Speaker 1: This week on the Happy Half Hour.
Speaker 2: This is not going to be anything like anything any
Speaker 2: either of us have experienced, because this is basically a
Speaker 2: brand new team going into training camp this year, from
Speaker 2: coaching staff to players. Obviously, the Bryce Young pick has
Speaker 2: created so much excitement about the offense and what they're
Speaker 2: trying to create over there, but this is brand new talks.
Speaker 2: It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends
Speaker 2: Kristin Balboni, Augusta Stone, and Darren Gannon. All Right, everybody,
Speaker 2: welcome to the Happy Half Hour. It's coming off Summer
Speaker 2: Break edition. Congratulations, Summer breaks over and we're about to
Speaker 2: go to school again. I'm Darren, Augusta's over here, welcome back.
Speaker 3: Hello, Yes, take a good few trips this summer. I
Speaker 3: am well rested, ready to roll. I was just thinking
Speaker 3: about when we walked in here and we were like, oh,
Speaker 3: it's time for camp. It gets that song, suck that
Speaker 3: on the road again. I'm not gonna sing it, but
Speaker 3: you know I'm talking about I can't wait to get.
Speaker 2: On You strike me as big Willie Nelson type. I've
Speaker 2: always guessed that.
Speaker 3: Yes, my father loves him. He's not a big country
Speaker 3: and music guy, but Willie Nelson gets him.
Speaker 2: So Willie transcends all genres. Willy is a man of
Speaker 2: the people, He's one of all of us.
Speaker 4: So, yeah, I'm getting on the road again.
Speaker 1: I I define the road again. It's under construction.
Speaker 2: It's also a chance to see one of my favorite
Speaker 2: sites in the whole wide world, the Peachoid and Gaffey.
Speaker 4: Yes, it'll change your life absolutely.
Speaker 3: I mean, I do some trips to Greenville these days,
Speaker 3: and every time I see it, I smile and I
Speaker 3: think about when I think we may have been filming
Speaker 3: a podcast you're talking in the office before I started here,
Speaker 3: and I never driven by it before I went Spartanburg
Speaker 3: the first time. And now every time I see it,
Speaker 3: I get a big old grin.
Speaker 2: Yep, it means football season because every time I see
Speaker 2: that thing, and I've kind of gotten to the point
Speaker 2: in my life where I'm beyond the thrill seeking the
Speaker 2: danger of trying to take cell phone pictures while driving. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I used to do that when I was a younger man.
Speaker 2: I've decided it's probably no longer wise, so I'll have
Speaker 2: to pull over to the side of the road and
Speaker 2: take that picture this year, So we'll make sure that happens,
Speaker 2: or somebody else's driving.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'll luber to spartan Burg. I don't know, because.
Speaker 2: Once you're down there, you're in a whole different world.
Speaker 2: So anyway, training camp coming up, and this is two
Speaker 2: of these for you. I mean, before we get into
Speaker 2: the football part of it. As you go into a
Speaker 2: second training camp, Augusta, what's the thing you know is different? Now?
Speaker 2: What's the thing you learned a year ago in Spartanburg
Speaker 2: where it's like, oh, now I'm a veteran and I know.
Speaker 1: To do this.
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, that's such a good question.
Speaker 3: Honestly, I think there's a rhythm to every day and
Speaker 3: I'm less intimidated, if that's the right word when I
Speaker 3: was going into it before.
Speaker 4: I think I have some friends that work in the league.
Speaker 3: I have a really good friend who actually does a
Speaker 3: similar job that we do for the Falcons, and I
Speaker 3: remember talking to her about it and she didn't make
Speaker 3: it sound daunting, but she made it sound very serious.
Speaker 3: And I think if I were to meet toward someone
Speaker 3: right now, going in my second year, I do the
Speaker 3: same thing. When you get down there, you get in
Speaker 3: the rhythm of things. There's something about training camp that
Speaker 3: I really really like. It almost emulates a regular season
Speaker 3: vibe where you know exactly you know, you go in,
Speaker 3: have a meeting, or at least this is how we
Speaker 3: did it last year. We go in, have a meeting,
Speaker 3: go out. You know, we'd stay at practice.
Speaker 4: We got hot. I remembered my big old water bottle
Speaker 4: and that will return this year.
Speaker 3: Just staying hydrated constantly, get your interviews, and then go
Speaker 3: immediately right and you get kind of in that rhythm
Speaker 3: and then you know, things pop up here. This is
Speaker 3: an awesome feature idea here we can do this. I
Speaker 3: think knowing kind of what the general flow is going
Speaker 3: to be like opens me up to looking outside of
Speaker 3: the box a little bit more. So that's what I'm
Speaker 3: most looking forward to, understanding how it goes, what the
Speaker 3: what the natural flow of traffic is, so I can
Speaker 3: maybe get off.
Speaker 4: On a couple of exits.
Speaker 2: There you go, So like I told you the other week,
Speaker 2: you know, the football coaches always say they expect the
Speaker 2: biggest jumping players from their first year to the second.
Speaker 1: Same with you. Now you know what you're doing, You
Speaker 1: get this thing, so really well.
Speaker 2: Go well, once we get down there, we'll look at
Speaker 2: you know what the training camp routine is like, but
Speaker 2: this is not going to be anything like anything any
Speaker 2: either of us have experienced because this is basically a
Speaker 2: brand new team going into training camp this year, from
Speaker 2: coaching staff to players. Obviously, the Bryce Young pick has
Speaker 2: created so much excitement about the offense and what they're
Speaker 2: trying to create over there, but this is brand new.
Speaker 2: I mean, there is very little to compare it to.
Speaker 2: It's hard to know what this camp's going to look
Speaker 2: like in terms of the way they're doing the work
Speaker 2: and what's going to come out of it because there's
Speaker 2: so many new parts. I mean, we've got we've got
Speaker 2: guesses we can make based on what we saw through
Speaker 2: the spring, but it's a lot of unknown commodities. One
Speaker 2: of the things, and you wrote about this earlier this
Speaker 2: summer that I think probably bears watching is just the
Speaker 2: way they're putting this offense together. And from your conversations
Speaker 2: with Frank Craich and Thomas Brown, you kind of got
Speaker 2: a sense of what they're going for, but I think
Speaker 2: they both are still sort of wondering themselves a little
Speaker 2: bit too exactly.
Speaker 3: And one of the things from that conversation that I
Speaker 3: enjoyed and I appreciate it. I think it was very real. Specifically,
Speaker 3: when I was talking with Thomas Brown, he talked about
Speaker 3: how I think this will still be the case in
Speaker 3: training camp to a degree. But you know, you go
Speaker 3: in with these plans and it's pretty well laid out,
Speaker 3: you know, the pieces that you have together, but they
Speaker 3: are very flexible.
Speaker 4: I mean on the field adjustments.
Speaker 3: You know, the second they come in, they're like, Okay,
Speaker 3: we didn't like how this worked, Let's scrap this, Let's
Speaker 3: try this. It's not necessarily like, oh, let's completely overhaul
Speaker 3: or change something, but it's it's in a way where
Speaker 3: they're keeping it fluid, and I think you'll see a
Speaker 3: lot of that fluidity throughout camp, where things could change,
Speaker 3: things could stay the same. But putting that offense together, man,
Speaker 3: I think between Thomas and Frank, you know, they had
Speaker 3: an idea of this. Thomas talks about a lot, but
Speaker 3: you know we thought, you know, we break it down
Speaker 3: maybe fifty here, fifty here, but there's nothing wrong with
Speaker 3: a sixty forty or seventy thirty and certain concepts. And
Speaker 3: I think that's something that they've both been very open about. Compromises,
Speaker 3: good but also kind of you sit down, you make
Speaker 3: the playbook, you put the pieces together. When you see
Speaker 3: it out on the field, being flexible enough to change it,
Speaker 3: maybe it looks completely different at some point, you know,
Speaker 3: deer in camp before camp, just.
Speaker 4: The fluidity and the flexibility of things.
Speaker 3: But I mean they were working from a base, bare
Speaker 3: bones like That's what Thomas Brown told me. He was like,
Speaker 3: I mean, we completely uprooted everything and now they're kind
Speaker 3: of building it back up. But the way the pieces work,
Speaker 3: it's always different. And I think being open to that
Speaker 3: fluidity is something that is going to benefit them just
Speaker 3: staying on their toes.
Speaker 1: No doubt.
Speaker 2: And I was starting to Andy Dalton about this one
Speaker 2: morning to coffee machine downstairs. And Dalton's great for coffee
Speaker 2: machine conversations because he's he's a gentleman of a certain
Speaker 2: vintage like myself, not quite like myself, but but Andy
Speaker 2: was talking and I said, when are you going to
Speaker 2: know what this offense is going to look like? And
Speaker 2: this was back in June, and he said, what ain't yet.
Speaker 2: You know, we're still working through it now. But he
Speaker 2: said it would continue to evolve over the course of
Speaker 2: training camp. So I think that it's going to be
Speaker 2: one of the interesting things to see with you know,
Speaker 2: they're obviously thematic things they want to do. It's going
Speaker 2: to be about Bryce showing, spreading the ball around, getting
Speaker 2: it out quick. I think, you know, the last time
Speaker 2: we did this was back in June, we did the
Speaker 2: Puel pill sound effects. That's kind of what they're going for.
Speaker 2: But the specifics of what this thing's going to look
Speaker 2: like is is very much up in the air. The
Speaker 2: other thing that I think is really going to be
Speaker 2: interesting watching this come together is on the other side
Speaker 2: of the ball. I mean, defensively, there's so many questions,
Speaker 2: beginning with health because a lot of the key guys
Speaker 2: on this defense, from Brian Burns, J C. Horn, Dante
Speaker 2: Jackson weren't out there for a lot of OTAs so
Speaker 2: was talking to some folks downstairs. The news on those
Speaker 2: guys is all good. They should be working during training
Speaker 2: camp and you know, back to health.
Speaker 1: What that means on day one, we'll see.
Speaker 2: But they they are all in good position where you know,
Speaker 2: they ought to be able to go, and that's gonna
Speaker 2: be good because that thing is under construction as much
Speaker 2: as any Even though we know the pieces we haven't
Speaker 2: seen them out there.
Speaker 3: Exactly, and we've talked a lot about kind of, you know,
Speaker 3: the complete upheaval of the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 4: Pretty much.
Speaker 3: When you look at that team, the only thing that's
Speaker 3: gonna look the same as the line, and I don't
Speaker 3: think there's any issues with that. But then you go
Speaker 3: over the defense, Like you said, the pieces are largely similar.
Speaker 3: I mean, you have Von Bell coming in, but otherwise
Speaker 3: it's all pretty pretty much the same type of guys.
Speaker 3: But then they're going learning this brand new system. And
Speaker 3: that's where I think that maybe there's so much focus
Speaker 3: right now on all the changees on offense. Just in
Speaker 3: terms of personnel, you have completely different guys. You have
Speaker 3: Bryce Young, Miles Sanders, Adam Field, and DJ Shark, and it's.
Speaker 4: Like very obvious.
Speaker 3: But then you go over here and it's like, well, yes,
Speaker 3: it's the same guys, but it's not gonna look the
Speaker 3: same and they know that. And I it's very interesting
Speaker 3: talking with some of the guys I talked to during
Speaker 3: many camp We used to walk off and like just
Speaker 3: talk to them right after practice, and it wasn't there
Speaker 3: was no shell shock, but it was one of those
Speaker 3: things where it's like they're fully aware that they're learning
Speaker 3: and it's completely different. And I mean I think that's
Speaker 3: one of those transitions with with EJ.
Speaker 4: I think we haven't we've talked about it, but.
Speaker 3: Because of all the stuff on the offense is so
Speaker 3: in your face with like different personnel, and then, like
Speaker 3: you said, with the health, I mean, I was just
Speaker 3: thinking about the corners. I mean, you have Dante, he
Speaker 3: needs to come back JC, CJ.
Speaker 4: Henderson, who else?
Speaker 1: Like, I mean, so.
Speaker 2: Thin it's it's definitely something that would be a concern
Speaker 2: if those two guys weren't.
Speaker 1: Coming back exactly exactly when you looked.
Speaker 2: Out there during the OTAs and it's like, oh, okay,
Speaker 2: they're CJ.
Speaker 1: Henderson and Keith Taylor.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then it thinned out after that again, so
Speaker 2: it's yeah, I mean, that's something I think they're going
Speaker 2: to be looking.
Speaker 1: At, but it probably it's probably not the panic.
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people on the outside might
Speaker 2: think it is because they have a pretty good idea
Speaker 2: about Dante's condition, about Jc's condition, So we'll see. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's that's going to be a concern obvi, depth wise,
Speaker 2: and trying to figure out who that fourth, fifth guy
Speaker 2: is and can you find contributors somewhere else? But the
Speaker 2: thing about Avero that's fascinated me is, yes, he's converting
Speaker 2: a four to three defense into a three to four. Yes,
Speaker 2: that means some changes. They had to go get new
Speaker 2: linemen just so they can line up. Burns is going
Speaker 2: to be standing up now playing outside linebacker.
Speaker 1: He's got the cool number zero now.
Speaker 2: But they've got there's a little bit of mad scientist
Speaker 2: bit going on because he's taken a couple of guys
Speaker 2: in particular and sort of turning them into something they've
Speaker 2: never actually been. And when you think about Frankie Luvu
Speaker 2: and Jeremy Chen, those two guys are playmakers.
Speaker 1: That is the thing they've done.
Speaker 2: They've gotten around the ball, they've created turnovers, they've made
Speaker 2: impact plays. But Frankie's never exactly done this inside linebacker
Speaker 2: in a three to fourth thing. Jeremy Chen has never
Speaker 2: really done this most nickel thing. And they're going to
Speaker 2: move both of those guys around. I think when they
Speaker 2: we've talked a lot about who that other outside linebacker
Speaker 2: opposite Burns is going to be, you know, and that's
Speaker 2: a degree of concern going into training camp, but they're
Speaker 2: kind of making up for that some by putting Frankie
Speaker 2: in positions where he's rushing the passer, and that's a thing.
Speaker 1: He's shown to be good at. They're gonna move Jeremy around.
Speaker 2: He's gonna be closer to the line of scrimmage, but
Speaker 2: as you mentioned, with von Bell coming in to start
Speaker 2: at safety, that kind of frees him up to move around.
Speaker 2: And I mean, I know you talked to Jeremy about
Speaker 2: that too. This is he's done a lot of different
Speaker 2: stuff already in a young career, but this is another
Speaker 2: big transition.
Speaker 4: For him, exactly. And I was just thinking about my
Speaker 4: conversation with him.
Speaker 3: He really did seem confident, like he was in a
Speaker 3: clear head of good space whenever, you know, because he's
Speaker 3: one of those guys that you look at it and
Speaker 3: like you said, like I mean, his role could be very,
Speaker 3: very different, and and he was one of the one
Speaker 3: of the least rattled or I guess rattle isn't the word,
Speaker 3: but he seemed just very very sure of, Yeah, this
Speaker 3: is what I'm gonna do, excited about it about a
Speaker 3: different opportunity I really like and I think we've talked
Speaker 3: about on the pod before. But what you just mentioned
Speaker 3: about bringing in von Bell, and it almost frees up
Speaker 3: to put Jeremy in that kind of nickel everything kind
Speaker 3: of role, which is somewhere I think he could succeed
Speaker 3: because he has the tools for it. And then you're
Speaker 3: not really losing anybody on the back end because bringing
Speaker 3: in von.
Speaker 4: Bell, I think that's a very underrated acquisition.
Speaker 3: I was watching a lot of Bengals when he was
Speaker 3: over there back in my old job. I just he's
Speaker 3: a he's a local guy, grew up from where I
Speaker 3: grew up, so I've watched him for a while. I
Speaker 3: think he's really really solid and he's older. But I
Speaker 3: don't think a lot of people really talk about how
Speaker 3: good that is. Not only does it free up Jeremy Chin,
Speaker 3: but I think he's a potential to have a really,
Speaker 3: really good season. He's a he's a veteran guy. He
Speaker 3: has a different kind of attitude as we've seen. But
Speaker 3: but I I'm just really excited about him. I've I've
Speaker 3: paid a lot of attention to him throughout the years.
Speaker 2: Fu Vn's got a certain gene. Sai qui, what do
Speaker 2: you what are the kids call it?
Speaker 1: Is it edgy.
Speaker 2: Is that a fair way to describe Von I think
Speaker 2: gruff might be a little too far, but he's definitely
Speaker 2: got some of that I know what I'm here to do.
Speaker 2: I know what you're here to do. I'm going to
Speaker 2: tell you that kind of vibe. I mean, it's I mean,
Speaker 2: it's leadership in short. But he definitely brings a different
Speaker 2: energy to a bunch of young people Aroundrilely Mature.
Speaker 3: That's what I was thinking, because, like you mentioned that
Speaker 3: Defense is young.
Speaker 4: You bring him in there, it's very different.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when you talk about young, I mean
Speaker 2: even Brian Burns is a veteran of this crowd, and
Speaker 2: Burns is twenty five, so it's still a very very
Speaker 2: young group and it's gonna be interesting to see how
Speaker 2: it comes together. The whole The whole thing is, but
Speaker 2: a lot of other stuff going on. It's kind of
Speaker 2: it's one of those things we joke about, summer's over.
Speaker 2: We've crammed a lot of stuff into the last couple
Speaker 2: of months. The other, the other big announcement over the
Speaker 2: last couple of weeks has been Hall of Honor Yep,
Speaker 2: Julius Peppers, Mussin, Mohammad welcome to the Hall of Honor.
Speaker 2: I know, you know, I was around covering these guys
Speaker 2: when they were being drafted and playing the first time
Speaker 2: through and talking to them through this process has been
Speaker 2: wild because you tap into some of those memories and
Speaker 2: you see how guys change over times. One of the
Speaker 2: things I kind of wonder, and I joke with you
Speaker 2: about being young and coming to this thing new, but
Speaker 2: when you walk in the door, what were the memories
Speaker 2: or what kind of was the impression you had of
Speaker 2: Julius and Moose?
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3: So I think the biggest thing, it's something that we've
Speaker 3: we've talked about. I actually remember the first time I
Speaker 3: was near Julius Peppers in person. It was when we
Speaker 3: were in LA and he was he was on the
Speaker 3: sidelines and he was with his family.
Speaker 4: I mean, the kind of guy. I think.
Speaker 3: It's my perspective is different, and your Pepper's story explained
Speaker 3: this so well.
Speaker 4: But back in the day, you know, he went in
Speaker 4: the top to really talk a lot.
Speaker 3: He was very kind of kind of not I just
Speaker 3: you know, I think the air of all of that,
Speaker 3: it's it's it's funny when you come in and you've
Speaker 3: already seen the evolution of these things. You just see
Speaker 3: kind of mature, veteran historic.
Speaker 4: It feels like, you know, very.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to think of the word for it, like
Speaker 3: that whole of honor word where you're just like it.
Speaker 4: It feels powerful, I think. But it's really cool.
Speaker 3: I mean to see, I was obviously not around or
Speaker 3: very conscious in the late nineties. I was reading your
Speaker 3: story to come on, Muhammed, and there were some references
Speaker 3: to before I was born. Yeah, but it's funny when
Speaker 3: you see it from the perspective of you saw the evolution,
Speaker 3: and to me, they've always been kind of those big figures.
Speaker 4: So it's really cool.
Speaker 3: To think about the you know, oh, when they came in,
Speaker 3: they were stars and they had all this, but then
Speaker 3: you see what they were able to do. So it
Speaker 3: wasn't like, you know, a faded star. It was a
Speaker 3: star that kept going on and so you have that
Speaker 3: kind of but for me, that was what it always was.
Speaker 3: So you got to see the shooting and I only
Speaker 3: saw the shine.
Speaker 2: It's such a neat it's a neat confluence of events
Speaker 2: having these two guys come in at the same time,
Speaker 2: because the fact that they went away and came back
Speaker 2: and being here when each of them came back, you
Speaker 2: see how different they were. I mean from Moose. Moose
Speaker 2: left the Star, he left at the top of his game.
Speaker 2: He was only gone for three years. But then when
Speaker 2: he came back, he thought he was just coming back
Speaker 2: to be Ricky prol He thought he was just coming
Speaker 2: back to be a mentor maybe play on third down
Speaker 2: stuff like that. Moose produced at a really high level
Speaker 2: in two thousand and eight when that offense was clicking.
Speaker 2: And same with Julius. I mean, Julius comes back in
Speaker 2: after almost a decade away and puts up eleven sacks
Speaker 2: at thirty seven, thirty eight years old, and you realize
Speaker 2: at that point how special these guys were. Because the
Speaker 2: one thing I've learned in doing this for a minute
Speaker 2: is anybody could I mean, athletes can be great for
Speaker 2: a short amount of time. The people who are able
Speaker 2: to do it for fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen years that
Speaker 2: takes a different quality. It takes good fourts, and it
Speaker 2: takes good health. But to be in position to, you know,
Speaker 2: still be contributing at that advanced age in a young
Speaker 2: man's game says something about what these guys put in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I wanted to ask you.
Speaker 3: I've read it in a lot of again I read
Speaker 3: I'm reading the stories beforehand. That's the privilege of working
Speaker 3: for the team website. But I wanted to ask whenever
Speaker 3: both of those guys came back. I don't know if
Speaker 3: it's like a comparing contrast, but what I guess were
Speaker 3: some of your biggest memories from you know? I mean,
Speaker 3: like you mentioned, Moose wasn't gone that long, Pepper's was
Speaker 3: gone for a minute. It's going to be very different
Speaker 3: when they come back. But what was that like for, like,
Speaker 3: you know, walking in through the doors again, where's their
Speaker 3: role going to be? Like you said, MUSSAUTI had a
Speaker 3: completely different role. He ended up being the guy again.
Speaker 3: Just kind of tell me, tell me about your recollections,
Speaker 3: because I think that would be a really fascinating thing
Speaker 3: to live through.
Speaker 2: And it's and it's so funny because the Moose story
Speaker 2: inevitably becomes partially about Steve Smith because Moose kind of
Speaker 2: groomed young Steve Smith, and Steve didn't always realize it
Speaker 2: and may not have always received it in the way
Speaker 2: it was intended, or maybe you'd think it should have been.
Speaker 2: But he realizes now. I mean Steve said earlier this offseason.
Speaker 2: Without Moose there is no Smitty and seeing that sort
Speaker 2: of flip. I mean, Moose was the guy when Steve
Speaker 2: was a rookie who didn't know if he was going
Speaker 2: to make it in the NFL, thought he might just
Speaker 2: be a punt returner or whatever. I mean, Steve always
Speaker 2: thought he'd be somebody, but nobody else really did for
Speaker 2: a couple of years. You know, when he comes back,
Speaker 2: you know those roles of flip. Now he is unquestionably
Speaker 2: one of the brightest stars in the NFL. Moose is
Speaker 2: coming back in a supporting role. So seeing those two
Speaker 2: kind of work together and change roles over the years
Speaker 2: was always interesting. With Julius, I mean, he just he
Speaker 2: carries himself. I mean you were kind of talking about
Speaker 2: seeing him in LA He's just got this ara about him.
Speaker 2: There is a largeness to Julius Pepper's beyond his physical stature.
Speaker 2: I mean a people his size aren't supposed to be
Speaker 2: able to move the way he moved as a player,
Speaker 2: but be just that presence that he had watching the
Speaker 2: other guys. I mean they always talk about so and
Speaker 2: so's a alpha. Thomas Davis and Alpha, Luke Keigley's and Alpha.
Speaker 2: When Julius Pepper's walked in a room with those guys,
Speaker 2: they kind of deferred. I mean they're looking at him like,
Speaker 2: tell us.
Speaker 1: What to do?
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: And so for guys who are so respected by others,
Speaker 2: for guys who are viewed the same way by other people,
Speaker 2: I mean, Julias is just next level. So I'm sure
Speaker 2: it's going to be a neat weekend October twenty ninth
Speaker 2: home game against the Texans, He'll be honored at halftime
Speaker 2: that one. There's going to be events around the whole thing,
Speaker 2: and we'll have a lot more about that at Panthers
Speaker 2: dot com this weekend as we go into the fall.
Speaker 2: But that's just one of the things. So what else
Speaker 2: you got? What else are you looking forward to me?
Speaker 4: Oh my goodness, all right, let's think. So we have
Speaker 4: training camp.
Speaker 3: I love everything about I'm not even lying it's going
Speaker 3: to sound, but I love everything about Spartanburg. I think
Speaker 3: it's a fun place to go for two or three
Speaker 3: weeks joint practices with the Jets, and that'll be on
Speaker 3: hard knocks yet a lot.
Speaker 4: I've thought about that a lot. When that popped up
Speaker 4: on my feed.
Speaker 3: The first thought I thought was, oh my goodness, I
Speaker 3: love the Wafford cameo.
Speaker 4: I love it for Watford. I think Wafford's great. I
Speaker 4: had nothing but a great experience there.
Speaker 3: I saw beautiful sunsets, I saw a couple of rainbows,
Speaker 3: you know, little things like that.
Speaker 4: But that's gonna be cool.
Speaker 3: I mean, knowing that we the Panthers were gonna do
Speaker 3: joint practices with the Jets, first of all, with everything
Speaker 3: going on over there, that's spicy, that's exciting.
Speaker 4: And then now it's gonna be on the NFL's like
Speaker 4: big old show. Yeah, you don't seem as excited as it.
Speaker 1: This is it?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, having been to the circus of time
Speaker 2: or two in the past, it's one thing when New
Speaker 2: York rolls in mm hmm, and when Aaron Rodgers in
Speaker 2: New York roll in yep. And when Aaron Rodgers in
Speaker 2: New York and NFL films together, it's going to be
Speaker 2: that might be the peak population of Spartan at any
Speaker 2: one point in the last one hundred years. I don't know.
Speaker 2: It's uh, it's definitely gonna be a scene. I know that,
Speaker 2: And I think.
Speaker 4: That's awesome for Spartanburg.
Speaker 3: Like I just again, i'd had nothing but a great time,
Speaker 3: like the little restaurants, like the little places you can
Speaker 3: go get a drink later, Like I just I thought
Speaker 3: it was a nice little place to be for two
Speaker 3: or three weeks. And I love it. And it's it's
Speaker 3: funny you mentioned it. It feels like almost like a
Speaker 3: different timeline. Like it feels like I mean, it reminds
Speaker 3: me of when I went to high school band camp,
Speaker 3: you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: We did this.
Speaker 3: We did a very similar thing where we went off
Speaker 3: to Jacksonville State University up in Alaba or down in
Speaker 3: Alabama two and a half hours away. You know, we
Speaker 3: all are kind of together for a week. It doesn't
Speaker 3: feel like real life. You know, you're living in this mode.
Speaker 4: I liked it.
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, it's it's it's like a like
Speaker 3: a little an offshoot of life. And all the fans.
Speaker 3: I think that's always really excite in the autographs. I'm
Speaker 3: a sucker for stuff like that, so I know the
Speaker 3: fans are super excited.
Speaker 4: I love all the content we're able to get.
Speaker 3: I just I really like training camp for what it is,
Speaker 3: and it's hot and it's sweaty and you're tired. But
Speaker 3: for what it is is like a spectacle for the fans.
Speaker 3: I mean it's gonna be even more of a spectacle
Speaker 3: toward the end with the joint practices. I just think
Speaker 3: it's really.
Speaker 4: Fun and I'm excited for the experiences of it to
Speaker 4: see it again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's gonna be interesting. I talked to
Speaker 2: Frank Reich and Dom Capers about training camp in nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety five, and let me tell you, Spartanburg is not
Speaker 2: the same city they had training campaign in nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 2: I mean, there are you know, it's funny listening to
Speaker 2: you talk about Spartanburg because you've only seen new Spartanburg.
Speaker 2: I mean, you've seen shiny Spartanburg. There's stuff to do there.
Speaker 2: There are restaurants plural, there are places you can walk,
Speaker 2: and you know that used to not be the case.
Speaker 2: I remember, you know, if you wanted a sandwich in
Speaker 2: a beer after a night practice in Spartanburg in nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety seven or nineteen ninety eight, you ended up at
Speaker 2: a Miami subs next to the Interstate. I remember Tom
Speaker 2: Sorensen walking in and asking for a whine and they said,
Speaker 2: what's that. Um, it's you know, Spartanburg has changed. There
Speaker 2: are hotels plural, all kind of stuff. It truly is
Speaker 2: a garden spot and I believe the center of the
Speaker 2: universe absolutely.
Speaker 4: I mean I think it.
Speaker 1: Will be for two and a half weeks.
Speaker 3: Yeah, way, definitely, definitely. I mean, all eyes locked in.
Speaker 3: I think it's an exciting training camp for a million reasons.
Speaker 4: There's so many day. I mean, we hadn't even talked
Speaker 4: about the elephant in the room, but it's like, oh, well.
Speaker 3: Bryce perform. Everyone's gonna have so many eyes locked in
Speaker 3: on Bryce. And you know, we talk about it a lot,
Speaker 3: you and me, but it's like you can't forget it.
Speaker 3: Obviously Bryce is here. There's so much else going on Bryce.
Speaker 3: The whole Bryce storylines are always going to be very saturated,
Speaker 3: but it is interesting. And you know that first pad practice,
Speaker 3: I remember that from last year, huge deal, very exciting day.
Speaker 4: It was raining last year. I remember on the pad
Speaker 4: of practice. Well, we get so lucky again for those photos.
Speaker 2: You know, we will see it made for good content.
Speaker 2: There's a lot of more good content coming. As you said,
Speaker 2: we'll be on Bryce Watch very very soon. Bryce reports
Speaker 2: to camp. Rookies report on Saturday, Veterans report on two Tuesday,
Speaker 2: First practice on Wednesday. I'm ready and here we are.
Speaker 2: The twenty twenty three football season has begun. Feels like
Speaker 2: the last one just ended, but here we are so
Speaker 2: at any rate that'll cover us for this week on
Speaker 2: the happy half hour. We're gonna get back on a
Speaker 2: regular schedule here again soon now that camp's going. But
Speaker 2: we appreciate you guys joining us, and we will catch
Speaker 2: you from Spartanburg.