Speaker 1: This week on a Happy half Hour, he was getting better.
Speaker 2: The progress was steadily going in one direction, but the
Speaker 2: increments were very small.
Speaker 1: Sunday he took a huge jump.
Speaker 2: The game he played in Germany compared to the game
Speaker 2: he played here on Sunday, it was two different sports.
Speaker 2: I mean it was yeah, you know, Trevon Wallace said it.
Speaker 2: That was Alabama Price.
Speaker 1: What's the cow?
Speaker 2: Whoa?
Speaker 1: It's time for the Happy Half Hour, presented by Southern Star,
Speaker 1: an official bourbon of the Carolina Panthers. Here are your hosts,
Speaker 1: Darren Gant and Cassidy Hill.
Speaker 2: Hello, friends, Welcome to this week's Happy Half Hour. I
Speaker 2: gotta tell you missed the show. Within the show, we
Speaker 2: might have to have podcasts. Matt Splice in the director's
Speaker 2: cut with the bonus footage.
Speaker 3: I don't like this. It's making fun of me.
Speaker 2: Well, no, we'll treat this like a Burt Reynolds Dom
Speaker 2: Delawi's movie The boot Blooper reel. At the end, we
Speaker 2: got you know, they're they're just things. Cassidy, bless her heart,
Speaker 2: does not know yet. It's not our fault.
Speaker 1: She's just young.
Speaker 2: So anyway, this is the Happy Half Hour presented to
Speaker 2: you by Southern Star, an official bourbon partner of the
Speaker 2: Carolina Panthers. Celebrate the spirit of the Carolinas and my friends,
Speaker 2: we almost all.
Speaker 1: Of those people in the stadium the other day.
Speaker 2: All most had something big to celebrate, didn't they.
Speaker 3: When when they kept getting a chance for another for
Speaker 3: a two point conversion and it got moved up to
Speaker 3: the one yard line, I looked at I looked at
Speaker 3: the guy sitting next to me, and I was like,
Speaker 3: this is are we about to win this game? But
Speaker 3: alast you forget Patrick Mahomes is on the other side
Speaker 3: and he does Patrick Mahomes things. But what a game?
Speaker 3: What a great football game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was just an.
Speaker 3: Entertaining, well played game from beginning to end.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: And I was joking, We're half joking last week when
Speaker 2: I said this, and I mentioned this as Oki in
Speaker 2: the pregame show, I said, you just got to kind
Speaker 2: of unburden yourself of expectations, so you kind of go
Speaker 2: in and you don't know, I mean, there was no
Speaker 2: empirical reason for that game to turn out the way
Speaker 2: that game turned out. Kanas City Chiefs from nine to one.
Speaker 2: They got Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid in the top five defense.
Speaker 2: Carolina Panthers were three and seven and struggled to beat
Speaker 2: Saints and the Giants the last two weeks. That one
Speaker 2: shouldn't have gone the way it went. But the amazing
Speaker 2: thing about that is, and this that game contained multitudes
Speaker 2: because the easiest thing to do and the easiest thing
Speaker 2: for Dave Canalis and Bryce s Young to grab hold
Speaker 2: of would be dang, we almost.
Speaker 1: Did that, right.
Speaker 2: That was awesome and we almost did that awesome thing.
Speaker 2: But the reaction from those guys was we got to
Speaker 2: get that one in the future, and both of them
Speaker 2: in the aftermath of the game, that was kind of
Speaker 2: the consistent message of if anybody was thinking about moral victory,
Speaker 2: they were heading that off fit the past.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I believe it was Ikey who said
Speaker 3: yesterday when we were talking to him on Monday, you know,
Speaker 3: we all play in the same NFL like, we've got
Speaker 3: to win that and that's just a good reminder and
Speaker 3: that's what we're here for to kind of to dap
Speaker 3: up and say, hey, let's look at the good parts
Speaker 3: and this and that and the other. But in that
Speaker 3: locker room that you know, throw the record out the window.
Speaker 3: We're all in the same NFL. We're all one of
Speaker 3: thirty two teams, right, we should be able to go
Speaker 3: out there and finish that off, right, But there is
Speaker 3: still something to be said about going toe to toe
Speaker 3: with the defending Super Bowl champs. Two time MVP, like
Speaker 3: you said, a top five defense, and I think a
Speaker 3: lot of what went well on Sunday, you know, players
Speaker 3: told us that Bryce Shong gave a speech after the game,
Speaker 3: which is which is not all that common, so it
Speaker 3: kind of stood out just that he did that. And
Speaker 3: jac Horn said that Bryce said, this wasn't a fluke,
Speaker 3: this is who we are and we can win these games,
Speaker 3: and that he was right, Like it wasn't like, oh,
Speaker 3: they just had some weird things break their way to
Speaker 3: keep that game close. They played their way into keeping
Speaker 3: that game close. And a lot of what went well
Speaker 3: were things that you have seen them building on to
Speaker 3: this point and trying to address and working on and
Speaker 3: getting better at the things that didn't go well, or
Speaker 3: the things that they've been pretty open about need to
Speaker 3: get better. And you know, it's you kind of saw
Speaker 3: a clear line of demarcation the other day, like these
Speaker 3: are the things we're doing well. Keep building on that
Speaker 3: these are the things that we need to bring along
Speaker 3: to kind of get us over the hump to win
Speaker 3: those sort of games.
Speaker 1: Right, And that's one of the things.
Speaker 2: And I've been thinking about this a lot in the
Speaker 2: last couple of days because overthinking things is the.
Speaker 1: Thing I do.
Speaker 2: Wow, the Carolina Panthers did things that they hadn't been doing.
Speaker 2: I think that was to me when we look back
Speaker 2: at that game a year from now, if the situation
Speaker 2: is very different with this team, if this team's something
Speaker 2: other than three and eight going into the last six
Speaker 2: games of the season, I think we're going to look back.
Speaker 1: On that game.
Speaker 2: Is normally for the Carolina Panthers to have a chance
Speaker 2: to win that game, Chewba Hubbard's got to run for
Speaker 2: one twenty five or one fifty. The defense has got
Speaker 2: to get a bunch of stops beyond what you think
Speaker 2: they're going to do, and they've got to, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of bottle things up a little bit, keep Patrick
Speaker 2: Mahomes in.
Speaker 1: Front of them. They did things that were out of character.
Speaker 2: Bryce Young was throwing passes that we haven't seen him throw,
Speaker 2: or at least haven't seen him complete all season. Chewba
Speaker 2: Hubbard was not a factor until middle of the third quarter.
Speaker 1: In on, which I mean the Chiefs sold out to
Speaker 1: stop the run.
Speaker 2: And listen, if I was game planning to play Dave
Speaker 2: Canalison and Carolina Panthers, that's exactly where I would begin
Speaker 2: to because that's the thing most likely to give me trouble.
Speaker 2: Juba wasn't a factor until he was. The defense was
Speaker 2: getting strafed early on. They allow the Chiefs score five
Speaker 2: straight possessions. Granted two of those were field goals, and
Speaker 2: that was huge because anytime you get a red zone
Speaker 2: stop on Patrick Mahomes, that's a win. Anytime you make
Speaker 2: you know whoever kick, whether it's Harrison Butcker when he's healthier,
Speaker 2: Spencer Trader the other day, if Spencer Trader's on the
Speaker 2: field instead of Patrick Mahomes, that's a w for your defense.
Speaker 2: And that defense got stops in the fourth quarter. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they sacked Patrick Mahomes five times. This team had twelve
Speaker 2: sacks and ten games.
Speaker 1: That's not what they do.
Speaker 2: And to me, that's the biggest sign of progress is
Speaker 2: Bryce Young did things Bryce Young hadn't done. That defense
Speaker 2: did things that defense hadn't done. And if you're looking
Speaker 2: for a path forward, for the Carolina Panthers. Those are
Speaker 2: the two areas to me where you see the most
Speaker 2: hope for the future.
Speaker 3: And of course we talk all the time too about
Speaker 3: complimentary football. That's what the offense the defense did, and
Speaker 3: that's what the offense did within itself as well. Oh,
Speaker 3: they were able to run you, but more in the
Speaker 3: second half because the Chiefs had to start dropping back
Speaker 3: and protecting the past more because of what Bryce did
Speaker 3: in the right And we've seen him slowly ever since
Speaker 3: he came back after the benching, we've seen him start
Speaker 3: to be more confident with those throws. You know, he
Speaker 3: had a couple of throws in Denver where it was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 3: he uncorked that and just you know, he and the
Speaker 3: receiver weren't on the same page, or sometimes they were,
Speaker 3: and you know, but it didn't end up making a difference.
Speaker 3: At the end of the day. We've seen him steadily
Speaker 3: get more and more confident, which is what they wanted.
Speaker 3: And they also wanted him to get the ball out
Speaker 3: quicker and buddy, did he do that on Sunday. He
Speaker 3: was blitzed more on Sunday than he ever has been
Speaker 3: in a game in his career. He was blitched forty
Speaker 3: percent of his dropbacks. That's an insane number. And all
Speaker 3: he did was go eleven to fourteen for I think
Speaker 3: one hundred and twenty plus yards in a touchdown against
Speaker 3: the Blitz.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean that was the thing.
Speaker 2: And I keep going back to with Bryce over the
Speaker 2: last month and again part of you know, I've been
Speaker 2: standing here in one place doing this thing for thirty years,
Speaker 2: and they all sort of start to blend together. But
Speaker 2: I think it's worth kind of stepping back and looking
Speaker 2: at things from a wider lens.
Speaker 1: Every now and then, if.
Speaker 2: Andy Dalton doesn't get hit by a car on a
Speaker 2: Tuesday before we go to Denver, none of this happens.
Speaker 2: There was no indication that anything other than Andy Dalton
Speaker 2: playing out the season was going to be what happened
Speaker 2: for the Carolina Panthers. So if not for a traffic
Speaker 2: accident on a Tuesday, Bryce doesn't get back on the field,
Speaker 2: and since then the progress And you can't see this,
Speaker 2: but this go theater of the mind with me. I'm
Speaker 2: holding my fingers just a little bit apart, like a
Speaker 2: finger's with a part. Bryshung was getting better that much
Speaker 2: at a time. The first three weeks, when you go Denver,
Speaker 2: New Orleans the Giants.
Speaker 1: He was getting better.
Speaker 2: The progress was steadily going in one direction, but the
Speaker 2: increments were very small.
Speaker 1: Sunday he took a huge jump.
Speaker 2: I mean, and it's just the game he played in
Speaker 2: Germany compared to the game he played here on Sunday,
Speaker 2: it was two different sports. I mean, it was this,
Speaker 2: you know, Trevon Wallace said it. That was Alabama Bryce.
Speaker 2: We've seen that that was the guy who was dealing confidently,
Speaker 2: and he really was, I mean, standing in the face
Speaker 2: of that pressure making some of those throws. I mean
Speaker 2: when they go zero and everybody's coming and he hits
Speaker 2: lega for the first down, It's like.
Speaker 3: Whoof Yeah. I think that was maybe the most impressive part.
Speaker 3: And I think we also just asn't decide to have
Speaker 3: to maybe give some credits to the fact that being
Speaker 3: able to sit back and catch his breath for those
Speaker 3: five weeks that Andy did play probably worked. Wonders just
Speaker 3: being able to focus purely on the game book, the
Speaker 3: playbook and practice without necessarily having to I don't want
Speaker 3: to say worry about the game, but because he was
Speaker 3: still prepared, you never know what Obviously, you never know
Speaker 3: what's going to happen and when you have to step in.
Speaker 3: But being able to focus on what he needed to do,
Speaker 3: I think took a lot of weight off his shoulders
Speaker 3: and now we're seeing play more free year because of it.
Speaker 3: But to your point, I mean, you look at, for example,
Speaker 3: that Green Bay game last year where he technically had
Speaker 3: his best statistical game, right that he still had more
Speaker 3: yards in that game than he did on Sunday.
Speaker 2: M hm.
Speaker 3: But that was a lot of running for his life
Speaker 3: and dumping it off and and had the advantage of
Speaker 3: playing against a defense that wasn't there to cover things.
Speaker 1: What a what a wonderful way of saying that.
Speaker 2: Something came up the other day and somebody said, that's
Speaker 2: a real rider way to explain that. And I think
Speaker 2: that's another example of that. You described the Packers defense accurately.
Speaker 2: There they weren't there to cover things.
Speaker 3: But then you see on Sunday, I mean he had
Speaker 3: a conversion to Adam Thingland. I think it was a
Speaker 3: third or fourth down conversion. I mean the guy was
Speaker 3: draped on him. He got a PI call as well
Speaker 3: a DPI call, but that ball was perfectly placed to Thielen,
Speaker 3: and he was not scared to kind of put it
Speaker 3: over there and let his guy make a catch. He
Speaker 3: had a play to get down the right sideline at
Speaker 3: one point that was not the one that got dropped,
Speaker 3: But this one was a conversion as well. It got
Speaker 3: him down close to the red zone and he threw
Speaker 3: that ball. He never left the pocket and there was
Speaker 3: a blitz coming. He knew it was coming, he saw it.
Speaker 3: He never left the pocket. He stood in there. He
Speaker 3: delivered that ball as he took a massive hit. I
Speaker 3: don't know if he makes those plays a year ago.
Speaker 3: I don't know if he makes those plays two months ago.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and it's fair to ask. And again
Speaker 2: I try to take the longer view of these things.
Speaker 2: Playing quarterback in the NFL is really hard. There's a
Speaker 2: reason Andy Dalton's good at it. He's done it for
Speaker 2: a long long time. Bryce has done it for a
Speaker 2: very short amount of time. And because we have this
Speaker 2: tin and now in our modern culture, to every day
Speaker 2: is a referendum on forever, and so whatever it is
Speaker 2: right now is the thing everybody assumes it has to be.
Speaker 2: And after the way last year when everybody assumed Bryce
Speaker 2: is always going to be bad at football.
Speaker 1: Everybody assumed that CJ.
Speaker 2: Stroud's always going to be great at football. Early this year,
Speaker 2: Caleb Williams has four or five good games and they're like,
Speaker 2: oh my god, look at Caleb Williams. Now, you know,
Speaker 2: there's this thing called regression to the mean and people
Speaker 2: start to it takes time for people to become what
Speaker 2: they are, and I think Bryce is still very much
Speaker 2: in the evolution of his own game. And I also
Speaker 2: don't want to get caught in the trap of assuming
Speaker 2: Bryce is always going to look like this. In anybody's season,
Speaker 2: there high points, low points. That's why I like averages,
Speaker 2: and I just want to see what it looks like
Speaker 2: six weeks from now, built on this. I want to
Speaker 2: see how he takes this and turns it into the
Speaker 2: next six weeks of the season, because that was it.
Speaker 2: One of the other big takeaways is Dave Canalis has
Speaker 2: always been one week at a time, and ask me
Speaker 2: again on Wednesday, who's going to start Sunday. He was like,
Speaker 2: I don't need to say anything. Bryce told you everything
Speaker 2: you needed to see out there today. I mean, and
Speaker 2: Dave just you know, it's reached the point where you
Speaker 2: just kind of shrugged and it was like, well, yeah,
Speaker 2: he's starting.
Speaker 1: Of course, did you see the game he just played.
Speaker 2: So now it's on Bryce to see how he can
Speaker 2: build on it, to see what's next for him, because
Speaker 2: we're getting back to the brice a lot of people
Speaker 2: were expecting a year and a half ago when he
Speaker 2: was drafted based on everything we had seen in Alabama,
Speaker 2: because again, as Trevon Waller said, that was Alabama.
Speaker 3: Bryce, right now that he has seen himself do it too,
Speaker 3: very curious what Sunday looks like because this Tampa Bay defense,
Speaker 3: the secondary figuring out the right way to put this. Okay,
Speaker 3: let's just use the numbers this The Tampa Bay secondary
Speaker 3: is twenty eighth in the league overall. Now that Bryce
Speaker 3: has kind of seen what he can do, and that's
Speaker 3: not to say he's going to go out there and
Speaker 3: light him up and toward the place, but it is
Speaker 3: can he take another step forward right now that he
Speaker 3: has seen the tape and he and his receivers are
Speaker 3: getting closer on the same page in chemistry because some
Speaker 3: of those incompletions on Sunday too were drops.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Xavierally Get told us yesterday that when he went home
Speaker 3: Sunday night and kind of watched the film. He ended
Speaker 3: up texting Bryce about that play that was down the
Speaker 3: left side line and apologize and he's like, you put
Speaker 3: it in the perfect spot. I should have caught that,
Speaker 3: Like that was on me.
Speaker 1: Well.
Speaker 2: And one of the things against the Bucks, I mean,
Speaker 2: you mentioned are they at top five defense?
Speaker 1: They are not.
Speaker 3: They're a bottom five defense.
Speaker 2: Is Todd Bowles really good at coaching ball?
Speaker 1: He absolutely is.
Speaker 2: And Todd's one of those coaches who is great at
Speaker 2: coaching any one particular game. I just love the way
Speaker 2: I love his approach to it. I think he is
Speaker 2: one of those coaches who is good for long stretches
Speaker 2: of time. If you want to raise the level of
Speaker 2: your organization, Todd Bowles is the kind of coach you
Speaker 2: want to have around he is. He is so good defensively.
Speaker 2: He can turn the screws on you in one particular
Speaker 2: week and make anybody look see Canalis. Yep, he certainly
Speaker 2: does that. So it's going to be interesting.
Speaker 1: But I think that you know you're gonna hear it.
Speaker 2: And it started to creep in a little bit, in
Speaker 2: the little bit that people were allowing themselves to think
Speaker 2: positively about that game that that unfolded. You know, somebody
Speaker 2: with I think it was Rob Hunt, said hey, we're
Speaker 2: three and eight, we got stuff to play for.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which, mathematically.
Speaker 2: Yes, congratulations, you're in the still in the Hunt graphic
Speaker 2: because you haven't been eliminated and you have the good
Speaker 2: fortune of playing in the NFC South, the trailer park
Speaker 2: of the NFL. Uh.
Speaker 1: I've said it all the time.
Speaker 2: Every trailer park gets haveing hoa, somebody's got to be
Speaker 2: the president. So uh, it's still right there in front
Speaker 2: of you. There are three games out of the division
Speaker 2: league with six to play, and I've seen weirder things happen.
Speaker 1: In this you know, yess of a division.
Speaker 3: So way division games to play too.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, anything can happen. But I think, to me,
Speaker 2: I tend to look at this as what is this
Speaker 2: doing to set this team up for next year? And
Speaker 2: I think being in a game like Sundays, seeing how
Speaker 2: close how far away they are from how close they
Speaker 2: need to be because there's still a lot of stuff
Speaker 2: going wrong. They you know, coaches love winning games where
Speaker 2: they've got object lessons to show people in concrete things.
Speaker 2: They lost that game, but all Dave Canal's got to do. Say, Hey,
Speaker 2: you want to beat the Chiefs, be better in the
Speaker 2: red zone, you want to beat the Chiefs, get off
Speaker 2: field on third down. He's got those very tangible teaching
Speaker 2: points to lean on coming out of this game, and
Speaker 2: I think that's going to serve these guys well, because
Speaker 2: these guys have started to figure something out. This reminds
Speaker 2: me so much of two thousand and two when John
Speaker 2: Fox came in first as a head coach. They won
Speaker 2: their first three games based on a defense that was
Speaker 2: hard from day one. I mean, you walked into a
Speaker 2: group with Dan Morgan, Chris Jenkins, Julius Peppers, and it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: they're pretty good. And then they went through a long
Speaker 2: stretch and eight game losing streak in the middle of
Speaker 2: the season where they couldn't score a point, couldn't do
Speaker 2: anything right. And then at the end of the year
Speaker 2: you saw that turn. They go up to Cleveland, they
Speaker 2: win an ugly game in Cleveland and win like whatever
Speaker 2: it happened to be for their last five I think
Speaker 2: it was finish seven and nine.
Speaker 1: Yeah, turned a three and eight into a seven and nine.
Speaker 1: So for the last.
Speaker 2: Five and they started to find out a personality, and
Speaker 2: we all know what happened. The next year, they got
Speaker 2: on a run, went to the Super Bowl, which at
Speaker 2: dilom a quarterback. I don't know that they're necessarily anticipating
Speaker 2: a quarterback change right now, but this team is starting
Speaker 2: to figure out a personality. And if Bryce being confident
Speaker 2: in making throws like he made Sunday as part of
Speaker 2: that personality, there is definitely some stuff to build on
Speaker 2: for them.
Speaker 3: On that note, can we talk about the defense for
Speaker 3: equipment we should how much stock do you put in
Speaker 3: I don't want to say like a game changer, but
Speaker 3: one guy being a lynch pin.
Speaker 2: You're talking about DJ Watts, Yes, yeah, I mean, And
Speaker 2: that's the thing in a three to four defense, at
Speaker 2: outside linebacker position is the most important position on the field.
Speaker 2: And if you've got a guy like Jadavian Clowney out
Speaker 2: there run around by himself, there ain't so much he
Speaker 2: can do. You put a guy on the other side,
Speaker 2: and that's that force multiplayer. It's the guy who makes
Speaker 2: everything else work a little better around him.
Speaker 1: And I just I do I look at this team.
Speaker 2: I mean, when the Carolina Panthers going to the offseason
Speaker 2: We've got a lot of time to talk about offseason stuff,
Speaker 2: but I think one of the keys is going to
Speaker 2: be adding dudes on defense, people who chase quarterbacks around
Speaker 2: in the front seven specifically, is going to be one
Speaker 2: of Dan Morgan's focuses this offseason. But DJ Wadham's done
Speaker 2: a job in a couple of weeks. He's got a
Speaker 2: sack in each game, and he frees things up on
Speaker 2: the other side. And you've seen a more active Clowney.
Speaker 2: You've seen you know, Ashawn Robinson continuing to do the work.
Speaker 2: I mean, my guysh that guy he left the game,
Speaker 2: came out. Uh, he was clearly hurt. I saw him
Speaker 2: leading the stadium with a cast on his hand.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: We'll see what happens this week. But you know, football
Speaker 2: players call cats like that war daddies.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he is one.
Speaker 2: He's he's that old head who is going to go
Speaker 2: no matter what, and again to a lesser degree of
Speaker 2: what's happening on the other side of the ball. But
Speaker 2: you can kind of see that path forward. You put
Speaker 2: Deareck Brown on the field next day, Shawn Robbinson next year,
Speaker 2: You add another couple pass rushers, you fortify some other
Speaker 2: areas of that defense. See, you know, Trevin will be
Speaker 2: a year better next year.
Speaker 1: You can sort of see where this group's going to get.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and listen, do they need more dudes and more
Speaker 2: time they do? Uh? Do they need this defensive coaching
Speaker 2: staff come back another year smarter about these pieces. They've
Speaker 2: gotten the pieces they need. Yep, that helps too.
Speaker 1: But I'm not saying there there yet.
Speaker 2: But they are in that spot that the two Panthers
Speaker 2: were in coming out of Cleveland in December, where it's like,
Speaker 2: all right, we're not there, but I can at least
Speaker 2: see the map.
Speaker 3: So it's exciting.
Speaker 1: It was good stuff.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's just and I joked about this the
Speaker 2: other week in the mail bag, the Panthers have kind
Speaker 2: of escaped the oh my god, is it over part
Speaker 2: of the league. I mean that, you know, Sunday's result
Speaker 2: against Washington notwithstanding, Dallas is ready to curl up and
Speaker 2: for this thing to be over. Other teams in the
Speaker 2: league have reached that point where they're only thinking about
Speaker 2: draft position and how do we extract ourselves from this mess.
Speaker 2: The Carolina Panthers suddenly have got stuff to play for,
Speaker 2: even if it's you know, twenty twenty five stuff.
Speaker 1: And that's cool. It's different.
Speaker 2: It's not something that we've experienced the last couple of
Speaker 2: years around here.
Speaker 3: Right. It's like like I said a minute ago, you
Speaker 3: can see kind of what Dan Morgan's vision is and
Speaker 3: makes you excited to see what they can do this
Speaker 3: off season two and where they can take it next year.
Speaker 2: So anyway, so I guess you could. I guess you
Speaker 2: could say they have a lot to be.
Speaker 3: Thanks they have a lot to be thankful.
Speaker 2: And there's our segue. It's Thanksgiving Week, everybody, and I
Speaker 2: hope it.
Speaker 3: Is your favorite Thanksgiving side.
Speaker 1: My favorite Thanksgiving side is a correct answer. Well, I I.
Speaker 2: Celebrate the entire catalog of Thanksgiving. It's my absolute favorite holiday.
Speaker 2: I hate Halloween. I got no business with it. I
Speaker 2: don't care for the people who go straight to Christmas
Speaker 2: after Halloween.
Speaker 3: Wow, shots fired.
Speaker 1: I want a month of gratitude. It's kind of my thing.
Speaker 2: I you know, get your people around you, eat a
Speaker 2: bunch of food, do things that make you happy, help
Speaker 2: other people as you can. That's kind of my aesthetic
Speaker 2: at this point in my life. So I just love
Speaker 2: everything about Thanksgiving. I love green bean casserole. I love
Speaker 2: those sausage and cheese biscuits my mom makes out of
Speaker 2: three ingredients biscuit, sausage, cheese that we eat before we eat.
Speaker 3: Does she make them as biscuits or as.
Speaker 2: Balls balls but smaller than a golf ball so you
Speaker 2: can eat a whole bunch.
Speaker 3: Of them breakfast.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, I mean I love everything about it. My sister
Speaker 2: in law makes this weird wild rice thing with cream
Speaker 2: of something, soup and green peppers in it. Uh, it's great,
Speaker 2: the whole thing. I mean, I I just love mostly
Speaker 2: I like having my people around me. I mean that's
Speaker 2: the key. But I dig and I think it's a
Speaker 2: perfect compliment to everything else on the table. Cranberry sauce
Speaker 2: out the can, because it even gives you lines so
Speaker 2: you know how to cut it. I mean, everything's right
Speaker 2: there for you. They've even given you instructions with this
Speaker 2: food product.
Speaker 1: So it don't look like much.
Speaker 2: But I think it's perfect because it's got that sweet
Speaker 2: tart compliment to all this savory deliciousness that hits your plate.
Speaker 3: Right. I do love cranberry sauce. I had grew up
Speaker 3: eating it out of a can, and then I spent
Speaker 3: about ten years while working as a sports reporter, I
Speaker 3: also worked at a bed and breakfast in Gainesville, Florida,
Speaker 3: and nothing came out of that kitchen that wasn't homemade.
Speaker 3: And once you've made homemade cranberry sauce for about seven
Speaker 3: or eight years and you've tasted that, it's hard to
Speaker 3: have anything else here.
Speaker 1: You and I had that, and I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: But I just like there is something solid and stable
Speaker 2: and predictable about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah that I like certainty this time of year.
Speaker 2: So if I I know, I can open that, can
Speaker 2: hear that come out on one end, cut it along
Speaker 2: those lines, and I know exactly what I'm gonna get.
Speaker 3: The correct answer though, was sweet potato casserole.
Speaker 2: That sure great, love it, love sweet potatoes. Here's the
Speaker 2: key to Thanksgiving. Get around your people, eat food that
Speaker 2: you enjoy in a responsible amount.
Speaker 1: Perhaps commit some physical activity.
Speaker 2: Earlier in the days so you can do it without compulsion,
Speaker 2: but mostly just don't steal the land of indigenous peoples
Speaker 2: and enslave them. If you can pull that off on Thanksgiving,
Speaker 2: I think that's the key.
Speaker 3: That's all you can ask for it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's my moment of political activism for Thanksgiving. Actually no,
Speaker 2: it's not, because I gave you the assignment of all
Speaker 2: assignments this week, but you got to experience Alice's Restaurant
Speaker 2: by Arlo Guthrie in all its eighteen and a half
Speaker 2: minute glory.
Speaker 3: You know what's funny is like I when you said
Speaker 3: that song, I had no idea what you're talking about.
Speaker 3: And then and then it was playing. I was listening
Speaker 3: to it in the car and it got to the
Speaker 3: first little you can Have Anything you Want at Alice's
Speaker 3: rest and I was like, I know this song. I
Speaker 3: at least know that riff. It's either been used in
Speaker 3: commercials or movies or something, and so I knew that
Speaker 3: little riff. It was definitely entertaining. It's not one that
Speaker 3: I would listen to over. I'm a big If I
Speaker 3: find a song I like, I'll listen to it seven
Speaker 3: times in a row in the car. Yeah, that's one
Speaker 3: that I'm obviously probably not gonna do that with just
Speaker 3: because who has that kind of time. But it made
Speaker 3: time fors rivee around. I gotta get a full tank
Speaker 3: of gas and then drive around and listen to it
Speaker 3: seven times. But it was definitely entertaining. I liked the story.
Speaker 3: I liked how it really took us on a ride
Speaker 3: and then came back to the beginning. It could have
Speaker 3: been half the time if he didn't repeat everything seventeen times.
Speaker 1: Maybe that was fun.
Speaker 3: That was part of the fun.
Speaker 2: You're you're starting to get a window into my soul here,
Speaker 2: because if you listen to that song carefully, there are
Speaker 2: lines in that song that have become part of.
Speaker 1: The Darren Gamp vernacular.
Speaker 2: Okay, when he talks about how Officerobi, you know, there
Speaker 2: were a couple of things that could have happened. He
Speaker 2: could have brought him down to the station and given
Speaker 2: him a medal and thanked him for how brave and
Speaker 2: honest they were. And he says, but that wasn't very
Speaker 2: likely and we didn't expect it.
Speaker 1: That's a thing that just.
Speaker 2: Now falls out of my mouth when I'm talking about things.
Speaker 2: You know, something will happen about football, and I'll say
Speaker 2: it wasn't very likely and we didn't expect it.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, know, there are things about it. I love it.
Speaker 2: It's a protest song. It's about ending the draft. It's
Speaker 2: about that. Yeah, I mean that's the whole thing. It's
Speaker 2: a Vietnam protest song he.
Speaker 3: Definitely went to he tried to enlist.
Speaker 1: No, he didn't try to enlist. He was he was drafted.
Speaker 2: That's why he went to Whitehall Street to get inspected, detected.
Speaker 1: And see what I thought?
Speaker 3: That was a volunteer.
Speaker 2: This was this was all context. He was trying to
Speaker 2: get out of the draft. And and the point of
Speaker 2: the song is how ridiculous is it that I am
Speaker 2: not moral enough to go burn women and children's villages
Speaker 2: down in Vietnam after littering in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Speaker 3: So he was saying, Okay.
Speaker 2: Now you got to go back and it again. I
Speaker 2: have sentenced you to another drive. So by the way,
Speaker 2: you had me listening to Kristin.
Speaker 3: Chinawell, Oh yeah, I forgot what I gave you.
Speaker 1: I find delightful. By the way, you're so fun.
Speaker 2: You might not peg me as a show tunes kind
Speaker 2: kind of guy, but I like a show tune every
Speaker 2: now and then. And she she is amazing to me.
Speaker 2: She's like the Steve Smith of singers. It's hard to
Speaker 2: believe anything that big comes out of something that little.
Speaker 2: She has got a gigantic voice. She's an incredible performer.
Speaker 2: And Taylor the Latte Boy is a cute little song.
Speaker 2: Uh fun, Yeah, it was fun. It was nice and
Speaker 2: while I got down one of the things happens to
Speaker 2: me when I tend to listen to a lot of
Speaker 2: music on YouTube, and so it gives you the next thing. Yea,
Speaker 2: and there is I saw a response to this from
Speaker 2: the perspective of Taylor the Latte Boy, and it was basically,
Speaker 2: get this crazy woman away from me, I need a
Speaker 2: restraining order, which I find cool because it flipped that
Speaker 2: story on its head.
Speaker 3: That's a fun one. And the first guy that ever
Speaker 3: did it, he was a comedian. He did it as
Speaker 3: part of his stand up and he put on a
Speaker 3: Starbucks apron to do it. So, yeah, it was it
Speaker 3: was cute. So but I sing that song to myself
Speaker 3: a lot when I go in Starbucks.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go. What what you got for me
Speaker 2: this week? What am I listening to on my Thanksgiving break?
Speaker 3: Question Mark, We're gonna just do it. I've been holding
Speaker 3: this one. I've been thinking about it, and I've been
Speaker 3: slightly hesitant because up what you're gonna say. But we're
Speaker 3: about to get into a very happy time of the year,
Speaker 3: So let's just get this last sad one out. Of
Speaker 3: the way, oh boy, because you need to do it.
Speaker 3: This was listed as Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone said this
Speaker 3: will be one of the top one hundred songs of
Speaker 3: all time when it's all said and done. Your good
Speaker 3: friend Rob Demoski laughed at me when I said that,
Speaker 3: and then he went and listened to the song, and
Speaker 3: he came to me the next day and said, you
Speaker 3: were right. I said, okay, all right, what you got
Speaker 3: all too well? Mm hmm. Taylor's version ten minute version
Speaker 3: ten minutes.
Speaker 2: See, this is payback for making you listen Alice's Restaurant.
Speaker 2: Now you got to listen to it again, now that
Speaker 2: you know what it's actually about.
Speaker 3: That you have to make sure you're listening to the
Speaker 3: ten minute version.
Speaker 2: All right, fair enough, Well, since you since you're doing that,
Speaker 2: it's Thanksgiving.
Speaker 1: There are things.
Speaker 2: There are a couple of cultural signifiers for me when
Speaker 2: I get to Thanksgiving week. Number one is I'm gonna
Speaker 2: listen to Alice's Restaurant seven or eight times in my car,
Speaker 2: even if I have to drive around extra to do it.
Speaker 1: I used to torment the kids.
Speaker 2: I'd say, give me the ax cord, I only want
Speaker 2: to hear one song, and I'd listen to that, and
Speaker 2: they would squall, so I'd listen to it again. Maybe
Speaker 2: that's why they don't ride around with me. But the
Speaker 2: other one that it's just a staple of this week for.
Speaker 1: Me is the Last Waltz.
Speaker 2: The band is the greatest American band, even though only
Speaker 2: one member of the band was American.
Speaker 1: That would be over ter the band.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the band. Levon Hilm was the drummer in the
Speaker 2: cornerstone of the band. It's the greatest American band, even
Speaker 2: though everybody other than Levine in the band was Canadian.
Speaker 2: Their last show was captured by Martin Scorsese for the
Speaker 2: movie The Last Waltz.
Speaker 1: Okay, Okay.
Speaker 2: They brought in an all star cast of all their friends.
Speaker 2: Eric Clapton was there, Bob Dylan was there, Neil Young,
Speaker 2: Johnny Mitchell, a star studded cast was there. But the
Speaker 2: Last Waltz is The concert itself was on Thanksgiving Night
Speaker 2: at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco in nineteen seventy six,
Speaker 2: So I just have always associated the Last Waltz with
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving Friday Night. Here's a PSA Friday Night at the
Speaker 2: Visualite Theater. Here in Lovely Elizabeth Josh Daniel and friends
Speaker 2: do an annual Last Waltz tribute show that me and
Speaker 2: my smart friend Kelly's smart friend Anne and some other
Speaker 2: friends will be in attendance for it's a great time.
Speaker 2: And coming down the stretch of that show. Coming down
Speaker 2: the stretch of the movie, two of the last three
Speaker 2: songs You're Gonna Hear are Forever Young by Bob Dylan.
Speaker 2: That song under that name's been recorded by a lot
Speaker 2: of different people, different songs, but the Bob Dylan Forever
Speaker 2: Young with the band from the Last Waltz. Look it
Speaker 2: up on the youtubes. And then they closed the show
Speaker 2: with I Shall Be Released. And when you think about
Speaker 2: the band and the scope of their career, what Robbie
Speaker 2: Robertson and Levon Hilm were able to do together as
Speaker 2: musicians along with an incredible band, I mean I could
Speaker 2: go on and on all day about Garth Hudson and
Speaker 2: Rich Danko and the boys, and it was just an
Speaker 2: incredible band. And to see it all come together in
Speaker 2: that way, captured in the way Martin Scorsese captured it
Speaker 2: was just moving. For lack of a better word, I
Speaker 2: associate it with Thanksgiving and all good things. So I
Speaker 2: am a complete sucker. It's a miracle. I don't start
Speaker 2: crying every week every year during Thanksgiving because I love
Speaker 2: it that much. I mean, I just think that's the holiday.
Speaker 2: These are the people we're supposed to be in life,
Speaker 2: so let's go be it.
Speaker 3: You know what My favorite part of our Thanksgiving is
Speaker 3: tell me watching the old w KRP Turkey Drop video.
Speaker 2: Because God is my witness. I thought turkeys could fly.
Speaker 3: Me and my dad and my uncles, we are the
Speaker 3: only ones in our family that find it funny. My
Speaker 3: cousins think we're ridiculous, but it is. And my dad
Speaker 3: and his brother can quote the entire thing from beginning
Speaker 3: to end, and they do every year around this time.
Speaker 3: My dad from the ground like sacks of the not
Speaker 3: since the Hindenburgh tragedy is my dad will call me
Speaker 3: on Thanksgiving Day to recite it to me, and then
Speaker 3: he'll hang up the phone.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I love that about the Hill family. That's amazing.
Speaker 2: So she knows WKRP a sitcom from the seventies.
Speaker 1: I know that scene, and yet she doesn't know this.
Speaker 2: We'll play you out with with podcast Matt, going back
Speaker 2: to the clips from the beginning of the show, the
Speaker 2: blooper reel of things Cassidy Hill does not know.
Speaker 1: La la la la, la la la. Hello on my baby, Honey?
Speaker 3: Is that a hooter song? O?
Speaker 2: That's Michigan Jay Frogg from Looney Tunes. Wait a minute,
Speaker 2: you don't. We almost have to leave that in at
Speaker 2: the top of the show. It's, uh, what are we doing,
Speaker 2: Cassidy sweet.
Speaker 3: Art, are you even recording? Oh?
Speaker 2: That's great, we'll drop that in bonus cuts, the director's
Speaker 2: cut of The Happy Half Hour. Oh boy, On that note,
Speaker 2: have a great Thanksgiving. Everybody, Go be around your people,
Speaker 2: help where you can. We'll see you next week on
Speaker 2: The Happy half Hour.