump, “different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail.”
The AWARE Foundation is highlighting the cold case of James Davis Walker, who was last seen on April 7, 2000, in the Food Lion parking lot on Longwood Avenue in Bedford.
Walker, known to friends and family as Slim – he was 6’7”, 140 pounds, at the time of his disappearance, at the age of 53 – may have been the victim of foul play, according to authorities.
A school bus driver in Lynchburg allegedly assaulted a student and has been arrested and charged with strangulation and child neglect.
UVA Basketball alum Jenny Boucek would obviously be somebody whose agent you’d want to contact about the coaching vacancy in the UVA women’s hoops program.
First-team All-ACC guard Kymora Johnson is entering the transfer portal, and there is one possible, quite logical, landing spot for her – on the roster of legendary UVA point guard Dawn Staley down at South Carolina.
Rugby is American football, without pads and helmets, and without mass substitutions – and if you’re bleeding after a hit, nothing to it, ’tis but a scratch.
“I hate being pulled out, even just to catch my breath. I want to be out there for the full 80 minutes,” said Perry Allen, a member of the Virginia Rugby Football Club, which will host the Virginia Beach Falcons on Saturday at VFW Post 1827 in Charlottesville in the first round of the Division 3 playoffs.
Significant others, prospective players, no worries – it’s safe.
More on that as we dive into the sport.
To the UVA Basketball fans who thought they wanted Will Wade over Ryan Odom, and you know who you are, Wade not only already lost his way out of his first NCAA Tournament at NC State, with last night’s last-second defeat in the First Four, but he’s also a loser.
I’ll be heading to Philly on Thursday to cover the first weekend of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, with a focus on #9 Virginia, which opens play on Friday as the #3 seed in the Midwest Region.
On the podcast, I offer insight into what we’ve learned about the first-round opponent, #14 seed Wright State, the champ of the Horizon League.
I also offer a travel itinerary – I get to be a tourist, too, in between games.
Beth Macy did a sitdown with me for this week’s “Street Knowledge” podcast.
Macy is a triple threat: journalist, bestselling author (Dopesick), and now, congressional candidate – running for the Democratic Party nomination in the Sixth District in Virginia.
We talked at length about her work on Dopesick and her most recent book, Paper Girl, which has the hook of Macy revisiting her rural Ohio hometown to try to figure out how it went so MAGA in her years away.
The conversation then shifts to the impact of NAFTA and globalization on Appalachian economies, and how the job losses factored into the opioid and heroin crises here in our part of Virginia.
We wrap with a rundown of where we are politically, and Macy’s priorities if elected.
You want to know what I really think about how UVA Athletics treats people?
You already know that I’ve been going to bat for fans who are getting screwed out of a home football game so that the fat cats can have an excuse to go to Brazil.
And how I feel about the this is not a reseating reseating policy for UVA Basketball that is pricing a generation of fans out of their seats.
What you didn’t know, until last night, was how UVA Athletics treats the people who write articles about the games, the players, the coaches, like utter crap.
Yeah, so, whatever, me making an issue of it means I won’t get to sit in the stadium with my laptop to report on games anymore.
Think of the money I’ll be saving on driving, flying and hotels to go to bowl games, March Madness, the College World Series.
The job of sportswriter is amazing fun, but it’s a job – and the people who work in the field deserve to be treated with respect.
Not that the folks over there care …
Let’s see if the ‘Hoos can get back on track Tuesday night against a Wake Forest team that seems to be better than me than its 15-14 record would seem to indicate.
The Deacs played Duke better in Cameron, lost by one in OT to Michigan – that one was back in November, but still.
And they’re 4-2 in their last six.
I wouldn’t look past them, is what I’m saying.
Thijs de Ridder hit an open three at the 17:02 mark, his second basket in the opening three minutes.
We didn’t know it at the time, but Virginia’s next bucket wouldn’t come for another seven and a half minutes.
A Chance Mallory three on a fast break got the ‘Hoos to within 19-12 with 7:52 to go, but three Duke threes – by Darren Harris and Dame Sarr – in the next two minutes pushed the lead to 16, and the rout was on.
Virginia, which came into the game on a nine-game winning streak, never got closer than 12 the rest of the way – basically never got off the deck after taking the series of body blows.
The final score was Duke 77, Virginia 51.
It didn’t feel that close, if that’s possible.
Tom Perriello knew when he cast his vote for the Affordable Care Act in 2010 that it may very well cost him his job as a freshman congressman.
He did it anyway.
Because it was the right thing to do.
Imagine that.
“I think when we think about what we do right and what we don't do right, what people remember is when we stand up for people,” said Perriello, who is back in the political game, running for the Democratic Party nomination in, well, either the Fifth District or Sixth District, depending.
The 70-66 win over Ohio State on Saturday night was the sixth in a row for the UVA Basketball team, but, man, nothing comes easy for this group, does it?
Selfishly, gritty wins are good for writers and podcasters, because there’s more to write and talk about.
ICYMI: UVA vs. Ohio State
- Preview: What UVA Basketball fans need to know about Ohio State
- UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos rally with D down the stretch, defeat Ohio State, 70-66
- UVA Basketball: Nothing comes easy for this group; might as well embrace it
I think it would be helpful to know how the University handles accusations of the nature currently involving former UVA Football wideout Jahmal Edrine, who was indicted by an Albemarle County grand jury last week on rape and abduction charges, in an incident reported to police on Aug. 25, 2025.
We’ve got an inquiry into UVA to learn more.
In the meantime, we’re examining how the NFL would have handled the accusations against Edrine.
ICYMI: Jahmal Edrine case archives
- Albemarle County: UVA Football player charged with rape, abduction
- UVA Football player charged with rape, abduction: Who knew what, when?
- Jahmal Edrine attorney comes out firing: We also know now when UVA knew
- UVA Football: Jahmal Edrine case is a cautionary tale for ‘speed dating’ in portal recruiting
- I asked UVA for a comment on the victim in the Edrine case: You already know the response
- Bond set for former UVA Football wideout Jahmal Edrine in rape, abduction case
- How does UVA Athletics handle a sexual assault accusation internally?
This Jahmal Edrine story isn’t one that is fun to report on. It involves a victim that UVA is not acknowledging, a young man who is facing criminal charges that could change his future course, and people who get paid good money to know better who don’t seem to have acted like they know better.
Do you sense the anguish?
That’s this podcast: anguish.
Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin, in the matter of the Dec. 17 officer-involved shooting of Dustin Griffin, is acting more like a defense and civil attorney for the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office than he is presenting as an elected prosecutor representing the people of Augusta County.
Fair or not, we can’t take the Augusta County criminal-justice apparatus at its word that there’s no there there with respect to the shooting of Dustin Griffin, 42, by two sheriff’s deputies on the night of Dec. 17.
In this podcast, I go over where we are with the investigation, which is still ongoing, even as the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Tim Martin, has already decided to exonerate the deputies who shot and killed Griffin as they attempted to serve an arrest warrant at a location west of Staunton.
AFP coverage of the Dustin Griffin shooting
- Augusta County: Man killed in officer-involved shooting; one deputy airlifted
- Augusta County: Medical examiner confirms ID of man shot, killed by deputy
- The story of the man killed in Augusta County officer-involved shooting
- What’s the status of the investigation into the Dustin Griffin shooting death?
- Local media hypes jewelry store heist, ignores officer-involved shooting
- Augusta County: Prosecutor exonerates deputies in Dec. 17 shooting; still waiting for details
- Augusta County: What happened on Dec. 17 on Parkersburg Turnpike?
- Family of Dustin Griffin: ‘We want answers,’ not ‘premature conclusions’
UVA Basketball dominated from the jump in a 76-61 win at NC State that wasn’t that close.
We dive into the game, and coach Ryan Odom’s technical foul – with detailed analysis on how the ‘Hoos did at Odom Ball.
Then we spend some time breaking down the first couple of days of moves on the UVA Football transfer portal.
Story links
- UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos rebound from three-OT loss at Tech, defeat NC State, 76-61
- UVA Basketball: Virginia blows out NC State, 76-61, in Saturday ACC matinee
- Notebook: Ryan Odom talks with media after UVA Basketball win
- UVA Football: Unexpected big losses as the transfer portal opens for business
- Notebook: Eli Wood to transfer portal; Clemson hires Chad Morris to be OC
Solid email this morning from Alan, regular reader, on the Tech-UVA game, the kind of good that got me to think through what we know, to this point, in Year 1 of Ryan Odom, about our new-look UVA Basketball program.
The key points from Alan:
- We were bullied, even taking into account the whistle swallowing.
- If we’re not gonna run a scheme like the Pack Line, better brainstorm fast how we’re going to get stops in league play.
Shocker, right, that I got emails from a trove of White guys who think a young Black man named J’Mari Taylor should consider it a privilege to entertain them.
How dare the kid prioritize his future earning potential when our favorite college football team needed him out there to win an exhibition game.
That, you know, they won anyway, without him.
Two years after graduating from Waynesboro High School, Reggie Harris was taken by the Oakland A’s in the 1989 Rule 5 draft, and he made the team – the defending World Series champs – out of spring training in 1990.
“I’m just watching the previous World Series that year, in ’89, the earthquake series with San Francisco, and two weeks later, I’m on that team,” said Harris, who joined me to talk about his baseball career on the “Street Knowledge” podcast this week.
We’ve been going practically non-stop since August, but now, we’ve hit a lull – UVA Football and UVA Basketball are both on an exam break, with no games for a week.
What do we talk about?
We’ll think of something.
- UVA Football: Decisions still need to be made on the three coordinators
- UVA Basketball: How are last year’s guys doing at their new schools?
- UVA Football: ‘Hoos losing Ja’Son Prevard, Tyshawn Wyatt to transfer portal
Andrew Hypes has spent the last two years travelling all over the world: Paris, London Romania, Vegas, Poland and California, to name a few.
After growing up in Waynesboro, Virginia, population 23K, it’s a little surreal: working in Dr. Dre’s studio, flying on private planes, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower – the real one, not the one at Kings Dominion – all stemming from his role as the official DJ for Justin Timberlake’s recently wrapped “The Forget Tomorrow World Tour.”
NASCAR settled the suit brought by two racing teams alleging violations of federal antitrust laws on Thursday.
The details of the settlement are only trickling out, but we have enough to begin to get a sense of how things are going to play out going forward.
AFP contributor Rod Mullins joins the show to break down what we know.
It’s UVA-Virginia Tech football week, so I got the gang together to preview the game, and we do, eventually.
But first: why are tickets so ridiculously expensive?
Scott German joins me to rain down furious anger on the folks at UVA Athletics, who seem intent on money-grabbing us out of a big crowd for the Saturday primetime game.
Then we direct some upset at the medical staff, for allowing Kam Robinson to return to the Duke game and tear his ACL.
Dumb, just dumb stuff.
I promise that we break down the game at the end.
Leaks of internal communications between top NASCAR executives both hurt the racing series’ legal challenge from two NASCAR teams, and are also causing massive damage to the circuit in the court of public opinion.
With the trial in the antitrust lawsuit set to begin next week, Rod Mullins, the editor of Dickenson Media, joins the show to report on and break down the latest developments in the case.
Rod also updates us with the latest on the story of a Southwest Virginia football coach who has been missing for four days as his team makes its way through the Virginia high-school playoffs.
Virginia Tech has officially welcomed James Franklin to Hokie Nation. Will Franklin be the guy to get Tech Football back to where it was … 15 years ago now?
Yeah, it’s been awhile.
I had Scott German join me to discuss.
We also both give UVA Athletics administrators hell for moving the 2026 NC State home football game to Brazil.
We wrap with a lengthy love letter to Ryan Odom Basketball.
It’s actually just puppy love right now, since we’re only in the cupcake part of the schedule.
Chris Graham and Scott German get back together via podcast to review their preseason UVA Football prognostications, which, it turns out, were way off.
The guys thought 7-5 or 8-4 was possible, which at the time got them banished to the edge of the Fringe Media.
Now at 9-2, they’re on the other side – yeah, they foresaw a good season, but not this good.
Lots to chew on here, obviously.
UVA Football News
- UVA Football: Morris, Taylor, D key ‘Hoos to convincing 34-17 win at Duke
- UVA Football: ‘Hoos dominate in all phases in pivotal 34-17 win at Duke
- UVA Football: The Virginia defense made Darian Mensah look average
- Breakdown: The role Chandler Morris played in the 78-yard J’Mari Taylor TD
- ‘Hoo do we root for next week? The Road to Charlotte for UVA Football
- Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? Looking at CFP chances for UVA, JMU
The West Virginia governor, Patrick Morrisey, and a Mountain State legislator, Chris Rose, think they see an opportunity to mooch off our prosperity.
Morrisey, last week, in the hours after our Blue Wave state elections, sent a message to the red counties in Virginia via Facebook, assuming that he feels their frustration.
“It’s about to get awful blue in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” wrote Morrisey, a Brooklyn-born, New Jersey-bred Rutgers alum who only moved to West Virginia, and Harpers Ferry – barely inside the border – at that, when he was 39 years old.
Guy is as West Virginia as Tony Soprano, with the added touch that, before he got into elected politics, he made his living as a pharmaceutical lobbyist, and now runs a state set backwards a generation by the opioid crisis that he made gobs of money advocating for.
Back to Jersey Boy’s post-election message to Virginia:
“Don’t wait for the high taxes to heavy regulations to come, now is your chance to escape to wild and wonderful West Virginia,” Morrisey wrote.
Kyle Larson snuck his way into his second NASCAR Cup Series title, winning in OT after a late wreck changed the calculus for Denny Hamlin.
And now, we have lots of questions.
Will NASCAR put the kibosh on the playoff system?
What happens in the antitrust lawsuit challenging the charter system?
There’s that, there’s the beginning, in earnest, of the silly season.
So much to break down.
The CDC tells us that one in four girls and one in 13 boys are, right know, as you read this, victims of sexual abuse – basically, let’s just call it what it is, child rape.
Do the math, and it’s not good – we’re talking about 14 million girls, 3 million boys.
Let that sink in: 17 million kids, in this country, our kids, raped.
We only know about a fraction of these cases, because 90 percent of child-rape cases involve a perpetrator who is known to the victim – a parent, close family member, family friend – who either manipulates the victim into silence, or worse, threatens or uses violence to keep the secret.
I can sense that you’re uncomfortable.
Nobody likes talking about child rape, which is a big reason why we have the problem we have.
It’s looking more and more like NASCAR is going to have to settle the suit challenging its charter system, not so much to save face, but to at least have a hand in setting the future direction of its business model.
Rod Mullins joins me to discuss the latest in the charter suit, which is playing out against a backdrop of the final race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Championship 4 finale in Phoenix.
We break down how the final two drivers earned their way into the C4, and break down the chances of the Final Four – Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron and Kyle Larson.
A settlement conference in the NASCAR antitrust suit will head into a second day, after lawyers for the privately owned racing circuit and two of the sport’s top teams met in court on Tuesday to see if they could resolve their many disputes.
Rod Mullins joins the podcast to report on the latest.
We also spend some time on news from the track, with the 2025 NASCAR Playoffs down to the final two races – this weekend in our neck of the woods, down in Martinsville.
Healthcare isn’t a red or blue issue, says Pete Barlow, an Augusta County Democrat running for Congress in the 2026 midterms cycle.
Farmers having markets closed to them because of the Trump tariffs – not a red or blue issue.
FEMA not being there to respond to natural disasters – not red or blue.
But for Democrats in Western Virginia to be able to be a part of the solutions, we need to open up the tent.
“We always talk about being a big tent party. Well, let’s really be a big tent party and talk to people who we disagree with,” said Barlow, who stepped down from his job as a manager with FEMA earlier this year to throw himself full-time into his run for the Democratic Party nomination for the Sixth District seat in Congress.
Link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/pete-barlow-to-virginia-democrats-lets-be-the-big-tent-party/
When Lisa Vedernikova Khanna called her Russian immigrant mother a few months ago to tell her that she was running for Congress, mom was, let’s just say, a tad bit disappointed.
“She was hoping that I was pregnant,” said Khanna, who went public last week with that news – that she is expecting, and due in February, meaning, she’s now running for Congress and about to become a first-time mother.
Denny Hamlin, who won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race in Las Vegas, was described by our Rod Mullins as downright “humble” post-race, which leads to the question: did somebody do something to our Denny Hamlin?
Rod joins the show to discuss.
We also go in depth on the latest development in the NASCAR charter lawsuit, which appears to be headed to trial in December – though I wonder if NASCAR might be better advised to settle ahead of time, instead of allowing a judge to decide how the series does its business going forward.
That, and we preview Talladega, coming up this weekend.
It’s the anniversary edition of the #TeamAFP podcast. My co-host and breaking news editor, Crystal Graham, said I do 25 years ago today, on Oct. 7, 2000.
To mark 25 years of her having to put up with my nonsense, I made her acknowledge that she married me, which is no small admission.
Then we get to business: talking through the recent spate of homes collapsing in OBX and the Trump administration’s effort to get UVA to bend the knee on ideology for a few extra bucks.
Also: the very important story involving UVA Football being 5-1 and ranked 19th in the AP Top 25.
That, and we have to get packing for our anniversary week trip to NYC.
Shane van Gisbergen, shocker, took the win at the Charlotte Roval, notching his fifth road-race win of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Rod Mullins was down in Charlotte for us this past weekend, and reports back on van Gisbergen’s road-course dominance, and the scramble among the 12 drivers still in the playoff hunt to get to the cutline for the Round of 8.
Also on this week’s show: we go into detail on the latest in the antitrust case in which two teams are challenging the NASCAR charter system.
Augusta Free Press reporter Crystal Graham breaks down two sides to an issue involving homeless people at a Waynesboro church. While a couple who lives next door has raised concerns about safety and property values, residents nearby overwhelmingly have spoken out in support of the church's plans to become a re-education center for the unhoused population. An upcoming meeting Tuesday night will bring both sides to the table.
Denny Hamlin drives for Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s also the co-owner of 23XI Racing, which has Bubba Wallace efforting to stay alive in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
So, when Hamlin bumped Wallace into the wall toward the end of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, that was going to get folks’ attention, including Wallace’s.
The word “dumbass” may have entered the chat, for instance.
Wallace is, right now, on the outside looking in, with one race left in the Round of 12, which becomes the Round of 8 after this weekend’s Charlotte ROVAL.
Rod Mullins will be down in Charlotte covering the race for AFP.
I chatted with Rod on today’s podcast to get into this Denny Hamlin-Bubba Wallace story, among other things, including the rumors that NASCAR is going to shutter its current playoff format to go back to the way things were down pre-2004.
Matt Kenseth comes up as we talk through that one.
Also, discussion of declining NASCAR ratings, and how politics is playing a role in that.
Erik Simonsen isn’t one to let obstacles get in his way, so when, toward the end of a recent 31-mile hike through the Vermont wilderness, for something called the Killington Spartan Ultra 50K, it was just a 60-pound sandbag between him and the finish line, OK, that one almost got him.
“Just cruel, yeah, I think that they put it at the end was the cruel part. You know, in the middle, I could have done it fine and gotten through it. But the very last thing is just this huge sandbag carry, and it’s, oh, why is it here?” said Simonsen, a 33-year-old Waynesboro High School alum, who got past the sandbag carry to finish the Sept. 13 Killington Ultra in 12:26:12.
Jimmy Kimmel has doubts about the official story from the MAGA prosecutor handling the Charlie Kirk murder. So does Steve Bannon, among many others, but Bannon is also a MAGA, and a bit of a crank, so he’s safe.
The Trump administration used a leverage point over a company seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger to force Kimmel off the air “indefinitely” – not so much about what Kimmel said about the Kirk murder investigation in the opening monologue of his late-night ABC talk show on Monday, but rather, that Kimmel is a frequent and high-profile critic of Donald Trump.
If the 2025 UVA Football season was one long game, we’re in the break between the first and second quarters.
What we’ve seen so far:
- ‘Hoos 55, W&M 16 | UVA Football takes care of business in Cupcake Bowl
- UVA Football | Red zone issues, what else is new, doom ‘Hoos in 35-31 loss at NC State
- UVA 48, Coastal 7 | What do we know about this UVA Football team? Not a lot, not yet
Good a time as any to ask: what do we know about this team, three games in?
Whit Babcock isn’t pleading poverty because he thinks he can get Virginia Tech donors to open up their checkbooks.
He knows that Tech Athletics has pretty much tapped out what it can get from its money people.
There isn’t another $50 million or $60 million a year just sitting out there waiting to be tapped.
What Babcock is doing is, he’s daring the Virginia Tech administration to fire him.
Be careful what you wish for there.
Christopher Bell took the checkered flag in Bristol Saturday night, giving Joe Gibbs Racing its third win in three starts in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
The win puts Bell in the 12-team second round, which begins on Sunday in New Hampshire at the USA Today 301.
Rod Mullins was at Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday’s night race, and breaks down the win for Bell, the issues with the tires that caused “uncontrolled chaos” at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”
Donald Trump, on Thursday, speaking about the murder of MAGA provocateur Charlie Kirk, blamed the shooting on “radical-left lunatics,” and added, ominously, “we have to beat the hell out of them.”
Not surprisingly, on Friday, we’re learning that the suspect in custody in connection with the shooting is a 22-year-old MAGA.
Nothing from Trump, to this point, retracting the call to his supporters to “beat the hell” out of innocent people on the left, who had nothing to do with the murder of Charlie Kirk, which was an inside job.
You’re not surprised to learn any of this, no doubt.
People who read AFP for our sports coverage know that I got the label “fringe media” from a mainstream sportswriter last year, and decided to adopt what was meant as an insult as a badge of honor, because that’s how you disarm people who want to diminish you – by making their attempts at insults into a big joke, to point out the absurdity.
What I’m going to do here today is tell you, it’s not just the dwindling numbers in what is left of the sports media profession who treat us as fringy outsiders.
UVA Football faces William & Mary, an FCS school, in Week 3, so, not as much need to get folks ready.
This allows us to take the mid-week to review the disappointing 35-31 loss at NC State in Week 2.
It was disappointing because, in a lot of ways, the ‘Hoos did everything but win that game.
Today’s postmortem grades the offense, defense and special teams.
NASCAR Podcast | Preview of the Bristol night race, playoff eliminator
Denny Hamlin punched the second ticket to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 with his win in Illinois.
Who will join Hamlin and Chase Briscoe in the Round of 12?
Rod Mullins will be representing AFP at Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday’s night race, the eliminator for the Round of 12.
On the podcast, we go through the drivers on both sides of the cutoff who have work to do to get to the next round.
I don’t live in the 35th House District anymore, but the wide-expanse district – which stretches from Bath County, into Highland County, through the western half of Augusta County, to the northeast into a corner of Rockingham County – is still where I spent the bulk of my life.
The district covers 1,963.7 square miles – an area bigger than the state of Rhode Island (1,545 square miles), and not far behind Delaware (2,489 square miles).
There are no cities in the 35th; there are a lot of wide-open spaces and beautiful vistas.
And a lot of good, hard-working folks who have been abandoned by both political parties.
The 35th voted 70.5 percent for Donald Trump and 73.0 percent for Ben Cline in the 2024 cycle, only to see the MAGAs approve what they called a Big, Beautiful Bill that cut healthcare to the point that one of our two regional hospitals, Augusta Health, has had to close down two primary-care centers serving the outer reaches in the 35th.
Hospitals cutting services are just one impact of the trillions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid and Medicare that are on the horizon.
“Please understand that Medicaid funds the Affordable Care Act subsidies that many of our neighbors rely on for health coverage. That includes cancer screenings, mental health services, addiction treatment, and doctor visits for chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease,” said Jena Crisler, a medical doctor who lives in Port Republic, in the southeast corner of Rockingham County, and is the Democratic Party nominee in the 35th.
UVA Football is in the Triangle for a Saturday noon kickoff at NC State, with the Pack installed as the 2.5-point favorite.
My job: to get you ready for the main storylines in the matchup.
I go through the Five Things to Watch For, and break down State based on what we saw in its 24-17 win over ECU in Week 1.
ICYMI
UVA Football vs. NC State | Five things to watch for in the Week 2 matchup
UVA Football Week 2 | What ‘Hoos fans need to know about NC State
Chandler Morris update | UVA Football QB a full go for Saturday at NC State
UVA Football Week 2 | Notes, press conference quotes, depth chart for NC State
Podcast | Briscoe takes NASCAR playoff opener; latest in the charter lawsuit
Chase Briscoe took the checkered flag at Darlington, punching his ticket to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12.
Briscoe was the big winner, but plenty of playoff contenders lost ground in the opening race of the 2025 playoffs.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the list of guys who have a lot of work to do to stay on the right side of the cut line the next two weekends.
We also discuss the latest in the lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports challenging the NASCAR charter system.
The UVA Football team opened its 2025 season with a visually impressive 48-7 win over Coastal Carolina on Saturday.
What did we really see, though?
Part of my job is to try to make sense of such things.
On the pod, I go over the basics, tell a nice story about Cam Ross, the game MVP, who has been in college since 2019, and then break down, in granular detail, my Week 1 Report Card.
ICYMI
- Report Card | Grading out UVA Football in the 48-7 win over Coastal Carolina
- UVA Football | The Cam Ross you saw yesterday: That’s ‘basically normal’
- UVA 48, Coastal 7 | What do we know about this UVA Football team? Not a lot, not yet
- Live Coverage | UVA Football opens 2025 season with 48-7 win over Coastal Carolina
A Waynesboro man is on a mission to improve safety for everyone on the road after his daughter, Robyn, died tragically in New York City while doing bicycle messenger work in 2019.
Three weeks after their death, his younger daughter, Rachel, who was doing a training ride, was hit by the driver of a car in Charlottesville. Rachel, thankfully, was not seriously injured in the bicycle crash.
“Think about that for a moment,” Jay Hightman told AFP. “I nearly lost both of my children to road violence in that brief amount of time.”
The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs begin this weekend, with a Sunday night race at Darlington.
Rod Mullins joins the show to help get us ready.
We also break down the 2026 NASCAR schedule, which was released last week, and talk through the latest in the lawsuit challenging the NASCAR charter system, and what it could mean for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.
Austin Dillon stole one of the remaining spots in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with his win at Richmond on Saturday.
Two spots remain in the final race of the regular season, coming up Saturday night at Daytona.
Rod Mullins joins us to break down the field of contenders, and bid-stealers.
We also discuss the new sponsor for the second-tier series, O’Reilly Auto Parts, which will replace Xfinity as the title sponsor in 2026.
I had a nice, informative – I’d like to think, to both sides – back-and-forth with an AFP reader this week, on the costs to attend the University of Virginia, and the impact that UVA Athletics does or doesn’t have on that.
The reader was responding to my recent series of articles discussing the approach that the athletics director, Carla Williams, has been taking to keep UVA Athletics competitive in the still-developing era in which college athletics finances are driven by the need to provide significant compensation for student-athletes in high-profile, money-generating sports like football and men’s basketball.
TeamAFP staff writer Rod Mullins was down in Bristol this weekend – both days, as it turned out – for the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Atlanta Braves got the win, 4-2, over the Cincinnati Reds, but that was just part of what was going on at the iconic NASCAR venue.
Rod takes us in the press box and on the field to give us insight into what was going on behind the scenes.
The Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves are on their way to Bristol after the splitting the first two games of a four-game series.
Why Bristol?
Rod Mullins previews the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic, which will feature a record-breaking crowd – more than 85,000 are expected – at Bristol Motor Speedway, which has been remade into a state-of-the-art baseball stadium for a one-night-only game on Saturday.
Rod was at BMS on Thursday, and he takes us behind the scenes to get us ready for this most unique sporting event.
If you want to know what you need to know about UVA Football, you need to follow the money.
AFP staff writer Scott German joins the podcast for our summer UVA Football preview, and most of what we do over the course of the hour is, follow the money.
Scott talked last week with the new GM for UVA Football, Tyler Jones, and the assistant GM, Justin Speros, to learn more about the massive influx of dollars into the NIL budget, and how that changed things in terms of recruiting.
Two topics on the news podcast today:
- It has been made abundantly clear to me that UVA Athletics does not want to say anything, publicly, privately or otherwise, regarding the finding of misconduct against associate head swim coach Gary Taylor.
- I have had it up to, wherever, with Virginia Democratstelling me, several times a day, everything that Winsome Earle-Sears is doing wrong. Main issue for me here being: they never tell me what the person who I want to be governor, Abigail Spanberger, wants to do that’s right.
An appeals court lifted an injunction in the antitrust suit filed by the owners of 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports against NASCAR, which could put the status of the two race teams in doubt ahead of the beginning of the trial in December.
Rod Mullins joins me for the podcast to break down the latest developments in the case/.
Rod also reports on the pending closure of the company that produces the grandfather clocks presented to winners at Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway and the preparations for the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic.
The show wraps with a recap of Shane van Gisbergen’s win in Chicago, and a look ahead to this weekend’s action in Ponoma.
UVA President Jim Ryan, whose contract was extended in 2022, before the MAGAs started gaining power on the BOV, was a goner; the only question was, how?
There was plenty to work with – the issues with leadership at UVA Health, which led to the resignation of its CEO, Craig Kent, in February; the failures on several fronts that factored into the entirely preventable shooting deaths of three UVA Football players in 2022.
Turns out, the leverage point would be DEI, with a pair of UVA alums in the Trump DOJ, Gregory Brown, the deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights, and Harmeet K. Dhillon, a civil-rights lawyer in the department, leading the charge on that front.
NASCAR legend Richard Petty seems to think Shane Van Gisbergen did something wrong when Van Gisbergen won his way into the 2025 Cup Series playoffs this past weekend.
We talk about that, plus break down Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s one-off this coming weekend as a crew chief at Pocono.
Butch Wells, a member of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, called me on Wednesday to address the controversial cancellation of a planned Pride Month event at the Augusta County Library that had been scheduled for this past Monday.
The explanation for how things went down last week on this doesn’t put anybody involved in the decision to pull the plug on the Pride Month event in a positive light.
Still no news on the status of Gary Taylor, the head coach of Cavalier Aquatics, the Piedmont Family YMCA competitive swim team, and an assistant coach with UVA Swimming, who is currently serving a two-year probation handed down by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
AFP was the first to report on the investigation that concluded with Taylor admitting to emotional misconduct while coaching swimmers from 2015 to 2022 at North Carolina State, Auburn and Cavalier Aquatics.
On the podcast, I report on what we know about the case, and the silence from UVA Athletics and the local YMCA.
Eight immigrants went to work in Harrisonburg on Tuesday morning and didn’t return home that night.
Crystal Graham tracked down the story of what happened to them, talking with a witness at the scene where the FBI and Homeland Security detained the eight, and threatened locals who tried to intervene to inform the immigrants of their rights.
The Alejandro Queen will bring all her showmanship to the stage – big hair and makeup and elaborate clothing – Saturday night at The Foundry in Waynesboro.
On the pod: I speak with AFP editor Crystal Graham, who interviewed Alejandro Circelli, the Staunton man behind The Alejandro Queen, to talk about how he became a drag performer, his life as a gay man in the conservative Shenandoah Valley, and the importance of LGBTQ+ allies.
The world learned Thursday night that Brian O’Connor, who had signed an extension with UVA just last June that paid him $1.4 million a year, making him the eight-highest-paid coach in college baseball, is now the second-highest-paid coach in college baseball, at $2.9 million a year.
Mississippi State Athletics went out of its way to make this public – which is to say, they didn’t make reporters file a FOIA request and wait five days to get a copy of the term sheet.
The former Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College wanted everybody to know that it had poached its new baseball coach from a blue blood with a $14.2 billion endowment.
The shocking annual salary, and four-year contract, puts a different perspective on the hue and cry from O’Connor from last fall and into the spring about Carla Williams not being willing to give him the resources he needed to be able to compete.
I’d much rather be writing about UVA Baseball getting ready for another Super Regional weekend, but things didn’t work out as expected.
Instead, the news is, Brian O’Connor left town in the middle of the night for Mississippi State, supposedly because Mississippi State is a better situation baseball-wise.
I’ve been covering this from all possible angles – examining the money, the impact of the move on O’Connor’s legacy, and where UVA goes to for its next baseball coach.
Rod Mullins started off our podcast talking about this past weekend’s Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600, and NASCAR star Kyle Larson’s second failed attempt at “The Double.”
A sidebar story about a fan who tried to steal Ross Chastain’s hat in Victory Lane at the 600 led to a lengthy discussion of ‘70s and ‘80s superfan Morganna the Kissing Bandit, and whether her on-field incursions were real or kayfabe.
As you can tell, this week’s show is a can’t-miss.
TeamAFP editors Chris Graham and Crystal Graham get together for our weekly “Street Knowledge” podcast, which starts with a high school football coach arrested for DUI, and ends with the president pardoning a corrupt Virginia sheriff.
Topics in the podcast include:
- Waynesboro High School football coach arrested on misdemeanor DWI charge
- Augusta County: VCSB purchases property for crisis center, should break ground this year
- Regional animal shelter completion pushed back to end of June; additional delays possible
- Augusta Health, Valley Community Services Board brace for impact of Medicaid cuts
- Trump pardons former Culpeper County sheriff convicted in bribery scandal
How about a half-hour of baseball talk to start your week off? All apologies to the other ball sports, but baseball is my jam.
On today’s show:
- The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde over the weekend, and the firing season may not be over just yet.
- The Washington Nationals, for their part, are in Year 5 of a perpetual rebuild. Are the pieces in place enough to build a winner around?
- UVA Baseball alum Chris Taylor was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers after 10 years in Chavez Ravine.
- UVA Baseball, to me, looks like an NCAA Tournament
AFP editors Crystal Graham and Chris Graham have been hard at work this week tracking down the details of three ongoing controversies involving the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office.
In our Friday podcast, #TeamAFP breaks down:
Augusta County: Family of man who died in police custody wants answers
The family of a Staunton man who died in the back of an Augusta County Sheriff’s Office patrol car on May 5 is trying to get answers.
“There is real injustice here, and I truly feel like Stefan was assaulted to the point of his death,” Wade Gerencser, the brother of Stefan Gerencser, 39, wrote on social media, in a post brought to our attention by a family friend, Gary Bone, who served in the Marine Corps with the Gerencser brothers.
Former deputy files $5.35M suit against Augusta County sheriff over forced resignation
The $5.35 million federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith that is making news today might need to be taken with a grain of salt.
The reason I’m starting there: the allegations in the suit, Reynolds v. Smith, filed in the Harrisonburg Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, filed on behalf of a former sheriff’s deputy, Dennis Reynolds, were first peddled to me in 2023 by people who I know to be sworn political enemies of Smith, whose original sin was running for sheriff in 2015 against the handpicked candidate of the local political machine, and then winning.
Augusta County sheriff reprimands Black deputy over lighthearted TikTok
Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith still hasn’t commented on the lawsuit alleging that he sexually harassed a former male employee, but he found time on Thursday to publicly reprimand a Black deputy for comments she made on a TikTok video.
In case you’re wondering, yes, this was another instance of your sheriff letting himself get played on a public stage.
It’s weekly NASCAR podcast time, and we have to go into depth about Kyle Larson, who now has three Cup Series wins on the season, and is about to test the waters with another try at the Indy 500/Coca Cola 600 double on Memorial Day weekend.
But since our intrepid NASCAR journalist, Rod Mullins, is a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, we had to spend a good 15 minutes at the top talking about how Pete Rose deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The rain is here, and it’s going to get interesting in the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia this week, weather-wise.
TeamAFP’s Chris Graham and Crystal Graham talk about the weather to open the Monday podcast.
Crystal Graham is our resident weather reporter. She has the scoop on what we can expect from the slow-moving storm making its way from the Southeast.
Also on the show:
- Crystal updates us on local issues in Waynesboro involving a proposed increase in the meals tax and another project at the old Virginia Metalcrafters
- Crystal does her best to get Chris in further trouble with the UVA Basketball fan base, getting him to talk about the new hire by Ryan Odom to his staff.
- UVA Baseball continues its late-season run toward an NCAA Tournament berth.
- The “what else are we working on” segment includes the latest nonsense from DC involving DOGE not saving us money and Donald Trump taking a bribe, and details on a story that we’re working on about how Albemarle County Police are trying a new approach to dealing with mental health.
Just last week, Joey Logano and Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones engaged in an odd back-and-forth over a late-race mistake by Logano at Talladega.
So of course, it was Logano who would go on to take the checkered flag a week later in Texas.
The NASCAR gods are having fun with us.
Chipper Jones raised issue, seemingly innocently, with a decision by Joey Logano in last weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega.
Logano, he of obviously thin skin, fired back at the Baseball Hall of Famer.
This is a real thing, as our NASCAR writer, Rod Mullins, explains on our weekly podcast.
Also on today’s show:
- Austin Cedric takes the checkered flag at ‘Dega
- Logano, Ryan Preece penalized after the race
- Steve Phelps for PGA Tour commish?
- Prime Video sets May 22 date for series premiere of "Earnhardt"
The uncomfortable couple of weeks with no activity in the talent-acquisition part of the silly season ended Monday with the news that UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom has landed a top Euro prospect, 6’11”, 235-pound German center Johann Grünloh.
Story link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/the-drought-is-over-uva-basketball-is-a-step-closer-to-filling-out-a-roster/
I’ve been telling everybody who writes me worrying about the financial state of UVA Basketball, don’t worry, we have the money to play big-boy basketball.
Then I see today what Maryland is paying Buzz Williams, and, gotta say, sorry, I take it all back, y’all were right, I was wrong.
Story link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/maryland-is-paying-buzz-williams-how-much-yeah-uva-basketball-is-falling-behind/
The NASCAR Cup Series had last weekend off, but the Truck Series and Xfinity Series were busy down in Rockingham, N.C.
Rod Mullins joined me on our weekly NASCAR podcast to hit the highlights from the weekend, focusing on the DQ of apparent Xfinity winner Jesse Love that gave the victory to Sammy Smith, and the threats from fans that have derailed the week of Katherine Legge following a late-race crash.
The Armentrout Towing/Old Dixie Towing guy facing a criminal reckless driving charge for driving menacingly through a Staunton political protest rally on April 5 got himself on the radar of the Staunton Police Department last fall for something else.
Story online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/staunton-pd-had-past-issues-with-tow-truck-driver-charged-in-april-5-rally-incident/
You might remember, I was on top of the UVA Basketball coach search from the get-go, being the first to tell you, among other things, way back in December, that Ryan Odom was one of the top candidates getting a look from the powers-that-be.
I only know that kind of stuff because people in the know tell me that kind of stuff.
I wish I was just that smart intuitively.
Nope.
Have you noticed that I haven’t had a lot to offer lately on the transfer portal?
It’s because the people in the know don’t know, either, why the flow of guys into the program has come to a halt.
There is talk in the industry about former UVA Basketball coach Tony Bennett being a possible target for the San Antonio Spurs, who don’t exactly have an official opening right now, but the writing seems to be on the wall, with respect to Gregg Popovich.
I can argue a million reasons why I don’t see Bennett-to-San Antonio happening, but still, this story has traction behind the scenes.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, in the first week of the Senate’s two-week recess, risked his life to try to bring home Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Virginia’s senior senator, Mark Warner has been puttering around the state doing grip-and-grins with locals around the occasional roundtable discussion with important people in business suits.
Tim Kaine, the junior senator, spent the week in Europe.
He did make a stop in Ukraine, which is something.
Advantage: yeah, obviously, Chris Van Hollen.
MAGA Gov. Glenn Youngkin is claiming that an outfit called the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force has made more than 500 arrests as of Monday, though the governor’s office isn’t able to give us much detail on the nature of the arrests.
Are White MAGA voters in Virginia ready to cast their lots with a Black immigrant woman for governor, a gay White man for lieutenant governor, and a Latino for attorney general?
Have to wonder how Democrats are going to play this in the fall.
I mean, it’s the MAGAs who are the anti-“woke,” anti-DEI crowd.
This one seems to be playing into Democrats’ hands, big time.
Whiny White liberals are complaining to me about how they felt penned in at a local protest in Staunton on Saturday.
My message: one, stop being a whiny White liberal.
Seriously, not a good look.
Your problems with being protected from people who would rather run you over with a truck as they would spit on you are what we call First World problems.
Two, and this one should be obvious: if you want to take your protest to other people and to elected leaders, you don’t need anybody’s permission.
A magistrate has issued an arrest warrant for the driver in the “rolling coal” incident that disrupted an April 5 protest rally in front of the Augusta County Courthouse in Staunton.
It literally took me swearing out a complaint and presenting evidence to the magistrate on Tuesday to get this to happen, because Staunton Police had no interest in the case.
Jeffrey Wayne Armentrout, the owner of the Staunton-based Armentrout Towing/Old Dixie Towing, was identified as the driver of the 2000 Ford Bronco F-350 with neo-Nazi insignia on the front bumper that blew a tower of smoke through a modified smokestack located in the bed of the truck, then drove at a high rate of speed and squealed tires past the rally site on West Johnson Street around 12:40 p.m. on April 5.
Story link: click here.
TeamAFP staff writer Rod Mullins spent the weekend down at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he was witness to a historic weekend of dominance from Kyle Larson, who won two of the three races, and was second in the third.
As much fun as that was, Rod, a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, was able to talk for a few minutes with Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, who was one of the marshals for Sunday’s Cup Series race, and was also on hand to help promote the Aug. 2 game between the Reds and Atlanta Braves that will be played at Bristol Motor Speedway in front of what is expected to be a record crowd.
Among the items that came up in the interview with Bench was the subject of some of his Reds teammates left out of the Hall of Fame – Rod asked specifically about Vada Pinson and Dave Concepcion.
So, NASCAR and baseball.
NASCAR will settle in at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for racing action that will begin Friday night with the Craftsman Truck Series.
TeamAFP’s Rod Mullins will carry the Augusta Free Press flag for us at Bristol this weekend.
Rod joins the “Street Knowledge” podcast to get us ready for the short-track mayhem.
Ryan Odom is getting heat for the mass exodus from the UVA Basketball program, but the reality is, the Tony Bennett/Ron Sanchez guys that are leaving aren’t fits in the new Odom system.
Let me break it down for you, with analysis of the six commits that Odom has been able to pick up from the transfer portal and the April prep signing window.
Staunton Police confirmed that they are investigating a reported incident involving a man with a gun at the April 5 Hands Off! protest rally, and one of the witnesses to the incident told AFP on Wednesday that he intends to press charges against the man.
The search is over, and UVA Basketball has its guy, Ryan Odom, who was introduced to the world on Monday with a public press conference at JPJ.
Odom said hello by offering the observation “I love offense,” and that he want to “play fast,” which might take some getting used to by the Embrace the Pace set.
The timestamp on the email from the UVA Basketball SID announcing that the school was cutting ties with Ron Sanchez was 5:00 p.m. ET on the dot.
TeamAFP’s Scott German noted that the FlightAware flight-tracking app had the team in the air over the Virginia-North Carolina border as the email was going out.
Sanchez didn’t learn his fate by email in the air or when the plane landed in Charlottesville, in case you were wondering.
Our contacts down in Charlotte described the scene after Virginia’s 66-60 loss to Georgia Tech that bounced the ‘Hoos from the ACC Tournament and ended the 2024-2025 season.
From what we were told, Sanchez was ushered into a room ahead of his postgame presser for a quick meeting.
We don’t know who else was in the room, but we can presume it was the athletics director, Carla Williams.
Sanchez was later than usual to the presser, and from a look at the video on YouTube, and a read of the transcript, he knew what was up.
There are two stories to follow right now with UVA Basketball – the season, which is now down to whatever happens in the ACC Tournament, and the coach search, which is at the end stages on a different time frame.
Today’s podcast tries to dive into both.
I start with a look ahead to Wednesday’s second-round ACC Tournament 8-9 game between UVA and Georgia Tech.
Then we shift to the latest in the coach search, which has had a ton of developments in just the past couple of days.
The gloves are off at NASCAR headquarters, with news breaking that the racing giant has filed a countersuit against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, which initiated action against NASCAR last year over the terms of the new team charters.
Rod Mullins, our NASCAR beat writer, joined the show to help me break down the particulars to the latest move in this back-and-forth.
Rod also reviews Christopher Bell’s win from Sunday in Texas, and gets us ready for this weekend in Phoenix.
The search committee that has been vetting candidates for the open UVA Basketball coaching job is in crunch time.
We know who the top candidates are now, but of course there are so many variables at play.
I had Scott German on with me on today’s podcast to break down the latest of what we know, which is a lot – that the search is revolving around, for now, at least, Marquette coach Shaka Smart and VCU coach Ryan Odom.
Among the issues: we’re still weeks away from being able to get anybody to sign on the bottom line.
In the pod, we examine the factors at play in getting the search to where it is now, and what can happen between now and thereabouts of April 1 that can lead to one or the other of the top candidates getting the job, or there being a need to get to a fallback candidate.
Rod Mullins, our NASCAR beat writer, joins “Street Knowledge” to review Christopher Bell’s OT win in Atlanta, and to help get us ready for this weekend in Texas.
The meat of the podcast this week is on the topic of TV ratings: for the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Truck Series, with an eye toward what NASCAR will do in the next couple of years to address its TV rights.
We wrap the show with news out of Southwest Virginia. Rod is also the editor of Dickenson Media, and we chatted about flooding in the Tri-State area, and the lack of action from the Trump administration on requests for disaster declarations in Virginia and West Virginia.
Ron Sanchez is the interim coach with the UVA Basketball program, but there’s some momentum toward Sanchez being a serious candidate to get the job on a full-time basis.
I go into detail about what we’re hearing on the Sanchez candidacy in this podcast, and also share what I learned from the look at the contracts of Virginia Tech basketball coach Mike Young and Hokies football coach Brent Pry.
A busy couple of days for UVA Basketball, with the loss at home to Virginia Tech at the buzzer on Saturday, then the quick turnaround for a road trip to Pitt.
The ‘Hoos dominated the NCAA Tournament aspirant, winning 73-57 in a game that was essentially over at halftime.
We break down how UVA did it, ahead of talking through the news coming up the rest of this week with the wrap on the winter recruiting season for UVA Football.
DEI – diversity, equity, inclusion – is “immoral,” per Donald Trump, a White man born into millions whose father bought him an Ivy League degree and gave him a $400 million head start in the business world.
Your first indication that U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is planning to run for re-election in 2026: he voted for the Laken Riley Act, the pretend get-tough-on-immigration bill that will allow the Trump administration to go after DACAs and people under Temporary Protected Status protections.
We finally heard from our MAGA congressman, Ben Cline, on the issue of President Trump’s inexcusable pardons of the 1,500 J6ers who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election to keep their Dear Leader in power.
The UVA Basketball team, which has lost its last five, and is 1-6 in the ACC, gets Boston College, which has lost its last four, and is 1-6 in the ACC, in JPJ on Tuesday night.
The only reason this one is on TV – ACC Network, 7 p.m. ET – is because every game is on TV in this day and age.
True story: my wife gave up her season tickets this season (we might have anticipated … something), so she buys single-games each time out.
The gamble: that she’d get ‘em cheaper than what we’d pay for the season tickets plus VAF donation.
The price for her tickets in the 300s for this one: 80 cents each.
Even with fees, she’s out eight bucks for two tickets.
My, how the mighty have fallen.
Still, I feel worse for the BC folks, because that program has had three winning seasons since cutting bait with Al Skinner (247-165 in 13 seasons there) way back in 2010.
Earl Grant got the Eagles into the NIT last season, but he lost Quinten Post to the G League, Claudell Harris to Mississippi State, Jaeden Zackery to Clemson, Devin McGlockton to Vanderbilt, and Prince Aligbe to Seton Hall.
Boston College is 9-9.
Its one ACC win is Miami, 78-68 at home back on Jan.1.
Let me feel bad for one more guy: Dan Bonner is on the call for ACCN for this one.
Dan deserves better.
The reactions to the news that UVA President Jim Ryan has finalized an extension with Athletics Director Carla Williams that includes a substantial raise for Williams aren’t trending in a good direction.
Fans and alums are in meltdown mode on social media over a raise for an AD whose football and men’s basketball programs are in free-fall.
Meanwhile, the blowback at the highest levels is on Ryan, involving the part about the substantial raise.
“The Board of Visitors Executive Committee approved an extension of her contract last June before football
The UVA Basketball program has taken up residence on the Left Coast, with a two-game road trip to new ACC members Cal and Stanford.
The 75-61 loss to Cal on Wednesday revealed more in the way of warts for the ‘Hoos, who were awful on offense, and worse on defense.
Interim coach Ron Sanchez, for his part, seems at a loss for answers.
It’s feeling like a lost season for Virginia fans.
Stories covered in this podcast
- A not good Cal team dominated Virginia: The writing is officially on the wall
- UVA Basketball: Tony Bennett didn’t do his buddy Ron Sanchez any favors
- UVA Basketball: Staff frustration with Christian Bliss bubbling to the surface
- UVA Basketball: Ron Sanchez has a Dai Dai Ames problem
AEW finally played the back half of the home-and-home with New Japan, sending a handful of stars to Tokyo last week for “Wrestle Dynasty.”
I had resident #TeamAFP AEW beat writer Ray Petree on for our weekly wrestling podcast, and the relationship between AEW and NJPW was a focal point.
Among the discussion points:
- Kenny Omega made his in-ring return at “Wrestle Dynasty,” an interesting choice, given that AEW is where he makes a tony of money. Despite telling the AEW audience on this week’s “Dynamite” that he may never again be the Kenny Omega of old, Omega was, pretty much, the Kenny Omega of old in his match with Gabe Kidd.
- We’re told that NJPW suspended commentator Chris Charlton for his comments during the Omega-Kidd match directed at Tony Khan and AEW’s booking of former New Japan stars. One way to look at this: there’s a strain in the relationship between the companies. Which would make sense from New Japan’s perspective, since AEW raided the top of its roster. But why would AEW have an issue going forward with New Japan?
- Zack Sabre Jr. is a throwback to wrestling before it became sports entertainment. The IWGP world champ is unique in working matches that feel real in an era with guys trying to get in every high spot they can in the few minutes they get.
- Powerhouse Hobbs got the dub in the Casino Gauntlet Match to win a shot at AEW world champ Jon Moxley. Will this be another one-off for Hobbs, who has been the victim of on-again, off-again pushes?
- We got our first taste of what we’ll see in the first-ever Women’s Casino Gauntlet Match this week on “Dynamite.” It has to end with Toni Storm winning the title shot against AEW women’s champ Mariah May next month’s “Grand Slam Australia” PPV, doesn’t it?
- Mercedes Mone’s first several months in AEW were uneven, at best. But Mone, the TBS champ, is starting to hit her stride.
UVA Basketball gets Louisville on Saturday in JPJ, with the Cardinals fresh off a 13-point win over North Carolina.
In this podcast, we preview the UVA-Louisville matchup, with updates on the status of point guards Dai Dai Ames and Christian Bliss, and we get a glimpse into the thinking of interim coach Ron Sanchez, with every game, at this point, being a must-win.
Online* Preview: What UVA Basketball fans need to know about Louisville * UVA Basketball: Updates on point guards Christian Bliss, Dante Harris * UVA Basketball: Ron Sanchez not focused on what happens ‘three months from now’
The UVA Basketball team hosts NC State on New Year’s Eve in the ACC home opener for the ‘Hoos, with a lot on the line, including, apparently, the job prospects of interim head coach Ron Sanchez.
I’m overstating that, as I discuss in this podcast – the writing is on the wall as far as the coaching search is concerned.
We go into that, and also get into the weeds on the odd story coming out of Tallahassee regarding a suit filed against FSU Basketball coach Leonard Hamilton over NIL payments.
ICYMI
UVA Basketball: Our first dive into the pool of guys who could be the next head coach
Preview: What UVA Basketball fans need to know about NC State
Suit: FSU Basketball team threatened to boycott Duke game over NIL payments
AEW has had a nice run of shows as lead-ins to Saturday night’s “World’s End” pay-per-view, which will feature the semifinals and final of the Continental Classic and a four-way match for the AEW world championship.
I had #TeamAFP resident AEW beat writer Ray Petree on the podcast today to review this week’s “Collision” and “Dynamite,” as the basis of us then trying to forecast the eight-match “World’s End” card.
The card:
- MJF vs. Adam Cole for possession of the Dynamite Diamond Ring
- AEW International Title match: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs
- TBS Title match: Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Kris Statlander
- Continental Classic Semifinal: Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher
- Continental Classic Semifinal: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Ricochet
- Continental Classic Final: winners of Ospreay/Fletcher and Okada/Ricochet
- AEW Women’s World Title match/Tijuana Street Fight rules: Mariah May (c) vs. Thunder Rosa
- AEW World Title Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Orange Cassidy vs. “Hangman” Adam Page vs. “Switchblade” Jay White
AEW returned to Washington, D.C., this week, for the “Holiday Bash” edition of “Dynamite.”
The show, which featured an instant classic between Darby Allin and Will Ospreay, a TBS title defense by Mercedes Mone and backstage musings from Swerve Strickland, Ricochet and Toni Storm, got a nice jolt in the ratings, and drew 3,000 people to the Entertainment & Sports Arena.
TeamAFP’s Ray Petree was there live, and I had him on for this week’s podcast to talk about how the TV show played to the live crowd.
For some reason, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway played UVA Basketball for the first 20 minutes on Wednesday night – measured, precise, largely halfcourt basketball.
Go figure, it didn’t work – the Cavaliers led 30-21 at the break, and seemed poised for the upset of the 21st-ranked Tigers.
Hardaway unleashed the hounds of hell on the ‘Hoos in the second half, pressing full court after makes and misses, utilizing halfcourt traps to get Virginia out of its offensive sets.
The stratagem turned the nine-point halftime deficit into as much as a nine-point second-half lead before UVA was able to right the ship.
Ron Sanchez’s steering corrections came too late in what turned into a 64-62 Virginia loss.
AEW continues to struggle in the ratings, averaging 594,000 viewers for its two-hour “Dynamite” on Wednesday.
The show had more ups than downs, though.
I talked with Ray Petree, our resident AEW beat writer here at AFP, to review the show.
We also discussed the controversy that has arisen backstage with Toni Storm making her return on Friday’s “Rampage,” and the lingering issue with the contract status of Ray Fenix.
You want to blame UVA Football coach Tony Elliott, or UVA Basketball coach Ron Sanchez, or the athletics director, Carla Williams, but the truth is, the problems with UVA Athletics are more than what you think.
Our #TeamAFP resident Chicken Little, Scott German, joins me on the podcast for a rousing discussion of all that ails UVA Athletics.
Included in our rather depressing chat:
- We’re losing the starting quarterback, Anthony Colandrea, for no good reason.
- We’re keeping the offensive coordinator, Des Kitchings, for no good reason.
- Is Carla Williams even around in a few months to have to deal with all of this?
- Do the issues involving UVA Health and the external review of the Nov. 13, 2022, shootings play a role in all of this?
Photo: UVA Athletics
UVA Football showed improvement in 2024, winning five games in coach Tony Elliott’s third season, after back-to-back three-win seasons.
But with Elliott facing having to replace 43 seniors and grad students off the 2024 roster, and his starting QB, Anthony Colandrea, hitting the transfer portal, his career at UVA, and the UVA Football program itself, is at a crossroads.
AEW dropped the ball with a lackluster “Dynamite” following the solid Nov. 23 “Full Gear” pay-per-view.
I welcomed AFP resident AEW beat writer Ray Petree to break down the past week in All Elite Wrestling.
We discus “Dynamite,” “Full Gear,” look ahead to “World’s End,” and discuss the ongoing odd behind-the-scenes drama with Ricky Starks, and the booking for Darby Allin, who is either headed toward a main-event run with AEW world champ Jon Moxley, or is being booked into oblivion after suffering two squash losses in recent weeks.
It’s not a rivalry, any more than there’s a rivalry between bugs and a bug zapper, but anyway, this week is UVA-Virginia Tech football week.
It’s my job to get you ready for the annual beatdown, so, here goes.
- Virginia Tech may have to go with freshman Pop Watson at QB for UVA game
The folks in Vegas aren’t fooled by the strong possibility that Virginia Tech is going to have to go with its third-string freshman quarterback. - UVA Football Injury Report: Vaughn needs to step up at RB, good news with Trell Harris
UVA Football lost tailbacks Xavier Brown (broken collarbone) and Kobe Pace (knee) during last week’s 33-7 loss to College Football Playoff contender SMU. - UVA Football: Can we stop calling UVA-Virginia Tech a ‘rivalry,’ please?
“It’s two in-state schools. It’s houses divided. It’s bragging rights,” UVA coach Tony Elliott said on Tuesday, musing on the topic of, ahem, rivalry week, such as the annual UVA-Virginia Tech football series can be considered a “rivalry.” - UVA Football: The suits running the show are perfectly happy with things as they are
There even is a UVA Football program because the University of Virginia, like every other college and university in America that plays football, has made a Faustian bargain. We, like the others, let kids truck each other into head injuries and various other upper- and lower-body injuries and maladies involving broken bones and ligament and cartilage tears and bruised spleens and the like that will affect them the rest of their lives – the whole point to us doing that being, because it gets other kids to decide to apply for admission.
That’s just an expression, the thing about sniffing glue, and I doubt many UVA sports fans actually partake, but whatever the vice is, you’re probably doing more of it now, with your football and basketball teams partying like it’s 2009.
My effort at helping you find healthier ways to deal with your anxieties is this podcast.
The topics:
- UVA Football: How bad have things gotten, really? An examination
SMU left its starting quarterback in to throw a TD pass with 1:42 to go up 33-7, which should p— you off, if you’re a UVA Football fan, because SMU doesn’t need the style points, since the win here on Saturday puts the Mustangs into the ACC title game, and in control of its own CFP destiny. - UVA Football: Tony Elliott isn’t interested in your opinion on who should be his QB
UVA Footballcoach Tony Elliott has clearly had enough of you idjits who didn’t call the plays for Deshaun Watson or Trevor Lawrence as Clemson was winning natties trying to tell him who to play at quarterback. - Inside the Numbers: Simplified game plan, play-calling doomed UVA Football offense
The UVA Football offense never had a chance on Saturday against SMU, and it started with the game plan, the coaching given to the quarterback, and the play calling. - UVA Basketball: The analytics of how bad that trip to the Bahamas was
Last week’s 70-point night against Villanova in Baltimore seems like a fever dream for UVA Basketball fans, who have the nightmarish 42-point throwback to the 2023-2024 ‘Hoos that ran Tony Bennett out of the sport fresh in their minds. - Fair or not, Ron Sanchez doesn’t have a lot of time to figure things out
Ahead of this week, UVA Basketball hadn’t lost back-to-back games by 22 or more since 2008.
AEW is headed to the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., for its annual “Full Gear” pay-per-view (Saturday, 8 p.m. ET).
I had #TeamAFP AEW beat writer Ray Petree on my “Street Knowledge” podcast today to help me break down the card.
To help you follow along, here are the matches:
- MJF Roderick Strong
- Will Ospreay Kyle Fletcher
- “Hangman” Adam Page “Switchblade” Jay White
- Bobby Lashley vs. Swerve Strickland
- Four-way match for the AEW world tag team titles: Private Party (c) The Acclaimed vs. The Outrunners vs. Kings of the Black Throne
- TNT title match: Jack Perry (c) Daniel Garcia
- TBS title match: Mercedes Mone (c) Kris Statlander
- International title match: Konosuke Takeashita (c) Ricochet
- AEW world title match: Jon Moxley (c) Orange Cassidy
It’s a busy week for UVA sports fans. The UVA Football team has #12 SMU coming to town, and the UVA Basketball team is in the Bahamas getting ready for two games against Top 25 opponents.
AFP editor Chris Graham covers the big topics of the week.
On this podcast:Preview: A lot has to go right for UVA Football to pull upset of #12 SMU
The UVA Football program is one win away from going bowling for the first time since the 2019 Orange Bowl.
12 SMU is one win away from a berth in the ACC Championship Game in its first season in the league.
Both have a lot to play for on Saturday (noon ET, ESPN2).
Injury report: ‘Hoos in, ‘Hoos out for UVA Football for this week’s game with #12 SMU
UVA Football coach Tony Elliott confirmed on Tuesday that middle linebacker James Jackson will not be available for this weekend’s game with #12 SMU.
“He was nursing a foot, and then gave us everything he had and about 22 plays in, he couldn’t deal with the pain anymore,” Elliott said.
UVA Football: Tony Elliott is trying to convince himself to stick with Anthony Colandrea
You can hear UVA Football coach Tony Elliott struggling with the call that he has to make with Anthony Colandrea, his sophomore starting quarterback, who has been struggling mightily, going back several weeks now.
Report Card: How did UVA Football do this year with the transfer portal?
Whatever happens over the next two weekends, UVA Football coach Tony Elliott is going to have a lot of work to do, and pretty much right away, to piece together a working roster for 2025.
How much is UVA Football getting for WVU games in Charlotte in 2026, 2032?
I got a flood of questions from readers about the upcoming two-game series between UVA Football and WVU, with game dates announced for 2026 and 2032, and the games being played in Charlotte.
Jones pleads guilty to Nov. 13, 2022, murders of three UVA Football players
The University of Virginia student who shot and killed three UVA Football players and wounded two others in a Nov. 13, 2022, mass shooting on Grounds has pleaded guilty to charges connected to the case, avoiding a trial that had been set to begin in January.
UVA Basketball: #11 Tennessee is up next for the ‘Hoos, down in the Bahamas
I couldn’t pull the trigger on scheduling myself to go to the Bahamas with UVA Basketball, which I’m now regretting, with light snow in the forecast for the Valley on Thursday and Friday.
President-elect Donald Trump isn’t done raiding Fox News for his Cabinet, which is what we expected from the failed TV game show host elected to a second term in the White House.
It’s not quite the end of the world as we know it, but apologies if it feels like it sometimes.
On this week’s politics podcast, we dive head-first into:
- Donald Trump might have to give up on his first Attorney General nominee, Matt Gaetz, who we’re now learning as the new week starts reportedly participated in drug-fueled orgies that included underage girls during his first term in Congress.
From Warner, Kaine raise issues with Matt Gaetz, Tulsi Gabbard Cabinet nominations - We got ourselves a 2025 Virginia politics cycle shocker on Monday: Jason Miyares is going to run for a second term as attorney general, ceding the Republican Party gubernatorial nomination to Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
From Shocker: Jason Miyares passes up run for governor, going for second term as AG instead - Ken Mitchell, fresh off getting 34.6 percent of the vote in his loss to Ben Cline in the race for the Sixth District seat in Congress, is back for more.
From Ken Mitchell announces candidacy for Sixth District seat in Congress in 2026 cycle - Sixth District Congressman Ben Cline came up short on Friday in his bid to become the next chairman of the Republican Study Committee.
From Ben Cline defeated in bid to take control of Republican Study Committee - Virginiahas added 247,400 jobs since Glenn Youngkin took office in 2022, which we can thank the outgoing president, Joe Biden, and congressional Democrats for – see: Inflation Reduction Act.
From Glenn Youngkin takes credit for Virginia jobs: It’s the federal government, doofus - The low-income White MAGA folks who voted for Donald Trump will be the ones who feel the consequences. They’ll be the ones who lose their health insurance when he follows through on his promise to end Obamacare, and the ones who will feel the pinch of higher prices when he follows through on his promise to jack up tariffs.
From Mailbag: MAGA reader uses the term ‘woke,’ hints Jesus wouldn’t have liked it
Joey Logano was the big winner on Sunday at Phoenix, bringing home his third NASCAR Cup Series championship, a month after leaving the track at Charlotte thinking he had been eliminated from the 2024 playoff race.
It was a remarkable turnaround for Logano, and an end to the 2024 NASCAR season that had begun nine long months ago in Daytona.
Chris Graham and Rod Mullins recap Logano’s victory and the highlights of the 2024 season on this week’s podcast.
Also on this week’s show:
- How will 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports approach 2025 without team charters as their antitrust lawsuit plays out?
- The latest silly season news
- Who would have won the 2024 championship under the pre-playoff scoring system?
The road to “Full Gear” continued last night when AEW made its debut in Manchester, New Hampshire, at the Southern New Hampshire University Arena for Wednesday Night “Dynamite.”
Last night, wrestling fans relived the “Wednesday Night Wars.” WWE’s “NXT” aired head-to-head against “Dynamite,” on The CW Network from the famed 2300 Arena, invoking shades of ECW.
Tony Khan needed to swing for the fences to compete with “NXT” in the ratings. Thankfully, he hit a homerun.
Is Tony Khan finally getting the hang of booking pro wrestling?
The question arises after taking in this week’s AEW “Dynamite,” which featured a payoff in a five-years-and-running tag-team feud between The Young Bucks and Private Party, Adam Cole’s return from more than a year out with a broken ankle and, finally, the debut of Bobby Lashley.
Chris Graham and Ray Petree dive into the deep end of the AEW pool here.
Other topics of interest include:
- Orange Cassidy challenging AEW world champ Jon Moxley. How should AEW approach this one, and the match that we know is coming after, between Moxley and Darby Allin?
- Should Allin get a run with the AEW title?
- Who is next in the tag-team division now that Private Party has the belts?
Tyler Reddick and Joey Logano have already punched their tickets into the NASCAR Championship 4 finale.
Two spots are still up for grabs as the NASCAR Cup Series returns to Martinsville for the Round of 8 playoff finale on Sunday.
Rod Mullins of Dickenson Media joins us to preview what we can expect from Martinsville.
Mullins also reports on changes on the team of 23XI Racing’s Bubba Wallace, and the latest on the lawsuit challenging the NASCAR charter system.
Former Waynesboro mayor Bobby Henderson is back, this time running for the At-Large seat on Waynesboro City Council.
Henderson joined AFP editor Chris Graham to talk about his decision to get back into the political ring after a two-year hiatus.
The focus for Henderson, a military veteran, retired Virginia State Police trooper and lifelong Republican, is on restoring the voice of voters in the city, which has been under the thumb of a MAGA majority led by the vice mayor, Jim Wood, the past two years.
Terry Short Jr. is running for a third term on Waynesboro City Council, this time running for the Ward B seat on the body.
Short talks with AFP editor Chris Graham about the 2024 race.
Short is one of three independents running for seats against a slate of Republicans hand-picked the sitting vice mayor, Jim Wood, the chairman of the Waynesboro Republican Committee.
Wood is the guy who was in national headlines last year for his homophobic slur of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
Short was outspoken in his criticism of Wood, who stands to become mayor if the GOP slate is successful in next week’s voting.
That is, if we get the vote certified. Wood’s two appointees to the Waynesboro Electoral Board have filed a lawsuit saying they will not vote to certify the local vote absent a court order, raising issue in the suit with state election law.
We cover those topics and others, including housing affordability, education and economic opportunity, in this interview.
Lorie Strother, a candidate for the Ward A seat on Waynesboro City Council, sits down for an interview with AFP editor Chris Graham to discuss the 2024 election.
The biggest issue facing the city involves the lack of affordable housing, which plays into the growth in the homeless population.
Strother, who was homeless herself as a teen, shares her perspective on what the city needs to do to address the housing and homelessness issues.
She also discusses her nine-year tenure on the Waynesboro Economic Development Authority, and what the city needs to do to continue to grow the local job base.
I hate that I feel the need to start this story about Ron Sanchez being formally rolled out as the interim head coach at UVA Basketball by addressing an interwebs rumor, but this is the world we live in.
Tony Bennett, after giving a lot of thought to things during a weekend trip on the Rappahanock River, decided, on Wednesday, so, two days ago, that he was going to step down from the UVA Basketball job.
It was far from a spur-of-the-moment decision; he’d been going back and forth about his future in college basketball for the past three years.
“The thing that has choked me up the most, and the hardest thing to say is, when I looked at myself, and I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment, and if you’re going to do it, you’ve got to be all in. You’ve got to have everything. If you do it half-hearted, it’s not fair to the university and those young men. In looking at it, that’s what made me step down,” an emotional Bennett said Friday at his retirement press conference.
Dean Smith retired on Oct. 9, 1997, to engineer giving the North Carolina job to Bill Guthridge, and SI.com columnist Pat Forde was so offended that he helped create an award in Smith’s honor.
Like Kamala Harris, I worked at a McDonald’s, in my case in high school. Unlike Donald Trump, I never got a French fry certification pin for learning how to drop a basket of fries in the grease, which takes all of five seconds to master.
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano executed Team Penske’s fuel strategy flawlessly on Sunday, securing victory in the South Point 400 Playoff race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. This win earned him the first of four spots in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4.
Sam Houston has been involved with professional wrestling his entire life.
The son of Grizzly Smith, Houston’s family is ingrained in the fabric of the business. His older brother is WWE Hall of Famer Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and his younger sister is former WWE women’s champion Rockin’ Robin.
From setting up the ring and shuttling wrestlers across Louisiana as a teenager, to winning the Mid-Atlantic Championship and appearing in WrestleMania IV, Houston has seen it all.
Front Row Motorsports has not turned a profit in its 20 years in NASCAR, according to a court filing from its owner, Bob Jenkins, who along with Michael Jordan at 23XI Racing is suing the privately-owned racing circuit to challenge the legality of its charter system, aimed at teams being able to get a bigger share of NASCAR’s $3 billion annual revenues.
Tony Bennett retired on Friday after 15 seasons as the head coach for the UVA Basketball program.
AFP editor Chris Graham was at Bennett's retirement press conference on Friday, and reports on the mood in the room, which, yes, obviously somber, looks back on what led to the shocking move by Bennett, and ahead to the prospects for the upcoming UVA hoops season, and beyond.
This week’s “Street Knowledge” podcast on AEW, with AFP editor Chris Graham and columnist Ray Petree, opens with a segment acknowledging the tragic flooding down in Western Carolina, including Asheville, N.C., the home of AEW stars Dax Harwood, Cash Wheeler and Adam Copeland.
“Dax Harwood kind of lives on social media, it seems, and he did post yesterday, just that the storm walloped him pretty hard. He was home in Asheville. And man, that situation there, it looks horrible,” Graham said on the podcast.
“Roads in and out of town, washed out, power gone, no communications, or very limited communications. It just looks awful. So that's, I mean, of course, there's the much bigger situation, just with all the people who are affected by that, but, but certainly from a wrestling perspective, we'll try to keep tabs on all that. That's, it's just a horrible story.”
Also on the show:
- Review of Night 1 and Night 2 of this week’s “Grand Slam.”
- WWE apparently has interest in Malakai Black. Would he be a good fit for a return?
- WWE stars AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura are nearing the ends of their current contracts. Could they fit in as top guys in AEW?
- The latest on the contract situation for AEW mainstays Penta and Ray Fenix.
- Swerve Strickland let slip something about AEW landing a new show on Fox. Did he mean FS1?
The money quote from AFP columnist Ray Petree on this week’s podcast: you could miss this week’s AEW “Dynamite,” and not be any worse for the wear heading into the big “Grand Slam” show next week in New York.
And no, this isn’t good for AEW.
Ray and AFP editor Chris Graham cover a lot of territory on the AEW beat this week.
In this podcast
Jericho-Cassidy sheds viewers in dud of opening segment
The opening segment of “Dynamite,” featuring a match pitting Chris Jericho vs. Orange Cassidy, went over like the proverbial wet fart in church.
As a gimmick, “The Learning Tree” is easily Jericho’s worst re-invention yet. Every week, we watch the “Jericho Vortex” suffocate Bryan Keith and Big Bill.
Since “All In,” Jericho has had The Conglomeration and Orange Cassidy in his crosshairs; culminating in this match — which lasted nearly 20 minutes.
Was this the best use of time for this episode of “Dynamite”?
New looks for Jon Moxley, Private Party
Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli are doing a good job reinventing themselves in the new-look Blackpool Combat Club.
This week, the BCC attacked Private Party, after Isaiah Kassidy and Marq Quen cut a nice promo that seems to signal a new direction for them, and then we saw Darby Allin get involved.
Where all of those parties go from here will be something worth watching.
It’s time to get the tag belts off The Young Bucks already
The names of the participants in the “Dynamite” main event reflect the quality of this match: Will Ospreay, Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita faced Kazuchika Okada & the Young Bucks.
For Ospreay, Fletcher, and the Young Bucks, it was a preview of their match next week at “Grand Slam.” For Takeshita and Okada, this was yet another confrontation — building towards their eventual match for the AEW Continental Championship.
This match was guaranteed to be entertaining, given how phenomenal all six men are in the ring. Not to mention, watching Ospreay and Okada share an AEW ring was exhilarating.
The question remains: can we just get the tag belts off The Bucks already?
Breaking: Miro asks for his release
Miro, not used in AEW at all in 2024, has reportedly asked Tony Khan for his release, and the only surprising thing to this breaking news is: what took so long?
Miro was, for a brief few months several years ago in WWE, the hottest heel in wrestling, as a pro-Putin propagandist with nuclear heat.
He had a solid run as the TNT champ in 2021, but we’re three years past that now.
Is the grass going to be greener if he returns to WWE? Or does he try to latch on with TNA Impact, MLW, or … just hang ‘em up?
Kill, Steen, Kill!
The wrestling rumor mill has it that Kevin Owens, nee Kevin Steen, could be a target for Tony Khan, with Owens’ contract with WWE coming up at the end of the year.
Would Owens/Steen consider jumping ship from WWE to reunite with his former Ring of Honor running buddies Matt and Nick Jackson?
KO might have already hit his ceiling in WWE, so that’s one factor to consider.
But he might want to get some assurances from Khan that there’s a plan in place for his rollout, in light of the flubs that we’ve seen with recent big-money signees Adam Copeland, Mercedes Mone and Kazuchika Okada.
Politics is a contact sport, as Springfield, Ohio, knows all too well, with MAGA Nation continuing to put the city in the crosshairs, all because city leaders refuse to play along with the Donald Trump/JD Vance lie about immigrants eating pets.
Chris Graham covers that topic in today’s podcast, and we also get into the Senate IVF bill that was blocked by MAGA Republicans, and the Teamsters, rather curiously, deciding to sit out the 2024 election, despite Trump making it clear that he will continue his union-busting ways if he gets elected in November.
All of that, plus our too busy with North Carolina politics to care about Waynesboro guy running for a seat on Waynesboro City Council.
If you want to know the reason for something happening in the world of sports, follow the money.
That’s the theme for today’s “Street Knowledge” podcast, at least the first two segments.
Host Chris Graham examines the rumored talks involving the ACC, Florida State and Clemson, and the latest about the AEW-Warner Bros. Discovery TV deal that is supposedly in the works.
The final segment breaks contain to update the latest on UVA Football, which is coming off a 27-13 loss to Maryland in Week 3.
NASCAR and its team owners, with two notable exceptions, have come to an agreement on the extensions of team charters, with an announcement on the extensions coming in advance of the opening of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs last weekend.
The two exceptions – 23XI Racing, co-owned by Michael Jordan and NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin, and Front Row Motorsports, owned by restaurant operator Bob Jenkins – are taking different approaches to where they want to see things go from here.
Jenkins has not commented on why he didn’t sign; 23XI, through Jordan and Hamlin, has been outspoken on why, citing terms that the team doesn’t think are favorable for the long-term.
Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch battled to the end of the Southern 500 to secure a spot in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Briscoe got the win and the final playoff spot, leaving Busch, who has been running well of late, on the outside looking in.
TeamAFP’s Chris Graham and Rod Mullins break down the thrilling end to the regular season, the disappointing near-miss for Bubba Wallace, and look ahead to the playoffs.
The second segment covers the developing news that an announcement appears to be in the works regarding NASCAR coming to an agreement with team owners on the terms of team charters that the team owners have been pushing for to give them more stability for the long term.
What does that mean for the sport?
This Harrison Burton story involving a final-lap lead change that vaulted him from nowhere to the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs is a lot better than the one that had been dominating the headlines.
Burton, who had lost his ride with Wood Brothers Racing for 2025, didn’t need to wreck anybody to get the win in Daytona on Saturday night.
It was just good, clean racing that got Burton, the son of retired NASCAR veteran Jeff Burton, who was on the call for NBC’s coverage of the race, into the winner’s circle, and into the 2024 playoffs.
I think it’s fair to speculate how the big season that a lot of folks seem to think is in store for Virginia Tech might factor into the thinking around Tony Elliott and Virginia.
There’s buzz about Tech being a sleeper pick to contend in the ACC this year, and that translates to expectations about, what, nine wins, maybe 10 wins?
If Brent Pry, in his Year 3, has Tech on the doorstep of an ACC title game, it’s not hard to imagine the people who pay the bills at UVA saying, hey, wait a minute, our guy is in his Year 3, what are we getting out of him?
Tyler Reddick took the checkered flag in Michigan on Monday, and since Reddick was already a 2024 winner, we still have four spots open in the 2024 NASCAR Playoff race.
That’s in part because of NASCAR’s surprise move last week to hit Austin Dillon, the winner at Richmond back on Aug. 11, with an unprecedented penalty – taking his guaranteed playoff spot away as the penalty for intentionally wrecking race leaders Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin on the final lap.
TeamAFP’s Chris Graham and Rod Mullins break it all down for us this week on the podcast.
Austin Dillon drove through leaders Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin to take the checkered flag in Richmond on Sunday night, igniting a controversy that has NASCAR saying it will review his driving, and maybe even take the win away.
That’s not going to happen, of course.
TeamAFP NASCAR writer Rod Mullins joins us to break down the end of an otherwise dull race, and also report from Bristol Motor Speedway, which announced last week that it will be hosting an MLB game in 2025.
NASCAR has taken the past couple of weeks off to accommodate TV rights holder NBC’s interest in broadcasting the 2024 Paris Olympics, but the Cup Series is set to return this weekend at Richmond International Raceway.
AFP’s NASCAR guy, Rod Mullins, joins Chris Graham on the podcast today to get us up to speed on what has been going on in NASCAR with the drivers and teams getting the rare mid-season break.
The talk of the spring in NASCAR was Kyle Larson trying to do the double – racing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 on the Sunday before Memorial Day.
The weather didn’t hold up to allow Larson to race in both, but Larson made up for that failed day with his win on Sunday at the Brickyard 400.
Rod Mullins joins the podcast to break down the win, and we talk off-the-track news with Cole Custer and Hailie Deegan.
It will be a while before Ryan Blaney has a lead on the final lap and doesn’t worry about whether he has enough gas to get across the finish line.
He did on Sunday, taking the checkered flag ahead of Denny Hamlin.
Rod Mullins joins the podcast to recap the NASCAR Cup Series weekend.
We also talk about the struggles for Cup Series stars Kyle Busch and Bubba Wallace.
Former AEW world champs Maxwell Jacob Friedman and “Hangman” Adam Page are back, and they’re on clear paths to big matches at the “All In” pay-per-view in London next month.
AFP wrestling columnist Ray Petree updates us on the latest goings-on in AEW, and previews this week’s “Dynamite,” before this week’s podcast turns into an impromptu Eddie Kingston lovefest, after a discussion of the latest news involving Kingston and his gruesome in-ring leg injury.
Chicago, for the second straight year, had its NASCAR street race, a neat idea, if there ever was one, dampened by rain.
Alex Bowman made it memorable, breaking his 80-race NASCAR Cup Series winless streak in a timed finish – an idea that NASCAR might want to try again, incidentally.
Rod Mullins joins the podcast to break down the weekend on the mean streets of Chicago.
The show also goes in depth on Hailie Deegan’s bad breakup with her Xfinity Series team, and the latest on NHRA legend John Force.
Podcast: Digging into the details of the Tony Bennett UVA contract extension
We’ve known since June 13 that Tony Bennett signed a contract extension that will, in essence, tether him to UVA Basketball through the end of the 2030-2031 season.
What we didn’t know: the details.
Chris Graham examines the salary, bonus and buyout portions of the deal in this podcast.
Stories referenced in the podcast
- What you need to know: Breaking down the Tony Bennett UVA contract extension
- Offer sheet from UVA Athletics to Tony Bennett sheds light on when extension was offered
AEW put on its third annual “Forbidden Door” pay-per-view on Sunday, highlighted by world champ Swerve Strickland retaining in the main-event match against roster newcomer Will Ospreay.
AFP wrestling columnist Ray Petree joins the show to go over the show’s hits and misses, and goes down his list of matches on the main show from 1-10.
We also preview this week’s AEW “Dynamite,” and take an early look at what could be in store for next month’s big show in London.
Rod Mullins joins the show to update us on the status of NHRA legend John Force, who was seriously injured in a fiery crash in Richmond several days ago.
The show then switches gears to break down Joey Logano’s five-OT win in Nashville, which came down to fuel strategy amid the craziness of the final 31 laps.
Also getting our attention: what really happened between Aric Almirola and Bubba Wallace?
Everybody always wants to fire the coach, which, fair – the coach makes a lot of money, so he’s not above reproach.
But is it that simple?
Virginia is coming off back-to-back three-win seasons under Tony Elliott, who some in the UVA Football fan base think is entering Year 3 on if not a hot seat, at least one that is warm.
Should it be?
Scott German cross-examines AFP editor Chris Graham to come up with the fix for UVA Football.
The answer?
You need to listen.
AEW is gearing up for its annual "Forbidden Door" pay-per-view, with world champ Swerve Strickland defending his title against Will Ospreay headlining a packed night of action.
Ray Petree joins the show to break down "Forbidden Door," and to preview the week in AEW's lead-in shows - "Dynamite," "Rampage" and "Collision" - that will get us there on Sunday night.
NHRA legend John Force is in intensive care in a Richmond hospital after a harrowing crash at an event in Virginia this past weekend.
AFP racing reporter Rod Mullins updates us on Force's condition, which is very much touch-and-go at this early stage.
The podcast also covers the pending move of Chase Briscoe to Joe Gibbs Racing, and Christopher Bell's win in New Hampshire on a rainy NASCAR Sunday.
Ryan Blaney lost out on a chance to win a few weeks ago when he ran out of gas on the final lap. In Iowa on Sunday, Blaney, leading late, didn’t have any worries about gas, though tires could have been a concern.
Blaney ended up getting the win in the NASCAR Cup Series debut at Iowa Speedway.
Rod Mullins breaks down the race, and Rod and AFP editor Chris Graham discuss the retirement announcement of 2017 series champ Martin Truex Jr., the comments from two-time champ Kyle Busch about his future, and continued discussion over the business side of NASCAR.
It’s only being honest to say that AEW, approaching its fifth anniversary, is struggling right now, with TV ratings at an all-time low, and ticket sales at its live shows flagging.
AFP wrestling columnist Ray Petree joins the podcast to break down how AEW got here, and what the company’s founder, creative director and chief bottle washer, Tony Khan, needs to do to get his promotion back on track.
Podcast: Recapping a wild weekend in NHRA, NASCAR, college baseball
AFP auto racing reporter Rod Mullins spent the weekend in Bristol at the Super Grip NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, and takes us inside the action at Bristol Dragway.
Rod and AFP editor Chris Graham also recap the NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma, which was won by Kyle Larson, with Martin Truex Jr. running out of gas within sight of the finish line before he could finish as the runner-up.
Wrapping things up, the guys preview the 2024 College World Series, with a focus on the local teams – UVA, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky.
AFP editor Chris Graham previews the UVA-Kansas State Super Regional, which begins Friday night at The Dish.
But before we can get to the happy place, there’s the news about the new UVA Football radio color analyst, the guy who made up a story to whip up his online mob to go after Chris last fall.
People can fail up in this world, which is nice to know.
Chris also updates folks on the latest on Tony Bennett’s contract status.
Ryan Blaney was cruising to victory in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway when the unthinkable happened – he ran out of gas.
The err in fuel technology allowed his Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric to race to his first victory since the 2022 Daytona 500.
Rod Mullins and Chris Graham discuss the race, which also included a dustup between Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch, and talk some more NASCAR business on this week’s podcast.
Virginia has been able to work around its dearth of pitching with a historic offense. But will the ‘Hoos translate what they’ve been able to do in the 2024 regular season to the NCAA Tournament?
AFP editor Chris Graham talks us through the four-team Charlottesville Regional field – which includes Mississippi State, St. John’s and Penn – and guesses along with coach Brian O’Connor as to how the coach will use what he has with his pitching staff to get through the weekend.
Stories referenced in this podcast
- Preview: Virginia, the #12 national seed, hosts Penn, Mississippi State and St. John’s
- How will UVA coach Brian O’Connor set up his starting rotation for the regional?
Stewart-Haas Racing is getting out of the NASCAR business at the end of the year, putting its four charters out on the market, and adding to the questions about the sustained viability of the NASCAR race team business.
Rod Mullins joins the podcast to help us break down the Stewart-Haas story, and we review the rainy Sunday that ruined the attempt at history from Kyle Larson, who was trying to complete the Indy 500-Coca Cola 600 double.
Joey Logano won a snoozer of a NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race Sunday night at North Wilkesboro, in which he led 199 of the 200 laps, but while the race itself was nothing to write home about, well …
There was the dustup between Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Kyle Busch after their Lap 1 swapping-of-paint that gave us something to talk about.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break it all down, and to share his insight into the attempt by Kyle Larson at the Indy 500-Coca Cola 600 double this coming weekend.
NASCAR has announced plans for an in-season tournament modeled on the NCAA's March Madness to begin in 2025.
Will it work to build even more interest among NASCAR fans?
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the bracket madness, and discuss Brad Keselowski's win in Darlington on Sunday.
The UVA Basketball roster looks to be set for the coming 2024-2025 season with four additions from the transfer portal.
How are things looking, then, for next season?
Pretty good, is the answer from AFP editor Chris Graham, who is not prone to just being nice for the sake of being nice.
Story referenced in this podcast:
- UVA gets its guys from the transfer portal: How does the roster look for 2024-2025?
Virginia coach Tony Bennett has been busy, adding four players from the transfer portal, including former Duke player and 2023 five-star TJ Power.
AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the pickups.
Stories referenced in this podcast:
- Virginia lands Duke five-star TJ Power: How does Power fit with the ‘Hoos?
- Bennett lands another big man, San Diego State’s Elijah Saunders, off the portal
- Would you believe, more UVA Basketball transfer portal news? Welcome, Carter Lang
- Bennett lands first 2024 transfer portal recruit: Florida State combo guard Jalen Warley
We just had the closest finish to a NASCAR Cup Series race in history - literally an inch separating Kyle Larson and Chris Buescher in Kansas on Sunday.
But there's tension behind the scenes in NASCAR-land, with the private owners of the racing series and the owners of the race teams who want to share more in the TV money at odds over how they can move forward.
Rod Mullins and Chris Graham break down the business issues, and the exciting finish to Sunday's race.
Denny Hamlin called his shot last week on his podcast, telling listeners that he was going to take the checkered flag at Dover.
Then, Hamlin, the Virginia native, went out and did it.
AFP’s resident NASCAR Cup Series writer, Rod Mullins, joins the show to break down Hamlin’s win, Kyle Larson’s second-place finish, the big wreck 72 laps from the finish that took out, among others, Bubba Wallace, and the rest of what on last weekend in Delaware.
Tyler Reddick emerged at the head of the pack in a wild finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega.
Reddick, who drives for 23XI Racing, celebrated the win with team co-owner Michael Jordan – yes, that Michael Jordan.
Reddick crossed the finish as literally all heck broke loose behind him.
AFP’s resident NASCAR writer, Rod Mullins, takes us through how it all went down on Sunday, and recaps Saturday’s exciting Xfinity Series race, which was won by 19-year-old rookie Jesse Love.
Ken Mitchell, the Democrat challenging Trump Republican Ben Cline for the Sixth District seat in Congress, isn’t going to get a writeup in Blue Virginia.
Ben Tribbett isn’t going to tweet about his campaign.
Richmond and Northern Virginia Democrats are going to ignore him, like the ignore everybody else with a D beside their name west of the Route 29 corridor.
Which is a shame.
Because Ken Mitchell is the kind of Democrat who actually has a Tom Perriello ‘08 longshot chance of winning in November.
Chase Elliott hadn’t won in a while – his NASCAR Cup Series winless streak went back 18 months – before his win on Sunday in Texas.
AFP’s NASCAR beat writer Rod Mullins joins us to break down Elliott’s win, Brad Keselowski’s frustrating runner-up finish, the series of bumps and other dust-ups that sent the race to OT, and the photo-finish Xfinity Series race.
Then the talk turns to the University of Kentucky basketball coaching search, which ended with the hiring of former UK star Mark Pope; and the fortunes of the Cincinnati Reds, Washington Nationals and Baltimore Orioles in the early weeks of the 2024 MLB season.
William Byron is NASCAR’s first three-race winner in the 2024 Cup Series season with his win on Sunday at Martinsville Speedway.
AFP NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins reports on the big race weekend at the historic Virginia track, which saw Hendrick Motorsports take the three podium spots on Sunday, and Aric Almirola taking the Xfinity Series race on Saturday night.
Stories referenced in this podcast
- William Byron takes Martinsville for win #3 in 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season
- Emotional Aric Almirola wins Dude Wipes 250 Xfinity race at Martinsville
Podcast: Does Cody Rhodes leave Wrestlemania as the undisputed champ?
Cody Rhodes has been trying to “finish the story” for two years. Does “The American Nightmare” finally achieve the dream and become the undisputed WWE champ at Wrestlemania 40 this weekend?
Chris Graham and Josh Deal preview WM 40 weekend, and also break down the CM Punk interview with Ariel Helwani, and the impact of what Punk had to say about the AEW business model might have on Tony Khan’s near-future.
Stories referenced in this podcast:
- CM Punk shoots on Tony Khan, AEW: ‘It’s not a sustainable business’
- Mailbag: How does WWE book Cody Rhodes, Roman Reigns, The Rock at Wrestlemania?
Martin Truex Jr. led 288 laps, but a crash a half-lap from the white flag sent Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Richmond into overtime, and Denny Hamlin and his team outmaneuvered the field to the win.
AFP’s NASCAR writer, Rod Mullins, joins the show to break down the day, the night, and the final two laps, plus the OT.
Mullins also previews this weekend’s race at Martinsville, where he will be on scene providing coverage of the Xfinity Series and Cup Series races.
The transfer portal is open, though you wouldn’t know it, to look at how quiet it has been at Virginia.
Virginia Tech, though, and JMU could be losing pretty much everybody to the portal.
AFP editor Chris Graham reports on the latest portal news, updates the JMU coach search, and breaks down how coaching moves factored into UNC’s surprise Sweet 16 loss.
William Byron, who took the checkered flag at the season-opening Daytona 500, added a win at Circuit of the Americas on Sunday, in the first NASCAR Cup Series road race of the 2024 season.
AFP’s resident NASCAR writer, Rod Mullins, breaks down Byron’s win, and previews the upcoming Cup Series races in Richmond and Martinsville.
Rod Mullins was in the media center for last weekend’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Being behind the scenes gives you a different perspective on a day of NASCAR Cup Series racing action.
Rod joins AFP editor Chris Graham to break down the race, won by Virginia native Denny Hamlin, and share what was being talked about in the pits.
Christopher Bell was in the Championship 4 in Phoenix a few months ago, but engine issues ended his run at the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series title early that day.
Bell notched the win this weekend in his return, capping an emotional week at the track for Joe Gibbs Racing.
AFP’s NASCAR writer, Rod Mullins, breaks down the Phoenix race, and previews Bristol, where he will be on the scene beginning on Saturday.
Virginia (21-9, 12-7 ACC) cannot afford a hiccup with Georgia Tech (14-16, 7-12 ACC) coming to town Saturday night.
AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the matchup, and also looks across the ACC at the conference’s three NCAA Tournament bubble teams – UVA, Wake Forest and Pitt – and what each needs to do heading into next week’s ACC Tournament.
Stories mentioned in this podcast:
- Preview: Virginia faces absolute must-win this weekend with Georgia Tech in town
- Metrics: Where do the ACC bubble teams stand as we edge closer to Selection Sunday?
Kyle Larson raced to victory in Las Vegas on Sunday. AFP NASCAR beat writer Rod Mullins joins the show to break down Larson’s win, and the rides of other top drivers in Sunday’s race.
Other topics:
- What happened to Chris Buescher’s tire, and why is NASCAR investigating?
- Amazon is making a splash in the NASCAR TV game.
- Honda appears to be ready to get involved in the NASCAR business.
For the first time in a decade, AFP editor Chris Graham will be attending a Virginia game without a credential hanging around his neck.
Chris will be in Cameron Indoor Stadium for Saturday’s ACC clash between Duke and Virginia.
It’s not a must-win for the ‘Hoos, but a W would be a nice add to the NCAA Tournament resume.
On the eve of the contest, Chris breaks down the matchup with an eye on how Virginia will try to game plan for what Duke will bring.
Story referenced in this podcast
- Virginia heads to Duke, where a Cavalier Court Storm could help NCAA resume
Daniel Suarez was just thismuch faster than the field in his photo-finish win in Atlanta on Sunday, at the end of one of the more thrilling NASCAR Cup Series races in recent memory.
AFP’s resident NASCAR beat writer, Rod Mullins, joins the podcast to break down the action – 48 lead changes, crashes involving 32 race teams, the three-wide finish.
We also look ahead to this Sunday’s race in Las Vegas.
Virginia (20-8, 11-6 ACC) needs a win at Boston College (15-12, 6-10 ACC) on Wednesday to keep on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble.
But are there bigger issues for this Virginia team, which has lost three of its last four, and hasn’t scored out of the 40s in two weeks?
AFP editor Chris Graham addresses the issues for the ‘Hoos, and the strategic tweaks that coach Tony Bennett could be putting in place to get things moving in the right direction.
Stories referenced in this podcast
- Preview: Virginia faces do-or-die game with Boston College on Wednesday
- Bennett has the blueprint for how to fix his offense: He just doesn’t want to use it
- Mailbag: Should Virginia try to speed the game up to try to get more offense?
We’ve been writing all week about how Virginia coach Tony Bennett and his team have recognized that there’s a softness about this year’s team.
Can the Cavaliers toughen up in time to make a stretch run heading into March Madness?
AFP editor Chris Graham previews the next game up for UVA – with ACC leader North Carolina coming to JPJ.
Stories referenced in this podcast
- Just being honest: North Carolina is a tough, tough matchup for this Virginia team
- Virginia is ‘soft’: Where do we see it the most? The worst place: in the post
- ‘Soft’: When this 20-win Virginia team gets down, oddly, it stays down
There was enough of a break in the torrential rain to allow for the running of the 2024 Daytona 500 on Monday, with William Byron taking the #24 Chevrolet to the checkered flag in the NASCAR season opener.
Rod Mullins joins AFP editor Chris Graham to break down how it happened.
We also discuss the ongoing review of fuel strategies by NASCAR, and the dispute between the team owners and the France family over how the billions that the business generates should be divided up.
No shame in losing, but Virginia’s 75-41 loss at Virginia Tech on Big Monday was more than an instance of losing a game.
There was a lot wrong with everything that happened down in Blacksburg.
AFP editor Chris Graham tries to get to the bottom of what happened in the loss, which in a couple of ways seems to have undone the good of the recent eight-game winning streak.
Stories referenced in this podcast
- Listless Virginia pantsed by Virginia Tech in front of national TV audience
- It only counts as one L, and other observations from UVA’s 75-41 loss at Virginia Tech
- Metrics: Blowout loss at Virginia Tech did serious damage to Virginia in the computers
Virginia (20-6, 11-4 ACC) faces a tough road test on Monday night with a game at in-state ACC rival Virginia Tech (14-11, 6-8 ACC).
AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the matchup, the second of the home-and-home between the two this season.
We also look back at Virginia’s 49-47 win over Wake Forest on Saturday, and how the weekend action impacted the six ACC teams in contention for NCAA Tournament at-large bids.
Stories referenced in this podcast
- Preview: Virginia has tough road test at Virginia Tech on Big Monday
- First one to 49 wins: Five observations from Virginia’s ugly W over Wake Forest
- Metrics: How Virginia, rest of the ACC, sit with the computers after Saturday action
- The ACC’s dumb mistake with March Madness: Scheduling harder than the Big 12
- Jay Woolfolk knocked out early, but #14 Virginia completes series sweep
Virginia pretty much beat itself earlier in the week in that 74-63 loss to Pitt. The ‘Hoos (19-6, 10-4 ACC) have to get back on track with a game against a tough Wake Forest (16-8, 8-5 ACC) on Saturday (noon ET, ESPN2).
Wake dominated UVA in a 66-47 win in Winston-Salem last month.
AFP editor Chris Graham, after recapping what happened on Tuesday in the loss to Pitt, looks ahead to the weekend.
Stories referenced in this podcast
- Virginia, licking wounds from Pitt loss, entertains Wake Forest on Saturday
- Metrics: How did the home loss to Pitt impact Virginia with the computers?
- Pitt’s threes were falling: The offensive rebounds, though, they’re on Tony Bennett
- Tony Bennett, in Pitt postgame presser slip, suggests his team might have ‘quit’
- Pitt made a ton of threes: That, and four other observations from Virginia’s 74-63 loss
- Pitt, draining threes all night long, notches 74-63 upset at #21 Virginia
21 Virginia (19-5, 10-3 ACC) is the hottest team in the ACC. Pitt (15-8, 6-6 ACC) is the second-hottest, winning five of its last six.
AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the UVA-Pitt matchup, which is set for Tuesday night (7 p.m. ET, ACCN).
But first in this podcast, we look back at Virginia’s 80-76 win at Florida State on Saturday, the eighth win in a row for the ‘Hoos.
Also, good news, such as it is – Virginia is back in the national rankings.
Stories mentioned in this podcast
- Torrid Virginia faces streaking Pitt, which has quietly won five of its last six
- Notebook: Virginia coach Tony Bennett on Pitt, being back home on the weekend
- Virginia Basketball back in AP, coaches’ Top 25 for the first time in eight weeks
Virginia (18-5, 9-3 ACC) takes its seven-game winning streak to Tallahassee this weekend as the ‘Hoos prepare for Florida State (13-9, 7-4 ACC).
How does UVA match up? AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the FSU rotation and offers thoughts on how Tony Bennett will approach the ‘Noles.
We also open up the Notebook to discuss Jake Groves, the third guard spot, and the growth of freshman center Blake Buchanan.
Stories discussed in this podcast
- Virginia set to face Florida State, looking to extend seven-game winning streak
- UVA Basketball Notebook: Groves off the bench; Buchanan growing up; Bennett on D
- Mailbag: An alternative perspective on playing time for Andrew Rohde
Virginia pantsed Miami on Big Monday, holding the ‘Canes, who had been averaging 80.8 points per game, to a program-low 38 points.
AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the game, and how the win helped Virginia’s case for an NCAA Tournament bid.
We also open up the mailbag to talk about the play of guard Andrew Rohde.
Stories referenced in this podcast:
- Virginia puts Big Monday chokehold on Miami, in convincing 60-38 win
- ‘The game?’ Miami coach Jim Larranaga had enough of that press conference
- What did we just see? Five Observations from Virginia’s 60-38 squash of Miami
- Metrics: Where Virginia Basketball stands with the computers after the Miami win
- Mailbag: Reader offers fresh take on Andrew Rohde playing time discussion
Virginia (17-5, 8-3 ACC) has a quick turnaround after its Quad 1 win over Clemson on Saturday, with Miami (15-7, 6-5 ACC) coming to town for a Big Monday matchup.
AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the Miami lineup and rotation, and looks at how Virginia will try to match up with the ‘Canes.
We also take a deep dive into the metrics for Virginia in terms of NCAA Tournament consideration.
Stories referenced in this podcast:
- Preview: Virginia, on six-game winning streak, set to face Miami on Big Monday
- Metrics: Where Virginia Basketball stands with the computers after Clemson win
Virginia (16-5, 7-3 ACC) travels to Littlejohn Coliseum to face Clemson (14-6, 4-5 ACC) on Saturday (2 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Clemson looks good in terms of the metrics right now, but the Tigers looked better at this time last year, and still missed out on the NCAA Tournament.
You know they’re going to be up for this one, with a chance to get back to .500 in ACC play.
AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the matchup and gives the keys to victory for the Virginia side, which is looking to keep pace with league leaders Duke and UNC.
Stories referenced in the podcast:
- Preview: What Virginia Basketball fans need to know about Clemson
- UVA Hoops Mailbag: Andrew Rohde playing time, no touches for the bigs
Virginia (12-5, 3-3 ACC) faces Georgia Tech (9-8, 2-4 ACC) on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET in Atlanta (ACC Network).
UVA is looking for its first true road win of the 2023-2024 season.
Here on the podcast, AFP editor Chris Graham breaks down the Georgia Tech rotation and how Virginia matches up.
Story referred to in the podcast:
- Preview: What Virginia Basketball fans need to know about Georgia Tech
Virginia and Virginia Tech have both lost three of their last four, and sit at 2-3 in the ACC, heading into Wednesday’s in-state matchup at JPJ.
Chris Graham breaks down the Tech rotation, how we can expect Tony Bennett to try to match up, and sets the stakes in terms of postseason implications.
Then, the podcast switches gears to go in depth on a story from over the weekend on a tweet from a prominent UVA Athletics booster about NIL.
Stories referenced in this podcast:
- Preview: What Virginia Basketball fans need to know about Virginia Tech
- Tweet from NIL booster exposes the seamy underbelly of UVA Basketball recruiting
- Mailbag: Point-counterpoint on the ‘seamy underbelly of UVA Basketball recruiting’
Virginia's 66-47 loss at Wake Forest on Saturday was the fifth double-digit loss for the Cavaliers this season.
AFP editor Chris Graham shares his Five Observations from the game, recaps coach Tony Bennett's ACC teleconference and addresses the elephant in the room - why it's time for fans to push the panic button not only on this season, but the future of Virginia Basketball.
Links to stories referenced in this podcast:
- It’s time to push the panic button: Not just on this season, but on the future of Virginia Basketball
- Five Observations: Trying to make sense of another double-digit Virginia loss
Virginia is looking to rebound from a couple of subpar efforts before the Christmas break when it hosts Morgan State on Wednesday at JPJ.
Chris Graham tells you a little about Morgan State, then shifts the focus of the podcast to Virginia Football.
The football talk starts with the latest on what former coach Bronco Mendenhall is doing out at New Mexico, which is, basically, he’s hiring all of his former Virginia staffers.
Then we take a look at the job that Tony Elliott and his staff are doing to add to the Virginia roster via the preps and the transfer portal.
At the 59-second mark of an 11-minute, 59-second phone call on Friday morning, Butch Wells, member of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, trying to intimidate me, I would soon come to realize, into giving him the name of a person who would have given me information that I had included in a Freedom of Information Act request made to the county on Thursday, told me, forebodingly, that he had “a file started.”
My natural question back: “You’ve got a file started?”
Wells’ cryptic response: “Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, I’ve got a file started. They’re playing, they’re playing political games. I don't play political games. I play criminal games. And, yeah, I've got a file started.”
As the conversation played out, Wells would not answer questions directed back at him about who “they” are, and left to interpretation what his “criminal games” might involve.
Virginia escaped a tough test from a mid Northeastern team. Next up for the ‘Hoos: the first true road game of the season, at Memphis, a likely NCAA Tournament team.
Chris Graham tries to make sense of the struggle with Northeastern (it wasn’t an exam hangover), answers the Mailbag, and then puts the focus on Memphis, Penny Hardaway and the FedEx Forum.
I’ve been hiding depression as a fact of my life from myself for 51 years. I understand why; it’s hard for males to admit to what is perceived as a weakness.
It’s not a weakness to confront reality.
I hope, through this video and podcast, to encourage others who are afraid to begin to confront their truths.
AFP editor Chris Graham gets us ready for the return from the exam break, with the ‘Hoos set to face Northeastern on Saturday night in JPJ.
We also talk about how the Class of 2023 transfer class (the guys who left) are doing at their new schools.
When you talk about Virginia Basketball, you talk about the defense, but there are some things being done by coach Tony Bennett to open up the offense.
Chris Graham breaks down the trends – more transition, more triangle sets in the halfcourt – and offers thoughts on how it’s working out.
Photo: Mike Ingalls/AFP
The chatter around Virginia Football ahead of the opening of transfer portal season, almost entirely on message boards and social media, was that the Dec. 4 portal opening date would be the beginning of a mass exodus of players – which, you have to now assume at this point, isn’t going to happen.
Crystal Graham joins the show to discuss the latest in the case of an Augusta County man accused of shooting the service dog of a neighbor, a military veteran with PTSD.
We also get the details on a recent attempt by a scam artist to separate Crystal and $1,600 of her money, ostensibly the price for four tickets to a 2024 Taylor Swift concert, but when it seems too good to be true, it probably is – and was in this case.
We wrap with the latest on the wild Sunday weather forecast, which includes wind, thunderstorms and … snow?
Virginia bounced back from a tough week in South Florida with an impressive showing in a 59-47 win over #14 Texas A&M on Wednesday in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
TeamAFP’s Chris Graham and Scott German break down what we saw from the win, focusing on the role that Oklahoma grad transfer Jake Groves will play for Tony Bennett going forward, and the defensive efforts of Ryan Dunn and Reece Beekman.
The segue from basketball to football includes a brief conversation about JMU losing football coach Curt Cignetti to Indiana, before shifting into a full-contact breakdown of UVA Football’s 55-17 loss to Virginia Tech, and a look at how the first week of the offseason is going for Tony Elliott & Co.
Virginia, pantsed on national TV in its 65-41 loss to Wisconsin in Fort Myers on Monday, is back to the drawing board, with a quick turnaround for its next game, vs. West Virginia on Wednesday.
MAGA snowflakes got their bloomers in a bunch after actress Nia Renée Hill flipped a double-bird at Donald Trump at UFC 295 earlier this month.
This is the crowd that chants “F--k Joe Biden.”
It’s just a coincidence that a relative handful of videos on the Chinese-owned social-media platform TikTok promoting Osama bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America” got tens of million views last week.
The 2023 NASCAR season has come and gone. Just seems like yesterday that we were talking about the February race in LA as the drivers were getting themselves ready for Daytona.
Rod Mullins, our NASCAR reporter, joins us for our 2023 season in review podcast.
Who was the biggest surprise? The biggest disappointment?
The names Kyle Busch, Bubba Wallace and Denny Hamlin fit in here somewhere.
What can we look forward to in 2024?
This and more in our season in review.
The Jerry Ratcliffe Show breaks down the UVA-Florida men's basketball game, the football team's loss to Louisville on the road, and recaps the women's basketball team's first week, along with Olympic Sports news.
A year ago Monday, three Virginia Football student-athletes – Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry – were shot and killed in a mass shooting in which two other UVA students, Marlee Morgan and a fourth football student-athlete, Mike Hollins – were injured.
Chris Graham reports on what will forever be a tough day for the UVA Athletics community.
Also on this podcast:
- When UVA alum Marques Hagans left the staff at Virginia to take the job as wide-receivers coach at Penn State in the offseason, it seemed to me that Hagans was not just spreading his wings and flying, finally, but rather, taking a necessary step toward building his resume to one day be a Power 5 head coach.
- Preview: What Virginia Basketball fans need to know about North Carolina A&T
Abigail Spanberger, rumored for the past few months to be gearing up for a run at the Virginia governor job in 2025, made it official on Monday, announcing her candidacy for the Democratic Party gubernatorial nomination.
Chris Graham breaks down the first entry into the 2025 race, and discusses the intraparty challenge in the House Republican caucus that Todd Gilbert was able to withstand to win election as the House Minority Leader.
Glenn Youngkin doesn’t get it. Todd Gilbert, the lame duck Virginia House Speaker, emphatically doesn’t get it.
Virginia voters signaled on Tuesday that they’re not on board with the MAGA-fication that the likes of Youngkin and Gilbert were promising to unleash in the next two years.
And yet, they’re still trying.
The message was sent. It still needs to be received.
A cheap-shot helmet-to-helmet hit that sent Perris Jones to the hospital was not penalized, but that no-call, one of many on Thursday night on national TV, is how things go when you’re 2-7 on the road at #11, and the league needs to make sure that #11 doesn’t step on its own dick on its way to a prime-time game in December for a possible CFP berth.
The scoreboard read Louisville 31, Virginia 24, when it hit triple zeroes.
The ACC has its Florida State-Louisville title game in Charlotte next month.
Congrats.
Hope they both lose.
Tony Bennett got an easy opening 40 minutes on Monday with the 80-50 win over Tarleton State to get a feel for his new-look roster and rotation.
Next up for Virginia: a Florida team that will give the ‘Hoos their first test of the 2023-2024 season.
Virginia and #11 Louisville get the short week this week, meeting on Thursday night in prime time on ESPN.
This works out for Louisville in terms of getting a national-TV showcase.
Virginia, a 20-point ‘dog, gets the chance to shock the world.
The powers-that-be in Charlotte hope like hell that doesn’t happen.
FSU needs a good dance partner for the ACC title game.
Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin is officially done politically, as Democrats swept to majorities in the State Senate and House of Delegates in the 2023 election cycle, in state legislative races decided on Tuesday.
JMU petitioning the NCAA for a chance to play a mid-December bowl sponsored by a roofing company is one thing. The stakes are now raised with the 9-0 Dukes in position to play in a New Year’s Six game.
Tony Elliott, to be fair, has become adept at delivering a self-deprecating message postgame. The former national champion offensive play-caller at Clemson is now 5-14 at Virginia, 2-10 in ACC games, and still (!) hasn’t won a home ACC game in his tenure.
The first glimpse of the new-look Virginia Basketball team was an 80-50 win over Tarleton State, which put up little resistance from the get-go in Monday’s season opener.
So, what did we see?
Ryan Blaney won his first-ever NASCAR Cup Series championship on Sunday in Phoenix.
Blaney, who finished second in the race, sure did seem like he thought he was running on a dirt track in May, the way he was swapping paint with everybody.
Rod Mullins breaks down everything for us.
I’m on the same page with WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray on who we both seem to hope against hope is under the devil mask being teased as a threat to AEW world champ Maxwell Jacob Friedman.
It ain’t gonna happen, but …
What if it is CM Punk?
The How about shutting up, lady-gate generated controversy has already run out of steam, with the Augusta County School Board voting 5-1 Thursday night to reprimand Chairman Nick Collins for his outburst at an Oct. 16 candidates forum, but that was it.
Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin is going to seek the appointment of a substitute prosecutor to investigate criminal allegations against two members of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin, under state law, is in charge of the investigation of two members of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors who allegedly used their position to try to retaliate against a state employee.
A question being asked behind the scenes is, is there a conflict of interest element to Martin’s relationship with the Board of Supervisors that should lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the case?
Let’s examine the facts.
A state employee alleges that two members of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors criminally conspired to get her fired from her job because of her work with a third county supervisor to address issues with the decades-long illegal assessment of impoundment fees by the regional animal shelter.
Ryan Blaney won his way into the NASCAR Championship 4 on Sunday in Martinsville, and William Byron rode his six wins from earlier in the 2023 season in through the backdoor.
Blaney, Byron, Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell will duel it out on Sunday in Phoenix for the 2023 Cup Series championship.
Chesterfield County native Denny Hamlin, undone by his early exit last week, finished third on Sunday in Martinsville, and was left on the outside looking in.
Rod Mullins breaks down the weekend in Martinsville, and gives us his favorite this coming Sunday in the Valley of the Sun.
It seemed to me back in the spring that Tony Bennett wasn’t thinking Reece Beekman was coming back. I say that because Bennett went out and found a second point guard, Andrew Rohde, on the transfer portal, to go along with his other transfer, former Georgetown point guard Dante Harris, who came in mid-year last year.
A sample ballot mailed out to Republican voters in Augusta County by the Republican Party of Virginia last week notably left out the lone Republican candidate in a contested Augusta County Board of Supervisors race: yes, that would be Scott Seaton, who has been a bit of a thorn in the side of the local political establishment of late.
Virginia dominated the line of scrimmage, but a Tony Muskett third quarter picksix would prove crucial, and Miami, despite being outplayed by the 19-point road ‘dogs, rallied to win in OT, 29-26, on Saturday in front of an announced crowd of, ahem, 58,503 in Hard Rock Stadium.
The Cavaliers (2-6, 1-3 ACC) led most of the way, and a look at the postgame stats will get you to scratch your head wondering how this one turned out the way it did.
You’re not supposed to be able to lose the turnover battle, and have your two turnovers take away possible TDs, and still be able to pull the upset on the road over an undefeated Top 10 team.
Outside of the turnovers, Virginia, a 31-27 winner over #10 North Carolina on Saturday night, did everything right.
The Cavaliers, 120th nationally in rushing coming in, rang up 228 yards on the ground, which keyed a huge edge in time of possession – 37:06 to 22:54.
These are your numbers of the game: 228, and 37:06.
If you want to beat a team that averages 500-plus yards a game on offense, you’re going to want to keep the ball away from them as much as possible.
Check.
Former Top 100 hoops recruit Rodney Rice is leaving the Virginia Tech basketball program and intends to hit the transfer portal.
“Rodney Rice recently shared with me his desire to step away from our program. While his departure is unfortunate, we wish Rodney and his family all the best in the future,” Tech coach Mike Young said in a statement released by the school on Tuesday.
Moderate Republicans had a brief moment in the sun when they made sure Trump loyalist and election denier Jim Jordan wouldn’t be elected House Speaker.
The MAGAs are back to flexing their muscles now with one of their own in the Speaker position.
Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson was elected Speaker on Wednesday, ending more than three weeks of manufactured drama pretty much where it started.
Christopher Bell took the lead for good with 15 laps to go on his way to punching a ticket to the NASCAR Championship 4 with a win at Homestead on Sunday.
Bell joins Kyle Larson, who won last week in Las Vegas, as the two playoff drivers who have clinched spots in the Championship 4 race in Phoenix next week.
Bell outraced Ryan Blaney to the finish line on Sunday by 1.651 seconds.
Blaney’s second-place finish moved him to the four spot in the playoff chase with just one more chance for the playoff eight to win their way to Phoenix.
Rod Mullins joins AFP editor Chris Graham to break down the action from Sunday, and preview the action in Martinsville coming up this weekend.
Virginia is a 23.5-point ‘dog in Saturday’s game against #10 North Carolina, which is what it is. Tony Elliott is reminding his guys what happened when the two teams met last year.
“For us, it’s about opportunity and having confidence that they return a lot of guys, we return a lot of guys, we got some new additions, and last year this was a three-point ballgame, and it was a possession-for-possession ballgame,” said Elliott, describing the 31-28 loss in Charlottesville about as well as he could.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/elliotts-message-ahead-of-game-at-10-unc-this-is-what-you-dream-about/
Vegas has Florida State a double-digit favorite over Duke on Saturday, but don’t sleep on the Blue Devils.
That one, and a sorta, kinda elimination game between Clemson and Miami highlight the ACC Football weekend slate.
I had Scott German, the keeper of our weekly ACC Football Power Rankings, on for a podcast today to preview Saturday’s action.
Quick hits
- FSU-Duke: Duke’s lone loss was a last-minute setback at home to a good Notre Dame team. Don’t be surprised if the Blue Devils pull the upset.
- Clemson-Miami: Two programs with two losses already in conference play. Two coaches (Dabo Swinney, Mario Cristobal) whose trajectories are trending downward. Must-win for both, and the fan base of the one that loses will want a pound of flesh from somebody afterward.
- UVA-UNC: North Carolina is going to want to not only win, but put a nice score out there for the voters and computers.
Also on the show
- Scott comes hard with the observation that the success at Duke under Mike Elko and UNC under Mack Brown is a sign that Virginia can have success with the right coach.
- The guys debate what happens at Virginia with Tony Elliott if the ‘Hoos lose out against the tough second-half schedule to finish 1-11.
- Is there an upset or two in those final six? Chris breaks down the possibilities with the Techs, Louisville.
You know it’s been a bad week for AEW head honcho Tony Khan when you come across a headline about Khan saying in an interview that it’s “great” that he gets death threats, and that one barely gets any notice, considering all of the other stupid things he’s had to say the past few days.
My first instinct here: please, god, no!
I remember telling my wife about Tony Bennett when he was hired: “His teams will score in the 40s and 50s, but they’ll win.”
And then her saying back to me: “Are you going to like watching that kind of basketball?”
Me: “As long as they win.”
OK, but I’m not sure I’m willing to go there with a triple-option team.
But I have to concede, there’s something to what Charlie T. is saying here.
Kyle Larson led 133 laps, but needed a good late-race pit stop to get the lead back from Christopher Bell, before outracing Bell to the finish line, by a mere 0.082-second margin, to get the win in Las Vegas on Sunday.
The win puts Larson in the Championship 4 in Phoenix on Nov. 5.
Who else will be joining Larson?
Rod Mullins helps us break it all down.
Virginia, 1-5 at the midway point to its 2023 season, has, on its second-half schedule, games with three teams in this week’s AP Top 25, one that was just knocked out of the national rankings, and the two Techs.
Today we turn to our friends at the ESPN Football Power Index, the dreaded (by the ACC Network’s Mark Packer, anyway) FPI, for guidance on how those games might go, and thus what we might be able to expect in terms of a final record for our Cavaliers for the season.
Saddle up.
This year’s Virginia team is going to be dramatically better than last year’s team, which spent half the season ranked in the Top 10, was ranked as high as #2, and shared the ACC regular-season title with Miami, which went on to the Final Four.
The 2023-2024 preseason AP Top 25 is out today. Virginia isn’t in it.
Duke, of course, is, at #2, with Miami, which lost ACC Player of the Year Isaiah Wong, is #13, and North Carolina, which didn’t even make the NCAA Tournament a year ago, and lost its leading scorer, Caleb Love, to the transfer portal, is at #19.
Is what it is.
Tracy Pyles served on the Augusta County Board of Supervisors for 22 years. Now the Augusta County native is running for the county commissioner of revenue post, with the goal of having the office serve as a check and balance to the Board of Supervisors.
AFP editor Chris Graham interviews Pyles to talk about the revenue post and county politics.
Ryan Blaney took the checkered flag in Talladega on Sunday, outdueling Kevin Harvick, who was later DQ’d, to the finish line.
The win gives Blaney a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs Round of 8.
Another playoff driver could punch a ticket to the Round of 8 with a win in this weekend’s race in Charlotte.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the top contenders from the playoff pool gearing for the win.
William Byron won in Texas on Sunday, taking the lead on the final restart after Bubba Wallace, who led for 111 laps, faltered down the stretch.
Byron is the first to punch a ticket to the Round of 8 in the 2023 NASCAR playoffs.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down what happened in Texas, preview this weekend’s race at Talladega, and take us through some off-track news and notes, including bits about next year’s Brickyard and All-Star races.
Denny Hamlin took the checkered flag at the night race at Bristol on Saturday, but he wasn't the only big winner.
Martin Truex Jr. and Bubba Wallace snagged the last two spots in the Round of 12 of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
AFP reporter Rod Mullins was at Bristol and reports back on the big weekend, which included a guest appearance by Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Friday's Xfinity Series race.
Tyler Reddick punched his ticket for the Round of 12 in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Several spots are on the line at this weekend's race in Bristol (Saturday, 7:30 p.m. ET, USA Network).
Rod Mullins from AFP will be there this weekend.
He joins us on the show today to preview the bumpin' and bangin'.
Denny Hamlin is back, apparently for the rest of his career behind the wheel, with Joe Gibbs Racing, signing a multi-year deal to re-up with JGR.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the decision, and then the guys review the Southern 500, won by Kyle Larson, the first driver to advance to the next round of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Chris Buescher notched his third win in the past five races, but the big winner in Daytona on Saturday night had to be Bubba Wallace, who locked down his first career NASCAR Cup Series playoff berth.
Rod Mullins joins Chris Graham to break down the race, the playoff field, and there's plenty of off-track news to keep us all busy.
There is more and more pointing to the idea that the ACC will be soon extending invites to Stanford, Cal and SMU to join the conference.
TeamAFP's Chris Graham and Scott German break down the reporting on the topic, and offer insight and analysis into how the moves, if they are to come, would benefit, or otherwise, the ACC and the schools.
Rumor has it that Denny Hamlin could be thinking about leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, which would start a merry-go-round in the upcoming NASCAR silly season.
And we’re not even to the playoffs yet.
Rod Mullins reports on the latest from the Cup Series, and gets us ready for what promises to be a wild race at Daytona as several drivers look to lock down the final spot in the 2023 playoffs.
Michael McDowell was dominant in Sunday's Brickyard 200, leading 54 of the 82 laps, to clinch a spot in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
Left still looking for a playoff spot was Chase Elliott, who finished in second.
Elliott is among several of the circuit's top names still trying to sew up a spot in the playoffs.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down how the last two weeks of the regular season will play out.
Chris Buescher won the rain-delayed race at Michigan on Monday, his second win in a row in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The series is down to three races before we get down to the 16-driver playoff field.
A number of drivers are on either side of the cut line, including some surprising names, like Chase Elliott, Bubba Wallace, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski.
Chris Graham and Rod Mullins discuss what needs to happen for each as the next three weeks play out.
The Big Ten wants UVA and North Carolina. Florida State wants out of the ACC no matter what. It’s clear that something big is about to happen.
Chris Graham and Scott German report on the latest developments, and offer perspective, insight and baseless speculation on the next steps.
Rod Mullins loves Denny Hamlin. Well, OK, he loves talking about Denny Hamlin, and how NASCAR fans, other drivers, not a lot of people outside Denny Hamlin, are Denny Hamlin fans.
Rod and Chris break down Hamlin getting booed at his home track in Richmond over the weekend, the upcoming free-agent season, where Hamlin's status plays a big role, and look ahead to the final four races of the 2023 NASCAR regular season in this week's podcast.
Martin Truex Jr. is NASCAR’s “Mr. Monday.” Truex won the rain-delayed race at New Hampshire on Monday in dominant fashion, winning the first two stages and leading more than 250 laps to beat Joey Logano to the finish line.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down Truex’s win, and reset where things stand in the 2023 NASCAR season with six races left until the playoffs.
William Byron won the rain-shortened race at Atlanta on Sunday, but that’s not the big news of the week in NASCAR.
What is? There’s rumors that Tom Cruise, fresh off the success of the “Top Gun” reboot, is mulling over options for a second “Days of Thunder” movie.
Rod Mullins joins us to discuss all of the above, but pay attention for his rough outline of a plot for “Days of Thunder 2.”
Shane van Gisbergen barely knows who he is himself, so you’re forgiven for not knowing who he was, or how to pronounce his name, before SVG went out and won the street race in Chicago on Sunday.
Rod Mullins joins the show to tell us more about van Gisbergen, and how NASCAR drivers and fans took to the debut of street racing in the Windy City.
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Chicago for a most unique street race on Sunday. Rod Mullins and Chris Graham talk about how the race will sorta, kinda take NASCAR back to its roots of guys in fast cars trying to outrun the cops.
Also on today's show:
- Rod recaps last weekend's action in Nashville.
- What can NASCAR do to make sure its drivers are safe?
- The latest on the tragedy involving the in-laws of NASCAR great Jimmie Johnson.
- Catching up with former NASCAR Cup Series driver Quin Houff
NASCAR took the weekend off, but the Cup Series returns to the track in Nashville this weekend, assuming the teams can dodge the raindrops on Sunday night.
Rod Mullins joins Chris Graham to talk some off-track news, focusing on:
- Josh Berry replacing the retiring Kevin Harvick at Stewart-Haas next year.
- Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment investing in Joe Gibbs Racing.
- News involving Toyota and Jimmie Johnson.
NASCAR's 2024 race schedule is leaking out, and it's looking like the Bristol spring race is among the casualties.
Will you have to get an Amazon streaming subscription to be able to watch?
Rod Mullins and Chris Graham discuss the big off-track news.
Kyle Busch recorded his third win of the 2023 season in St. Louis, and his first on a short track, which means, watch out!
AFP's NASCAR Cup Series guy, Rod Mullins, talks up Busch's turnaround 2023 Cup season, and opines on all the critical comments lobbed Chase Elliott's way by our listeners.
As expected, NASCAR suspended Chase Elliott for one race following his intentional wreck of Denny Hamlin in Monday's Coca-Cola 600.
Rod Mullins reports on the latest involving Elliott, and the mid-race red-flag dustup between Bubba Wallace and Aric Almirola.
Somebody, it's not known at the moment who, broke into Bubba Wallace's radio stream after the All-Star Race on Sunday in North Wilkesboro and slammed him with a racially derogatory comment.
Here we go again, right?
Wallace, who finished second to Kyle Larson, is the lone Black driver in the NASCAR Cup Series.
The outspoken Wallace gets booed relentlessly by fans, and is often advised by commentators to tone down what he has to say, which isn't something that is often said to White drivers who say what's on their mind.
Chris Graham and Rod Mullins talk through the issues, while also breaking down what happened on the track at the All-Star Race, which, honestly, wasn't that much, with Larson dominating the day.
The guys also talk through economic issues in NASCAR with the circuit and its teams and drivers posturing over collective bargaining.
Ross Chastain wrecked Kyle Larson, again, but what else is new?
The late-race crash knocked the two leaders out of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Darlington, and opened the door for William Byron to take the checkered flag.
Rod Mullins helps us break it all down.
Denny Hamlin bumped and passed Kyle Larson on the final lap of Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race in Kansas.
There was a post-race fight, but interesting enough, it didn't involve Hamlin and Larson.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break it all down.
Chris Graham invites Scott German to the show to talk UVA basketball. The focus is on how Tony Bennett has managed to rebuild the roster for 2023-2024 from the transfer portal and the leftovers from the prep Class of 2023.
Mid Atlantic Territory Wrestling is returning to East Rockingham High School on Saturday, May 13, for a show that will, in part, benefit the Elkton Blue Sox, a team in the Rockingham County Baseball League.
In this podcast, host Chris Graham talks with Chris Marston from MATW and Mike Sutton from the Blue Sox about the baseball and wrestling connection.
Martin Truex Jr. loves racing on Mondays at the Monster Mile. Truex broke his 54-race winless streak with a win on Monday in Dover, his third in a rain-delayed Monday race at the track in his career.
Rod Mullins joins the show to help break things down.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins the show to recap a wild day at Talladega that ended with Kyle Busch escaping with an improbable win.
Devin Darrington transferred to Virginia in 2021 after getting his degree from Harvard.
Now in the XFL with the Orlando Guardians, Darrington talks with host Chris Graham about playing pro football, his hope that his successful season with the Guardians might get him another look from an NFL team, and reconnecting with teammates after the Nov. 13 shootings that killed three of his former UVA teammates.
Kyle Larson finally got the monkey off his back in Martinsville, winning Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race after more than eight years of struggles at the Virginia track.
AFP NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins the show to break down Larson's win, Joey Logano's improbable second-place finish, and more from the racing action.
AFP reporter Rod Mullins was in attendance at Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race at Bristol, but not many fans were there with him.
Will NASCAR take the dreadful attendance as a sign to ditch the dirt race in 2024?
Rod weighs in, and also breaks down what went down on the track.
Kyle Larson got the win in Richmond, and now NASCAR, whose stars seem to be at odds with each other, and their own crews, heads to the dirt in Bristol.
Rod Mullins, our intrepid NASCAR writer, will be there this weekend. He gets us ready for the mud that will be flying.
Mid Atlantic Territory Wrestling is putting on a show in Elkton on April 1, the first live wrestling in the Shenandoah Valley in more than five years. Chris Graham talks with MATW's Preston Quinn and CW Anderson about the new promotion, which the two hope will bring some of the '80s flair back to indy wrestling.
Kadin Shedrick and Isaac Traudt are joining Francisco Caffaro in the transfer portal from the Virginia frontcourt. Chris Graham talks Virginia fans down off the ledge, floating the idea that Tony Bennett will find better fits for how he wants to play from the portal.
Tyler Reddick won, in three OTs, at the Circuit of the Americas road course in Austin, his third career road-course win. Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the race, and offer a preview of this weekend's race in Richmond.
The show welcomes Rod Mullins, our NASCAR beat guy, to break down Joey Logano's win in Atlanta, the record punishments handed down to Hendrick Motorsports, and Jimmie Johnson adding Circuit of the Americas to his schedule.
Back by popular demand, sorta, kinda. (Two people at the ACC Tournament said, why aren't you doing the UVA Basketball podcasts anymore?)
AFP editor Chris Graham (that's me!) previews the Virginia-Furman game set for Thursday at 12:40 p.m. ET in Orlando.
Chris will be in Orlando, only in part because it's 36 degrees in Central Virginia right now, and it's going to be in the 80s in Orlando later this week.
Make it two straight, in OT, for William Byron, who, again, outdueled Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson to get the win, this week in Phoenix.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the race, and Rod and host Chris Graham also talk through the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
William Byron led a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the top three spots in Sunday's NASCAR race in Las Vegas.
Rod Mullins joins the podcast to recap the race, talk about Chase Elliott's injury and Bubba Wallace's good day at the track, and more.
It only took Kyle Busch two races to get his first win with his new team.
Rod Mullins, our NASCAR reporter, joins us to break down Busch's win, and the rest of the action from Fontana on Sunday.
The Daytona 500 went long on Sunday - 12 laps long, setting a new record. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. got his first career win at the 500, capping an up-and-down last few years on the circuit.
Our in-house NASCAR beat writer, Rod Mullins, joins the show to break down Stenhouse's win and the rest of the wild Sunday in Florida.
Yeah, it's hilarious. Duke's ownership of the ACC has now officially been passed on. The ACC confirmed as much with that statement after the 69-62 Virginia overtime win about how the refs blew the call at the end of regulation.
The ACC wasn't throwing a pity party for the Dookies; it was all about signaling that there's a new sheriff in town.
Chris Graham and Scott German discuss.
Jeff Fife joins the show as the Voice of the Fans to try to pin down host Chris Graham on the big questions of the day on Virginia basketball.
The show previews tomorrow's UVA-Duke showdown in JPJ, takes a deep dive into Tony Bennett's approach with this team, tries to answer the question, What is this team's ceiling, and lays out how the next few weeks need to go to get Virginia ideally situated for March Madness.
Kadin Shedrick got 26 minutes off the bench to key Virginia's 63-50 win over #22 NC State. Chris Graham and Scott German break down the win, Shedrick's resurgence, the fix that Tony Bennett found for the UVA D, and then discuss if Isaac McKneely might be ready to move into a starting spot.
Chris Graham has the deets on NC State basketball ahead of tonight's State-UVA showdown in JPJ.
Then the focus shifts to the state of UVA football, which, there's a pun to be made here about the state of denial just waiting to be delivered.
AFP editor Chris Graham goes over the national rankings, looks ahead to #8 Virginia vs. #22 NC State on Tuesday, and looks back at the loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
Then it's on to football news, the big news being the confirmation from three-time All-ACC linebacker Nick Jackson that he will not be returning next season.
Chris Graham and Scott German talk Virginia football, but that comes after more pleasant talk, about Virginia basketball, and the tweaks that Tony Bennett has been making to get the season turned around after a rough December.
Ben Vander Plas is the starter at five from here on out. Ryan Dunn might soon be the starter at four. Chris Graham offers these and other observations on Virginia Basketball following the Cavaliers' 76-67 win at Wake Forest.
Tony Elliott finally hires an O line coach. Football picks up a commit from the transfer portal. UVA hoops is in the Top 10 again, ahead of the game at home this week with Virginia Tech. Lots to talk about on today's podcast.
It was only 36-31 North Carolina, but as the Virginia team gathered in a huddle at the 15:12 media timeout, it was feeling a lot like the beatings that UNC put on the ‘Hoos last season.
The Heels were getting great looks on offense, were shutting down everything UVA was trying to do on the other end.
There was a freshman, Jalen Washington, in for an injured Armando Bacot, putting up Bacot-like numbers – 5-of-7 from the field, 12 points in 11 minutes in the first half.
And when Virginia used its traps to get the ball out of the hands of guards on screens, Carolina was able to move the ball around to get open shots on the perimeter.
And then on the offensive end, Tony Bennett tried everything he could – running guards off screens in the middle of the floor, going back to his favored mover-blocker on both sides, basic high screen-and-rolls.
None of it was working.
Until he went small.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/analysis-bennett-davis-address-why-going-small-worked-for-virginia/
Waynesboro City Council elects as its vice mayor a MAGA Republican who joked about a man attacking a Democrat with a hammer.
Vandals paint swastikas on a mural of a Black father and daughter of the Waynesboro YMCA.
And we’re supposed to pretend that these two acts, done a week apart, aren’t consistent with each other.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/waynesboro-the-vice-mayor-vote-the-swastikas-on-the-mural-are-part-of-a-pattern/
The people who run the company that broadcasts AEW TV will be in the house on Wednesday with “Dynamite” emanating from the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/aew-dynamite-preview-the-show-to-impress-the-warner-bros-discovery-people/
A Virginia Tech soccer player blamed her benching on her politics, and sued the school, which paid $100,000 to settle the suit, then affirmed its support for the coach.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/virginia-tech-soccer-player-who-blamed-benching-on-politics-gets-100k-settlement/
North Carolina utterly owned Virginia last season, winning by 16 in Chapel Hill, in a game that wasn’t that close, and then dominating in a 20-point win in the ACC Tournament.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/north-carolina-dominated-virginia-twice-last-season-theres-your-challenge-on-tuesday/
Second-ranked Virginia faces #5 Houston in a battle of Top 5s in JPJ on Saturday. #TeamAFP's Chris Graham and Scott German get you ready for the huge early-season matchup.
Literally until the last minute, minute and a half of last night’s AEW “Dynamite,” I was settled on not watching this weekend’s Ring of Honor “Final Battle” pay-per-view, for lack of general interest.
They still don’t deserve my dollars for the way they suckered me in.
We’re getting another FTR-Briscoes match on Saturday, this one a dog-collar match, so that’s the good news.
That it’s coming after FTR had to do a clean job to The Acclaimed in last night’s main event, and we didn’t even get an appearance from the Briscoes, whose inclusion on the pay-per-view was brought to us courtesy of a nonsensical cameo by the Gunn Club, is just another example of bad booking from one Mr. Tony Khan.
I never thought I’d find myself missing the mover-blocker, but after Virginia’s last two slogs – 62 points in a win against one-win Florida State, 55 last night against JMU – well, here we are.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/the-end-of-mover-blocker-bennett-seems-to-be-moving-virginia-away-from-base-offense/
Credit Florida State, which came in with a 1-8 record, but had played fifth-ranked Purdue tough earlier in the week. The ‘Noles gave third-ranked Virginia everything it could before the ‘Hoos were able to finish off the 62-57 win in the teams’ ACC opener on Saturday.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/third-ranked-virginia-gets-fight-from-feisty-florida-state-claws-out-62-57-win/
Record-setting UVA QB Brennan Armstrong is entering the transfer portal, no surprise given the troubles he had to endure under new head coach Tony Elliott in 2022.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/virginia-qb-brennan-armstrong-headed-to-the-ncaa-transfer-portal/
Virginia, according to head coach Tony Bennett, needed to “take off the tuxedos” in the second half, and after dressing down, the ‘Hoos erased an 11-point halftime deficit to beat Michigan, 70-68, in Crisler Center Tuesday night.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/wardrobe-change-at-half-propels-third-ranked-virginia-past-michigan/
A Virginia State Trooper was killed in a shootout after a triple-murder in California. The latest on the man accused of killing three UVA Football players, and how the New England Patriots donated their team plane to shuttle teammates to their funerals.
This, and some browbeating on how you turn your noses up at the unsheltered population, is what you you need to know today.
More online: https://augustafreepress.com/
Chris Graham and Crystal Graham discuss the latest developments in the tragic shooting deaths of UVA Football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D’Sean Perry.
If Virginia was in the SEC, the 37-7 loss to Pitt on Saturday that dropped the Cavaliers to 3-7 on the season would put Tony Elliott on notice, first year on the job or not.
But UVA isn't the SEC. Chris Graham breaks down what has gone wrong in Year 1 of the Elliott era at Virginia, and where things are likely to go from here.
More on the topic is online here: https://augustafreepress.com/to-those-saying-uva-needs-to-cut-bait-with-tony-elliott-why-it-wont-happen/
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to recap the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship and Joey Logano's win at Phoenix.
“Street Knowledge” is hosted by AFP editor Chris Graham, an award-winning sportswriter who is also an author and ESPN3 baseball play-by-play broadcaster.
TeamAFP’s Crystal Graham and Chris Graham provide analysis on local elections in Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta County, then turn their attention to the 2022 congressional midterms, which bucked the expected “red wave” trend that had been forecast by the experts.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down the field for the Championship 4 as they prepare to battle it out for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series title at Phoenix on Sunday.
“Street Knowledge” is hosted by AFP editor Chris Graham, an award-winning sportswriter who is also an author and ESPN3 baseball play-by-play broadcaster.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins the podcast to break down Kyle Larson's win in Miami, and to preview this weekend's NASCAR Cup Series playoff race at Martinsville.
Host Chris Graham invites Scott German to "Street Knowledge" to discuss Scott's latest ACC Football Power Rankings, and then a lengthy breakdown of poor UVA special-teams play takes over, and you can guess where that one ends up.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the NASCAR Cup Series playoff race in Las Vegas, won by Joey Logano, and the dangerous crash involving Bubba Wallace and Kyle Larson that led to Wallace getting a one-race suspension.
Crystal Graham joins the show to quiz editor Chris Graham on AFP's choices in the Sixth District Congress race and the city races in Staunton and Waynesboro.
Chris Graham and Scott German spend some time breaking down the 2022-2023 UVA Basketball roster, with some thoughts on who will fill out Tony Bennett's eight-man rotation.
NASCAR has penalized Stewart-Haas Racing after Cole Custer was found to have deliberately held up a line of traffic late in Sunday's Bank of America ROVAL 400 to help teammate Chase Briscoe lock up the final playoff spot in the Round of 8.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to help us sort out what happened.
Scott German joins Chris Graham on "Street Knowledge" to talk UVA Football. Here's how it ends: with the guys giving their best-case and worst-case scenarios on the Cavaliers' final record.
One of them is sniffing glue. Find out which one.
NASCAR Cup Series regular-season champ Chase Elliott punched his ticket to the Round of 8 with a win at Talladega on Sunday. Rod Mullins joins us to break down the top contenders for the other seven spots at this weekend's Roval race at Charlotte.
"Street Knowledge" welcomes David Driver and Lacy Lusk, the authors of From Tidewater To The Shenandoah: Snapshots From Virginia's Rich Baseball Legacy, a look at the past, present, and future of baseball in Virginia, a state which has produced five Hall of Famers and several World Series stars.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down the NASCAR Cup Series race in Texas on Sunday, won by Tyler Reddick.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" after spending the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, where NASCAR narrowed the field for its Cup Series playoff from 16 to 12. The winners, losers and more from Bristol.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to review Bubba Wallace's win in Kansas, the second straight for a non-playoff driver, and to preview the night race coming up at Bristol.
Rod Mullins joins the show to help us break down the win by Erik Jones in Darlington on Sunday night, and its impact on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoff race.
Austin Dillon won his way into the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, and Ryan Blaney snuck into the 16th and final spot with a 15th-place finish in Daytona on Sunday. Rod Mullins breaks it all down for us.
Kyle Larson took the checkered flag at Watkins Glen on Sunday, leaving one NASCAR Cup Series playoff spot to be decided Saturday night at Daytona. Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the top contenders.
AFP editor Chris Graham updates UVA football as the Cavaliers get ready for the final week of training camp. Also: a wrap on the basketball team's trip to Italy, and a look at how the $7 billion Big Ten TV deal impacts UVA and the ACC.
Crystal Graham joins the show to talk about her recent reporting on homelessness in Augusta County, Staunton and Waynesboro. We also talk with Crystal about her features on former WSVA news director Karl Magenhofer and award-winning novelist Elizabeth Massie.
Augusta Free Press staff writer Rebecca Barnabi joins the show to talk through some of her recent news stories - focusing on the latest on the Augusta County Courthouse, Sentara's new primary care center in Staunton, and a new memorial for the late Anne Seaton, a former local politico.
Kevin Harvick, after going 65 races without a win, made it two in a row with a win in Richmond on Sunday. Rod Mullins joins the show to help us make sense of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoff chase.
Kevin Harvick, winless in his past 65 races, snared the checkered flag Sunday at Michigan, for his fifth win in seven races on the two-mile superspeedway. The win notches Harvick a provisional NASCAR Cup Series playoff spot, and leaves just one spot still unclaimed.
Rod Mullins joins the show to break everything down for us.
Tyler Reddick has been on a roll lately, landing a new ride, and with his win on the road course at Indy on Sunday, he now has two Ws in his last five NASCAR Cup Series starts.
Rod Mullins joins us to break down the race, and also update listeners on the latest on the flooding in Kentucky and Southwest Virginia.
NASCAR disqualified Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch after their 1-2 finish at Pocono on Sunday after their cars failed post-race inspections. Our NASCAR beat writer, Rod Mullins, joins the podcast to help us break down the implications for the 2022 playoff chase.
ACC commissioner Jim Phillips is charged with the responsibility of figuring out how to make the conference more money so that the ACC can keep some kind of pace with the SEC and Big Ten. Chris Graham and Scott German explore the ins and outs from Charlotte on Day 1 at the ACC Football Kickoff.
Christopher Bell held off NASCAR Cup Series points leader Chase Elliott to win on Sunday in New Hampshire. With six races to go in the playoff chase, Rod Mullins helps us get a feel for where things stand at the cut line.
Reports based on hearsay (at best) continue to fuel speculation about ACC schools leaving the conference for greener pastures. Ain't happening, and Chris Graham and Scott German, in today's "Street Knowledge" podcast, tell you to focus your attention where the ACC and its member schools are: on the conference getting better.
There is no news on the college conference realignment front, but that's not keeping people from continuing to talk about the nothing that is going on.
Scott German and Chris Graham do their part to fill the void, asking and then attempting to answer a couple of key questions: with what we know about CTE and traumatic brain injuries endemic to the game of football, is football even around a generation from now, and if we have to wonder if it will be, does it make sense to move things around to the degree that we are now?
Tyler Riddick notched his first career win at Road America last weekend, climbing all the way to ninth in the NASCAR Cup Series standings with eight races left until the playoffs.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down the win for Reddick, who outdueled seven-time road race winner Chase Elliott, and what it means for the 2022 NASCAR playoff race.
USC and UCLA are now Big Ten members. The latest college athletics realignment seems to put the future of pretty much everybody other than the B1G and SEC in jeopardy.
Chris Graham and Scott German co-host an emergency podcast session to discuss how the ACC can navigate its way through to the other side.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is hinting at its interest in exploring Major League Baseball's 100-year-old antitrust exemption, which could portend seismic change for the MLB.
Chris Graham and Scott German explore.
Also on the show:
- A total of 12 players, coaches and other staff was handed down suspensions from a Sunday fight in the Seattle Mariners-Los Angeles Angels game.
- How about those suddenly streaking Baltimore Orioles?
- Bryce Harper is out for at least the next six weeks with a broken thumb.
Chase Elliott notched his second NASCAR Cup Series win of the season in the wee hours of Monday morning in Nashville. NASCAR correspondent Rod Mullins joins the show to break down Elliott's win, and the late-race strategy that paved the way for Elliott.
Other topics:
- Weather delays had a huge impact on the race.
- It was a mixed day for Hendrick Motorsports.
- Bubba Wallace had a wheel issue that led him to break off communications with his team.
- Up next: Road America in Wisconsin (Sunday, 3 p.m. ET)
Erik Curren served two terms on Staunton City Council before losing in his re-election bid in 2020. Curren joins AFP editor Chris Graham to discuss his run for one of the three at-large seats in the 2022 City Council elections.
The Baltimore Orioles are starting to come around after a rough start to their 2022 season, and in Year5 of their seemingly endless rebuild.
The Washington Nationals, three years removed from winning the 2019 World Series, are still early into their rebuild.
The two teams meet for a quick two-game series beginning tonight in Camden Yards.
AFP's Chris Graham and Scott German talk through the two teams' rebuilds.
Rod Mullins is back from Thunder Valley, which was taken over this past weekend by the NHRA. Top speeds were over the 300 mph mark as temperatures soared. Rod takes us behind the scenes.
We also look back at Daniel Suarez's historic June 12 win in the NASCAR Cup Series, the first-ever Cup Series win for a Mexican-born driver.
The show wraps with a look ahead to this weekend's Cup Series race in Nashville.
Incoming UVA hoops first-year Isaac McKneely joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to talk with Jerry and co-host Chris Graham.
McKneely recounts his senior year at Poca High School, which ended with the Dots winning a state championship, and McKneely being named the state player of the year.
He also talks about his pending arrival on Grounds next week, the start of summer school, getting to know his new teammates, and the prospects for the coming season.
Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Pandora.
Merritt Hale is challenging Sixth District Congressman Ben Cline for the Republican Party nomination in a June 21 primary.
Hale joins Chris Graham to talk about the race and addresses his positions on several key issues.
Hear from Hale on:
- Health care
- Abortion rights
- Gun violence
- The 2020 election
- Changing the D.C. culture
Learn more about his campaign at www.merritthaleforcongress.com.
Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Pandora.
A former Staunton City Council member is back in the running for a seat on the city body. The Waynesboro mayor is not running for a second term. Crystal Graham hosts and asks AFP editor Chris Graham for background on the latest news in local politics.
Also on the show:
- A House committee heard wrenching testimony on the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde.
- UVA quarterback Brennan Armstrong has signed an NIL deal with a local McDonald's franchisee.
- Washington Nationals ace Stephen Strasburg is set to make his 2022 MLB debut.
Virginia Baseball's 2022 season came to what feels to be a premature end. Scott German and Chris Graham dive into the reasons why, and it rhymes with "lack of pitching depth."
Scott then goes off on ESPN for its choices with its announcer teams for the college baseball regionals.
The show wraps with a long discussion of the impact that the new football operations center will have on Virginia Football, and how far behind UVA is in terms of NIL.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to provide analysis of Joey Logano's win in Sunday's NASCAR Cup Series race in St. Louis. Then host Chris Graham updates the latest news from AEW, focusing on the injury to world champ CM Punk and the controversy over MJF.
Jerry Carter has a novel idea for how to open the college hoops season, modeled on the Duke-Kentucky-Michigan State-Kansas tipoff. Listen as he tries to persuade "Street Knowledge" host Chris Graham that it could work.
Sixth District Democratic congressional candidate Jennifer Lewis joins "Street Knowledge" to talk issues: gun control, Medicare for All, education funding, Interstate 81 congestion, education opportunity and more.
Lacy Lusk, the Nationals correspondent for Baseball America, joins "Street Knowledge" to educate us on the progress that the organization is making with the rebuild of its minor-league system.
The voice of the Richmond Flying Squirrels, Trey Wilson, joins "Street Knowledge" to walk us through a big week for the Squirrels out in Akron. Richmond is two games behind the division-leading RubberDucks, and took Game 1 of the series, 3-2, on Tuesday.
The "Jerry Ratcliffe Show" provides updates on the latest on UVA football recruiting, with new coach Tony Elliott continuing to make waves in-state. The show also previews Virginia baseball's appearance in this coming weekend's Greenville Regional.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down Denny Hamlin's win at the end of a wild Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday.
Rod and host Chris Graham then discuss the crowded playoff race with 12 races to go before the field gets narrowed down to 16.
Valerie Slater is the executive director of RISE for Youth, a Richmond-based nonprofit that advocates for dismantling the youth prison model and ensuring every space that impacts a young person’s life encourages growth and success. Slater joins "Street Knowledge" to discuss Gov. Glenn Youngkin's new Violent Crime Task Force, and how it will need representation outside of law enforcement to address the root causes of inequality.
All Things Valley League's John Leonard joins "Street Knowledge" to help us preview the upcoming 2022 Valley League baseball season.
Fredericksburg Nationals broadcaster Eric Bach joins "Street Knowledge" to report on Nats prospects Brady House, Jeremy De La Rosa, Viandel Pena, Sammy Infante and Rodney Theophile.
Scott German was on hand for Stephen Strasburg's first rehab start last night in Fredericksburg. Scott joins "Street Knowledge" to talk with Chris Graham about Strasburg, and the mid-season finale of "Better Call Saul."
David Driver joins "Street Knowledge" host Chris Graham to discuss his new book, Hoop Dreams In Europe: American Basketball Players Building Careers Overseas.
It's the job of Lo Davis of Cavalier Futures to be up to the minute on the ins and outs of NIL. Davis joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to help educate us all on NIL, and how Virginia Athletics has its focus on the long term.
Jerry Carter was on hand for the Blacksburg Regional, which the #3 Virginia Tech softball team won in gritty fashion this past weekend. Carter joins "Street Knowledge" to recap the weekend and look ahead to Florida in the Super Regionals.
Chris Graham welcomes Scott German to "Street Knowledge" for a discussion of NIL, the transfer portal, and the perception from some fans that the Wild West atmosphere that they have created will lead to the ruination of college sports.
The ACC seems intent on getting rid of the Atlantic and Coastal divisions and changing its scheduling to make its football product more marketable. This won't be a good thing for Virginia fans, argue Jerry Ratcliffe and Chris Graham on this week's "Jerry Ratcliffe Show."
The show also covers:
- Virginia and Tennessee kicking off the 2023 season in Nashville
- Virginia picks up a former four-star running back recruit on the transfer portal
- Virginia Basketball is headed to Italy
- The baseball team looks to solidify its bid to host an NCAA regional
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down NASCAR's run through Kansas on Sunday. Kurt Busch notched the win on a day that saw drivers battling their tires as much as each other around the track.
The guys also discuss NASCAR ratings, and what the sport needs to do to attract younger viewers.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins helps us make sense of the dramatic finish at Darlington on Sunday, which saw Joey Logano nudge William Byron on the final lap, prompting Byron to call Logano a "moron" and "idiot" for his approach. Fun stuff, no doubt.
Mullins and host Chris Graham also talk about Kyle Busch's short day, and interesting decision on parking on pit road, then turn their attention to Kansas this coming weekend.
Poca High School coach Allen Osborne joins the show to offer his insight into his star player, Isaac McKneely, a four-star guard headed to Virginia in June.
Chase Elliott won at Dover on Monday, snapping his 26-race winless streak. NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down the race.
Dr. Stephen Brockmeier from UVA Orthopedics joins the show to discuss shoulder injuries in student-athletes.
Virginia point guard Kihei Clark joins the "Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to discuss his decision to return for a COVID redshirt year, and his goals for the 2022-2023 season.
Virginia Baseball alum Mike Cubbage spent a half-century in baseball, all told. Cubbage, on the eve of his induction in the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, joins the "Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to talk about his life in the national pasttime.
Today's "Street Knowledge" podcast begins with Chris Graham and Crystal Graham discussing the launch of Project Mental Health, a new initiative of Augusta Free Press aimed at increasing awareness of the resources available to help people deal with mental health struggles.
The podcast also covers the tragic death of JMU softball star Lauren Bernett, the politics around the approval of the Sunset Park project in Waynesboro, and Elon Musk's $44 billion bid to change the nature of social media discourse through Twitter.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down the wild final-lap finish at Talladega and to preview this weekend's race at Dover.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes UVA superfan Michael Guthrie of Howard Hanna Roy Wheeler Realty to preview the big Wahoowa Weekend, with UVA baseball, softball and track and field all on Grounds, along with the football spring game.
UVA all-time great QB Matt Schaub joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to talk about his college career, his long time in the NFL, post-football life and reconnecting with his alma mater.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" after spending the weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, and helps us look back at the wild finish to Sunday's Cup Series race, the lack of post-race fireworks after a final-lap crash, and the reactions of NASCAR Nation to two big races on the dirt.
Our NASCAR reporter, Rod Mullins, reviews William Byron's win at Martinsville, then turns his attention to the dirt track race coming up this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
It's been three years since April 8, 2019. Jerry Ratcliffe and Chris Graham share their favorite memories from Virginia's run to the national title that spring.
Mark Lorenzoni from Ragged Mountain Running & Walking Shop joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to bring us up to speed on Virginia track and field and other news from the local running scene.
Chris Graham welcomes Jerry Carter to the show for a fun conversation wrapping up the 2021-2022 college basketball season.
Did the ACC's stock go up with the Final Four? What kind of impact will NIL have on college hoops and college football? Can Duke continue to play at a high level post-Coach K? What does Virginia coach Tony Bennett need to do to adapt to the changing landscape?
Discussion on these topics and more.
UVA baseball coach Brian O'Connor joins the "Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to talk about his team's 25-3 start, big crowds at Disharoon Park, what's fueling the power surge, and a tough next couple of weeks for the Cavaliers.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to recap Denny Hamlin's win at Richmond Raceway on Sunday, and get us ready for Martinsville under the lights on Saturday night.
NASCAR writer Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to recap the Circuit of the Americas race in Texas over the weekend, won by Ross Chastain, from Trackhouse Racing, whose ownership includes recording artist Pitbull.
Mark Lorenzoni from Ragged Mountain Running and Walking Shop joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to talk about the beginning of the spring running season locally.
Scott German has been on top of the story of the hiring of Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, Coach Mox, as the new women's basketball coach at the University of Virginia. Scott joins "Street Knowledge" to break down the hire and the job ahead.
Tony Bennett had a lot to say after Virginia's season ended with a 52-51 loss to St. Bonaventure on Tuesday night. Jerry Ratcliffe and Chris Graham break it all down, with an eye toward 2022-2023.
Jerry Carter steps in as the host for "Street Knowledge" to put Chris Graham in the witness chair. The overriding question: how would you fix college basketball?
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" previews the Virginia-St. Bonaventure matchup in the NIT quarterfinals, and breaks down the hire of new women's basketball coach Amaka “Mox” Agugua-Hamilton.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" and host Chris Graham to recap the wild Sunday race at Atlanta.
A lot going on this weekend in Virginia Athletics. This episode of the "Jerry Ratcliffe Show" goes in-depth on UVA's NIT second-round game at North Texas.
Jerry and co-host Chris Graham also preview the big Virginia-Maryland men's lacrosse matchup, the #5 Virginia baseball team's weekend series with Boston College, and the women's swimming team's quest for a second consecutive national championship.
Virginia (19-13) faces Mississippi State (18-15) in the first round of the 2022 NIT on Wednesday. Jerry Ratcliffe and Chris Graham break down the matchup from all angles.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" for our weekly NASCAR podcast to talk about Chase Briscoe's win at Phoenix on Sunday.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes Chris Graham for a discussion of Virginia's 51-50 win over Louisville in the second round of the 2022 ACC Tournament, a look ahead to tonight's game with #3 seed UNC, and a little UVA football at the end.
It's been 46 years, but Virginia Basketball fans still hold fond memories of the 1976 ACC Tournament. Tournament MVP Wally Walker joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to reminisce.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down the thrilling race in Las Vegas on Sunday.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes Chris Graham to talk about Virginia baseball coach Brian O'Connor trying to get fans to The Dish, and UVA hoops coach Tony Bennett trying to right the ship at Louisville.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins the "Street Knowledge" podcast to break down the action from Sunday's race at Fontana, in which Kyle Larson got his first win as a member of the Hendrick Motorsports team.
Ann Holland, the wife of longtime Virginia Basketball coach Terry Holland, joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to talk about the Hollands' on-court meeting with Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski before Wednesday's game between the Cavaliers and Blue Devils.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes Chris Graham to help break down the key matchups ahead of Wednesday's Virginia-Duke ACC hoops rematch.
Rod Mullins joins "Street Knowledge" to break down the big stories from Sunday's Daytona 500,
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes Chris Graham so that the guys can talk Virginia-Miami in ACC hoops, the 'Hoos getting a win in their baseball opener, and the career of former UVA baseball great Ryan Zimmerman, who retired this week from the Washington Nationals.
NASCAR reporter Rod Mullins joins the show to help us get ready for the Daytona 500 and the kickoff to the 2022 NASCAR season.
ESPN college basketball analyst Seth Greenberg joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to talk UVA hoops, and offers thoughts on what the 'Hoos need to do down the stretch to earn an invite to the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes Chris Graham to discuss Virginia's 69-68 win at #7 Duke on Big Monday.
Scott German and Chris Graham pore through the play-by-play and stats to try to make sense of Virginia winning at #7 Duke on Big Monday.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" with Chris Graham welcomes all-time Virginia Football great Chris Slade, who talks with the guys about his first few weeks on the staff with new UVA football coach Tony Elliott.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes Chris Graham to talk UVA football recruiting and the UVA hoops team as the 'Hoos prepare to face ACC leader Miami.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes Chris Graham as the guys discuss Tony Elliott's Monday press conference, and then turn their attention to Tuesday's Virginia-Boston College ACC hoops showdown.
"The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" welcomes Chris Graham, and the guys talk about UVA Football recruiting, and preview the Virginia-Notre Dame hoops clash on Saturday night.
Chris Graham and Scott German break down Virginia's 64-52 win over Louisville on Big Monday, and look ahead to what the 'Hoos need to do to hear their name called on Selection Sunday.
Chris Graham breaks down the matchups to watch in the upcoming Big Monday game between Virginia and Louisville.
Chris Graham breaks down the key matchups in tomorrow's UVA-NC State hoops clash. Also: news on Virginia's spring game, and we're a month away from baseball's opening day.
Chris Graham dives deep into NET, KPI, BPI, but at the end of the day, all you want to know is: does Virginia have a chance to earn an NCAA Tournament at-large bid? (Yes.)
All-time Virginia Football great Ray Roberts joins "The Jerry Ratcliffe Show" to talk about his days on Grounds, new coach Tony Elliott, and his work with Special Olympics.
Chris Graham breaks down the latest on Keytaon Thompson, Kyle Guy, Virginia-Pitt hoops, and WWE coming to JPJ.
Albemarle County and Charlottesville are going to keep their school masking policies in place, in defiance of the executive order lifting them signed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin over the weekend. Chris Graham examines the legal issues involved.
Our modern way of life doesn't let us take a day for ourselves. It's time to thank the universe for snow days, which make us slow down and give us a chance to reboot.
It felt like Virginia should have been able to finish off Wake Forest on Saturday. Chris Graham examines what happened that let the game slip away from the 'Hoos.
There's this guy at the end of the street from Chris Graham's house who stands at a busy intersection most days with hate messages scribbled on cardboard signs hoping that people will honk their support. Why?
Chris Graham goes in depth on the matchups that will set the course for Saturday's Virginia-Wake Forest ACC basketball game.