Speaker 1: Each time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Christian Balboni, Will Brian and Darren Gap Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Happy Half Hour. I am Will Brian. I am not
Speaker 1: Kristen Balboni, but I get to sit in the big
Speaker 1: chair today and be that guy and be the voice.
Speaker 1: We are joined today by the one, the only, Mick Mixing. Mick.
Speaker 1: What is Mick stand for? Uh? It's short for Mickey,
Speaker 1: which I was called when I was born little Mickey
Speaker 1: Mixing in Chapel Hill growing up as a little kid,
Speaker 1: and UM had a news director at a radio station
Speaker 1: one time shorten it to Mickey, said you sound too
Speaker 1: much like a damn kid, but being named Mickey and
Speaker 1: I shouldn't hired you anyway. So from now on we're
Speaker 1: just gonna call you Mick. What's your mental name? My
Speaker 1: legal name is Forrest with one r oriyan o, r
Speaker 1: I O n mixing. The third gives him a certain
Speaker 1: mythological quality, doesn't it? It does? Forrest is quite a name.
Speaker 1: Has anyone ever called you forest? Oh? That the classic
Speaker 1: when You're in trouble Forestry? The third kind of like
Speaker 1: Philip Walker, Yes, yeah, just a little bit something like that.
Speaker 1: But the man's middle name is a Ryan Forgot. He's
Speaker 1: the legendary Hunter of the Stars. I mean I missed
Speaker 1: the lead anyway. Kristen is on special assignment, so Mick
Speaker 1: is joining us today for a very special episode of
Speaker 1: The Happy Half Hour. We were back from the bye.
Speaker 1: We have some some a lot of personal things going on.
Speaker 1: I think going into the bye last week, we didn't
Speaker 1: really announce this because it was a pretty big secret
Speaker 1: and I didn't want all of our listeners to know.
Speaker 1: But I've had some things that happened in my life
Speaker 1: in the last week. What we're working with Young Will
Speaker 1: has got news. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm engaged. How about that, Mick? Unbelievable?
Speaker 1: How did you do it? And were you nervous? Oh?
Speaker 1: My god, I completely blacked out in a good way.
Speaker 1: But we did it in the uh like the Green
Speaker 1: the park near the MIT Museum in Uptown. After several
Speaker 1: other venues or areas we're not gonna work because of
Speaker 1: a holiday sip constrol, which meant that hundreds of people
Speaker 1: were going to be in the previous place. I was
Speaker 1: gonna try to do it um over and fourth ward,
Speaker 1: So we ended up going over there and her, I
Speaker 1: had like taking pictures set up. It was gonna be
Speaker 1: on like the second walkway, and her friends were gonna
Speaker 1: be behind the some of the side columns to jump
Speaker 1: out and take pictures. By the time we walked in,
Speaker 1: I had was so nervous walking through uptown that I
Speaker 1: just got down on one knee in the first walkway.
Speaker 1: No one had any idea I was doing it. There
Speaker 1: were no pictures of the moment she was It was
Speaker 1: so warm that night, it was like seventy five degrees
Speaker 1: on Friday. So she was carrying like her big heavy
Speaker 1: coat in her left hand. So I grabbed her right
Speaker 1: hand to like pull towards me, and then just kind of,
Speaker 1: I guess, shoved the ring in her general direction. And
Speaker 1: you know, her story was that I put it on
Speaker 1: the wrong hand. I don't know whether I put it anywhere,
Speaker 1: but I don't remember really much of the moment outside
Speaker 1: of her. She didn't say yes. She said are you serious?
Speaker 1: And then I said yes, pretty much. Pretty What did
Speaker 1: you say? What were your exact words? Will you marry me?
Speaker 1: Will you like marry me? And stuff? Will you like
Speaker 1: marry me soon? Yeah? So? And then did she know
Speaker 1: did she have a sense because women are legendary for
Speaker 1: she knew in general, but she had no idea that Friday.
Speaker 1: I had played a little bit of the long game
Speaker 1: with her parents. They had convinced her they were going
Speaker 1: to be in Georgia, and then they were there. My
Speaker 1: parents were there, and I think she really I had
Speaker 1: been telling her all week, we're not going to travel
Speaker 1: for the bye week. I've got a surprise. We're gonna
Speaker 1: go out, you know, go out to dinner. And she
Speaker 1: just thought we were going out to dinner. And then
Speaker 1: the way we were walking, she was completely confused where
Speaker 1: we were going. She ended up thinking we were going
Speaker 1: to like Red Ginger or something. But so, now that
Speaker 1: you've done this, congratulations, By the way, Darren been married.
Speaker 1: I've been married. I got a mulligan in Lassie two
Speaker 1: thousand eleven and took it right down the middle, which
Speaker 1: is great. And you did the same thing I did.
Speaker 1: I did the same thing. So will The only thing
Speaker 1: you really control is what you did, where you did it,
Speaker 1: and that you did it. Now you'll be it's like
Speaker 1: you you're a You've hitched a ride aboard at comet
Speaker 1: that will streak across the sky. Planning the wedding. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I know, I'm already you will have no I'm already
Speaker 1: holding on for dear life. Just enjoy the ride. But
Speaker 1: it was cool and and after the fact. Adding to
Speaker 1: and surprise was the fact that Will and his friends
Speaker 1: had planned this party. A bunch of friends were able
Speaker 1: to gather and meet the parents. I got to meet
Speaker 1: the Brian's and his parents are lovely people. I gotta
Speaker 1: kick out of talking to them, meeting to them and
Speaker 1: telling them about what a good boy he is. Playing
Speaker 1: cover bands. Over the years, I've seen all kind of
Speaker 1: weddings and toasts and the whole thing, and we could
Speaker 1: do a whole show just on that. But the other
Speaker 1: day had breakfast with Casey, Lauren Beemer's daughter who used
Speaker 1: to work here. Casey's very gracious, very elegant young woman,
Speaker 1: lives in Charlotte now with her husband Kanan. So our
Speaker 1: band the band. I was in Plate at Casey Beemer's wedding,
Speaker 1: the rehearsal dinner in Georgia at this rich Carlton hotel,
Speaker 1: this big time lake. This wedding has it all. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's a cello player, there's this grand entrance down by
Speaker 1: the water and Casey had thought of everything except that
Speaker 1: right during the vows, these two old boys in a
Speaker 1: bass boat come by on the water. So security is everywhere,
Speaker 1: wedding directors everywhere, but the one thing that they couldn't
Speaker 1: control was the lake. So these tool boys come by
Speaker 1: and they slow the bass boat down and one of
Speaker 1: them yells out, don't do it. I was married to
Speaker 1: her first run Oh man, all right, I'm I'm marking
Speaker 1: that down to not have it by a body of
Speaker 1: water that that we cannot have full control over. There.
Speaker 1: There's very little you can control, as Mick mix. As
Speaker 1: Mick mentioned, both of us are on number two. And
Speaker 1: I remember the first time I was actually in this
Speaker 1: press box at Bank of America Stadium one time, calling
Speaker 1: Florest or calling somebody about a cake or something. On
Speaker 1: the first one, and Ken Burger, the legendary columnists from Charleston,
Speaker 1: walked by, and and Ken was a man who had
Speaker 1: been blessed with a number of wives in his career.
Speaker 1: And Burger walked by, and my old boss at the paper,
Speaker 1: Gary McCann, was standing there, and they were shooting the breeze,
Speaker 1: and they heard me nervously making all these arrangements on
Speaker 1: the phone, and I remember Ken Burger's looking at McCann
Speaker 1: and saying, how many is that for the boy? And
Speaker 1: McCann said just one, and Burger just kind of looked
Speaker 1: at me and grinned, patting me on the head and
Speaker 1: said rookie. Right right before I came to the Panthers.
Speaker 1: In OH five, we played a wedding in Chapel Hill
Speaker 1: and I was the I married the couple. So Autrey
Speaker 1: and Sean Pookash asked me to do their vows. Christ
Speaker 1: and Balboni has done this. Yere you a wedding. Yes,
Speaker 1: Triple w Rose Ministries dot Com ordination package B went
Speaker 1: with the thirty thirty package. So you get a name tag,
Speaker 1: an official clergy parking pass and everything. Is there a
Speaker 1: stole involved with this? No? But um, So we play
Speaker 1: the wedding. So I'm marry Audrey and Sean. Then we
Speaker 1: play the wedding. And during a break in the wedding
Speaker 1: and I'm the drummer in the band, this this guy
Speaker 1: comes up to me and he goes, are you the drummer?
Speaker 1: And I said yeah. He goes, weren't you the preacher?
Speaker 1: And I said yeah, and he goes, aren't you that
Speaker 1: guy that's going to the Panthers, and I said yeah,
Speaker 1: and he went, oh Jesus Christ and just shook his
Speaker 1: head and it was all just too much for him.
Speaker 1: He had sensory underload. I think, well, how are we
Speaker 1: going top that? Don't I don't know that the Atlanta
Speaker 1: Falcon I don't know. Well, so you guys are both
Speaker 1: on the on the radio a good bit. You get
Speaker 1: all the questions from from the local folks around here,
Speaker 1: what what are some of the themes that you're you're
Speaker 1: circling before Sunday's game. I just think there's so much
Speaker 1: uncertainty right now about what's going on the football team.
Speaker 1: I mean there when you make a move with Joe Brady,
Speaker 1: as they did on Sunday, you start down a new
Speaker 1: direction with Jeff Nixon, Colin plays. You're trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what these next five games mean. And I think
Speaker 1: it's reasonable say oh um, because you're trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what Cam Newton's got left in the tank. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've seen three games of Cam, one great one, one
Speaker 1: great cameo, one pretty good game against Washington and in
Speaker 1: one stinker against Miami, and so what comes next? We've
Speaker 1: covered every end of the spectrum where in it is
Speaker 1: this one gonna fall. So don't know, and we'll see.
Speaker 1: I mean, Cam and and and Matt Ryan have their
Speaker 1: own history. They played each other I think sixteen times. Um,
Speaker 1: it's it's going to be fascinating to me. I mean,
Speaker 1: the rest of this season is very much a great unknown.
Speaker 1: I don't know what kind of play caller Jeff Nixon
Speaker 1: is going to be. I don't know what Cam's got
Speaker 1: left in the tank. I don't know how they're gonna
Speaker 1: put pieces together in front of Cam to protect him.
Speaker 1: Brady Christiansen is gonna get to play this week and
Speaker 1: and we'll see what that means for his long term
Speaker 1: development and those kind of things. But there's so many
Speaker 1: things that it's just impossible to predict with this team
Speaker 1: that are going to have impact, both in the immediate
Speaker 1: and in twenty two and beyond. I think if Cam
Speaker 1: could go fifteen of twenty two for a hundred and
Speaker 1: forty nine and not throw any picks, I think that
Speaker 1: would do it. This is but my point is, this
Speaker 1: is gonna be this game could be broadcasting black and white.
Speaker 1: This is gonna be run it, stop the run, So
Speaker 1: all the but you know, there is Darren's point, the
Speaker 1: contrast between Cam Newton when he first got here and
Speaker 1: then Miami. I still can't get over. So I'll just
Speaker 1: speak for myself. I am in a full body goose
Speaker 1: bump when this athlete comes out of the tunnel and
Speaker 1: spreads his imaginary blazer across to reveal the red s
Speaker 1: on his cinnamon chest. I cannot believe I'm bearing witness
Speaker 1: to one of the great comeback stories in the history
Speaker 1: of athletics. Then against Miami, I wanted to go down
Speaker 1: on the sidelines and and punch him and say, Cam, seriously,
Speaker 1: I gotta try to make this five point eight quarterback
Speaker 1: ratings sound good on the radio. Do you realize how
Speaker 1: difficult this is? So it's just but yeah, I think
Speaker 1: he's gonna play well Sunday. This is the perfect kind
Speaker 1: of game where Cam Newton comes comes roaring back and
Speaker 1: and plays well and runs the ball effectively, and and
Speaker 1: I just I think it's gonna be great theater. I
Speaker 1: can't wait. Yeah, And and I was inspired watching Cam
Speaker 1: Newton's old team the other night. On Monday Night, football
Speaker 1: pass at a grand total of three times in a game,
Speaker 1: and one of those Max Jones wasn't supposed to throw
Speaker 1: it off and I and I think that's probably an
Speaker 1: extreme outlier, um, but I do think there's something to
Speaker 1: be learned from that. If you're in a situation where
Speaker 1: there is some question about pass protection, receivers getting open, whatever,
Speaker 1: just run run the ball, strip it down, make it simple.
Speaker 1: And I think you know it's naturally occurring because Cam
Speaker 1: still knew on the job. You're you're learning a new
Speaker 1: offense anyway. Then they change play callers, so everything's new anyway.
Speaker 1: So I think the key really in terms of the
Speaker 1: football is strip it down, keep it simple, do the
Speaker 1: things you know you can do. And I think back
Speaker 1: to the first Atlanta game, which was also without Christian McCaffrey,
Speaker 1: and you're run at forty seven times, and part of
Speaker 1: that was Sam Donald run around. And we know that
Speaker 1: Cam Newton's got some background as a runner, so he
Speaker 1: can contribute to that too. But forty seven carries amongst
Speaker 1: this committee that includes Amir Abdullah and Chuba Hubbard but
Speaker 1: not Christian McCaffrey. And I think something like that makes
Speaker 1: an awful lot of sense for where they are. Is
Speaker 1: there a way to distill the running game into something
Speaker 1: that makes it even easier for you know, once again
Speaker 1: a different looking often. I mean, who really knows exactly
Speaker 1: what this offensive line is gonna look like? I mean,
Speaker 1: is there a way to say hey, rather than you know,
Speaker 1: all these zone reads were you know, you have to
Speaker 1: pick up this, but maybe this depending on whether and
Speaker 1: hands it off or holds it, you know, I it's
Speaker 1: your way just to go downhill. I I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know that they're necessarily built that way. I mean,
Speaker 1: there's not a Mike Davis sized back around here. I mean,
Speaker 1: and if you know, we'll see the end of the
Speaker 1: week if they bring up Reggie Bonafie or Spencer Brown.
Speaker 1: Spencer Brown's really interesting runner, uh that we saw a
Speaker 1: good bit of in the preseason and training camp, and
Speaker 1: you know he's got some potential and hanging around on
Speaker 1: the practice squad. But Cuba and a mirror aren't that
Speaker 1: kind of guy. They aren't necessarily I mean, Cuba was
Speaker 1: a high volume runner at Oklahoma State and has put
Speaker 1: up some big numbers in the past when he's been
Speaker 1: the guy, but he's never been the Saint Stephen Davis
Speaker 1: we're talking about. I Mean, this is not a big,
Speaker 1: two thirty pound back who's going to move people around.
Speaker 1: And and again, as you mentioned, the three guys in
Speaker 1: the middle of that line in Atlanta that paved the
Speaker 1: way for pretty solid run day are all gone. I mean,
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's probably not gonna play this week, Matt partis
Speaker 1: on I R. Johnny Miller is hurt and not expected
Speaker 1: to play. So I think you're gonna get some combination
Speaker 1: of obviously pad alfline at center, Brady Christ's wi being
Speaker 1: one of the spots, and then we'll see what happens
Speaker 1: on the other side. The other answer to might be
Speaker 1: two things. One is a running quarterback, So if you
Speaker 1: can reach in the game, just Cam Newton, defenses still
Speaker 1: have had a problem. Even with the rise to prominence
Speaker 1: of a running quarterback, Atlanta doesn't have one of the
Speaker 1: Panthers do. The other thing is the college play that
Speaker 1: has really Minnesota just victimize the Panthers with it. And
Speaker 1: that's a bubble screen, So a quick sideways throw. It's
Speaker 1: a pass, but it's basically a run and it takes
Speaker 1: a lot of the old line issues out of play.
Speaker 1: You've got if you've got a wide receiver that can
Speaker 1: block a corner and then a back or a receiver
Speaker 1: who catches a bubble screen that can make a player
Speaker 1: miss it can be a big play. So I think
Speaker 1: we'll see a little bit of both. And Atlanta is
Speaker 1: great at the wide zone, you know, Matt Rules talked
Speaker 1: about it, just how good Patterson and Davis are it
Speaker 1: and toting it. So with the Panthers being a little
Speaker 1: undersized at d N, I'm sure Phil Snow has got
Speaker 1: some things cooked up to try to try to attack that. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll see some hopefully more of stuffin Gilmore. You know,
Speaker 1: Dante Jackson is now out from that cornerbacks crew, I mean,
Speaker 1: and I'm interested to see a lot more of Henderson
Speaker 1: as well. I'd like to see both of those guys. Yesterday,
Speaker 1: I practice Sullivan tight end for the Panthers doing I
Speaker 1: thought he did a great job at being Kyle Pitts
Speaker 1: and given the be a good picture of the eight.
Speaker 1: And it's not easy, no, it's not. It's a hard
Speaker 1: problem to solve. And and there was this mythology that
Speaker 1: gilt because Gilmore had the late pick on him late
Speaker 1: it was almost like, you know, Gilmore was tasked with
Speaker 1: locking down Kyle Pitts. Well, he only played twenty some
Speaker 1: odd snaps that day, I believe it was, so it's
Speaker 1: not like he was out there all day. And they
Speaker 1: are going to mix it up, and they are going
Speaker 1: to use a lot of people, and their plan in
Speaker 1: general is to throw a lot of defensive backs at
Speaker 1: every problem. And it's a different group now. Obviously there's
Speaker 1: no J. C. Horne, there's no Dante Jackson the rest
Speaker 1: of the year, so you're scrapping it together. But it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a lot of Jeremy Chen and it's gonna
Speaker 1: be a good bit of C. J. Henderson, a guy
Speaker 1: who's got some size, and it's going to you know,
Speaker 1: he's gonna play a part in this thing down the
Speaker 1: road too, So we'll see how it comes together. But
Speaker 1: having us to find Gilmore, however, many snaps a game,
Speaker 1: you've got him and and he probably not, you know,
Speaker 1: Matt said yesterday, he's not gonna be uh seventies snap
Speaker 1: a game guy anymore at thirty two years old. And
Speaker 1: but the forty fifty he's gonna be on the field
Speaker 1: are gonna really matter because they're gonna need it. I
Speaker 1: like special teams in Atlanta is interesting to me. Will
Speaker 1: and and Darren. They have young Wiku who's a great, accurate,
Speaker 1: powerful and they needed a punter, so they went out
Speaker 1: and got Thomas Morstead twelve years as the same. This
Speaker 1: guy is one of the deadly accurate directional punters that's
Speaker 1: ever played in the NFL. So Chase Blackburn on teams
Speaker 1: whoever's back there. Returning upon Erickson, he is good at
Speaker 1: tracking the ball, but he's gonna have to hang loose.
Speaker 1: And then I thought Wednesday at practice, Gonzalez Edwards punt
Speaker 1: of the ball great. It was kind of windy, but
Speaker 1: Zay Gonzalez just had a great set during his I
Speaker 1: don't think he missed. I mean just hitting the ball
Speaker 1: tremendously well. So what a story that is this year?
Speaker 1: It's it's yeah, it was something that was interesting to
Speaker 1: see how you kind of felt like that was such
Speaker 1: a bit of concern and training camp in September and
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, you have a guy that's a
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl candidate at kicker. You know that that you
Speaker 1: end up finding, Um, what is one of your favorite
Speaker 1: memories from this series? There's been so many great games
Speaker 1: between the Panthers and Falcons, and I'm kind of tracking
Speaker 1: back already a little bit here, But what are some
Speaker 1: of your favorite memories from from this rivalry? Oh man,
Speaker 1: I mean, the thing that stands out to me about
Speaker 1: the Panthers and the Falcons is just how dang weird
Speaker 1: it always is. I mean, really, from the very first
Speaker 1: game when the expansion Carolina Panthers have a chance to
Speaker 1: win their very first game and they take the Falcons
Speaker 1: to overtime on the road and Appalachian States, Derek Graham
Speaker 1: gets called for a false start that sets him back,
Speaker 1: you know, and ends up being a costly penalty down
Speaker 1: stretch and they lose. But this game, this series has
Speaker 1: been full of nine six games and weirdness, and you know,
Speaker 1: people getting behind Hruki Knackamara over the top and that. Man,
Speaker 1: it's just a please, It's just all these calamities that
Speaker 1: could happen always seemed to come together when the Falcons
Speaker 1: and Panthers. I mean, I I admittedly Mick is lyrical
Speaker 1: about cam Newton and what he means, but when I
Speaker 1: think of Panthers Falcons games, I think of chaos, and
Speaker 1: I think of you know, strange things that you don't
Speaker 1: see in other games coming to bear. I'm the lyrical
Speaker 1: Gangster by the way, flashing you back to some music
Speaker 1: from back in the day. What was the year was
Speaker 1: that the Panthers needed to win down there? Yeah, that
Speaker 1: was big to go seven eight and one and win
Speaker 1: the division. I mean thirty four to three or something
Speaker 1: like that, just played them right off their feet. I
Speaker 1: think the there's a sense right now after that Miami
Speaker 1: game and then going to the buy of just kind
Speaker 1: of this like kind of throwing up the hands of
Speaker 1: the fan base after all of the excitement from you know,
Speaker 1: going into Washington. But you look at the wild Card
Speaker 1: race right now. I mean, you come out there, you
Speaker 1: run the ball, you gotta win over Atlanta, and then
Speaker 1: Buffalo has had problems and then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: it's like what I mean, it's all right there in
Speaker 1: front of you. Yeah, it is. And and it's hard
Speaker 1: for people to wrap their minds around. And that's why
Speaker 1: I say, I mean, there's so much about defining what
Speaker 1: this season is going to be and what the future
Speaker 1: is going to be in these next five weeks. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, we talked about the Hope misery index last
Speaker 1: time we talked, and I said, you're you're at one point,
Speaker 1: you're talking about where in the top ten are they
Speaker 1: going to be drafting versus do they still have playoff chances?
Speaker 1: And it's kind of leaning one direction after Miami, but
Speaker 1: it does still exist and I and I think for
Speaker 1: so many of those guys that locker room. I mean,
Speaker 1: these are auditions for next year from Matt Ruling the
Speaker 1: Panthers and for other teams in general. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's important for all these guys, but there's still so
Speaker 1: much to be determined, and it can go in either direction.
Speaker 1: This makes no sense to the hard analytical mind. I mean,
Speaker 1: here we are talking about that. All the goals are
Speaker 1: still right there and I've done it too, But yet
Speaker 1: Matt Rule described the Miami game as bad football. So
Speaker 1: we're you know, it's just doesn't add up. Which has
Speaker 1: got to get the football right, I mean, fix some
Speaker 1: basic things, then we can probably talk with a little
Speaker 1: more zeal about goals that are still in focus. One
Speaker 1: of my favorite memories from Atlanta was Trey Boston one
Speaker 1: year has a pick six and Trey Boston gets into
Speaker 1: the end zone and as he's approaching the ends, he
Speaker 1: does a forward dive somersault like Kathy Rigby or Olga
Speaker 1: Corbett or somebody pops up then shoots off imaginary six guns,
Speaker 1: then does the Michael Jackson moon walk across the back
Speaker 1: rail of the end zone. So we have him on
Speaker 1: our post game show, and Eugene asked a question, and
Speaker 1: Jim's Okay asked a question. Finally it comes my turn
Speaker 1: to ask a question. I said, Tray, I said, you
Speaker 1: went through these menu options. You did almost every celebration
Speaker 1: in the history of team sports. When you knew you
Speaker 1: were going to score, did you give any thought to
Speaker 1: acting like you'd been there before? And he paused, He said, no, man,
Speaker 1: I didn't want to act like I've been there before, Mick,
Speaker 1: I wanted to act like I've never been there before.
Speaker 1: And I said, what you did. That's the joy of
Speaker 1: that touchdown. Though, I still Tray as a treasure. He's
Speaker 1: an absolute treasure. The this this I feel like. I
Speaker 1: remember there's a lot of dives into end zones in
Speaker 1: Falcons games Cam Newton, among them the seventy two yard
Speaker 1: run at home I think in fourteen or fifteen where
Speaker 1: he dove in the end zone, and then the the
Speaker 1: win in twenty seventeen where he did the Superman as
Speaker 1: he's getting pulled down by his back foot and did
Speaker 1: a Titanic dive with one hand. Yeah. I forgot about that.
Speaker 1: Yeah that was good. That's the kind of stuff he
Speaker 1: can still do. Mick, you said it before. Your first
Speaker 1: year with the Panthers was two thousand five. I think
Speaker 1: in the chronology or the history of this team, like
Speaker 1: everyone kind of focuses on, oh, three and fifteen is
Speaker 1: you know, the NFC championship years. But I always get
Speaker 1: fascinated by the really good teams that you know, football
Speaker 1: happens and things happen, and down the road all the
Speaker 1: running backs get hurt and all of a sudden you
Speaker 1: go to Seattle and you know you kind of don't
Speaker 1: have your your full squadron. What was that two thousand
Speaker 1: five team like, because I I feel like it was
Speaker 1: a pretty really good team. I'll never forget the Giants game.
Speaker 1: The Panthers begin the playoffs by going to New York
Speaker 1: to play the Giants, and the g Men were rolling
Speaker 1: and it's a bitter cold, clear day, but a really
Speaker 1: really cold day, and that stadium was, I mean off
Speaker 1: the chain. They were ready to explode. And I thought, man,
Speaker 1: if the Giants even go up three to nothing. The
Speaker 1: noise in here is just gonna just wash the Panthers
Speaker 1: right on out of the playoffs. But the Panthers would
Speaker 1: have nothing of it. We're just we're the better team.
Speaker 1: Took him apart, piece by piece, Giants fans had nothing
Speaker 1: to cheer about. Zero. Then Carolina goes to Chicago another
Speaker 1: cold day, and now the Chicago crowd is even That
Speaker 1: was the first time ever in the my broadcast career
Speaker 1: that I've been offered cigarettes, beer, and venison all in
Speaker 1: the same game. In Chicago it Soldier Field. You broadcast
Speaker 1: from an open air booth and you're right there in
Speaker 1: the stands. So the Schwartzky, the super fans, you know,
Speaker 1: Ron and Bob Schwarsky, are right there in front of you.
Speaker 1: They can hear what you're saying. They can converse with you,
Speaker 1: which they do. And their secondary, they had this music planning.
Speaker 1: Their secondary is rocking and rolling and thumping. But I'm
Speaker 1: thinking to myself, you guys, do realize that you're not
Speaker 1: You don't have an answer for Jake the Loon to
Speaker 1: Steve Smith and the Panthers win that game and then
Speaker 1: go to Seattle and just did not have just had
Speaker 1: kind of spent so much and do you remember that,
Speaker 1: I do? I mean, and they were on an absolute
Speaker 1: role and that was peaque Steve Smith. That's the year
Speaker 1: Steve won the triple Crown in the league and receptions
Speaker 1: yards and receiving touchdowns, and it was it was not
Speaker 1: an untalented team. There were a lot of dudes on
Speaker 1: that team who are really good. It was probably on
Speaker 1: paper a better football team than the Oh Three team
Speaker 1: that went to the Super Bowl. But you know, they
Speaker 1: ran out of they ran out of running backs and
Speaker 1: Stephen Davis got heard early on the Shawn Foster then
Speaker 1: got hurt. And then you go out to Seattle and
Speaker 1: lofa to Tupu knocks Nick Goings out of the game,
Speaker 1: gives them a concussion early, and they're down to Jamal Robertson,
Speaker 1: a little kick returner slash alleged running back from Ohio
Speaker 1: Northern University. I remember that they're the Polar Bears for
Speaker 1: some reason. Um, but it was down to hand it
Speaker 1: to Jamal Robertson in Seattle was like, yeah, go ahead,
Speaker 1: have a party, do all that you want. And it
Speaker 1: was over, I mean, And it was such a sudden
Speaker 1: fall for a team that burned so brightly because Steve
Speaker 1: that year was just a force of nature. I mean,
Speaker 1: there was no stopping him. The Chicago playoff game was
Speaker 1: one of the most incredible postseason performances by receiver I've
Speaker 1: ever seen in my life. I mean, he just no
Speaker 1: one could cover him, and he knew it, and they
Speaker 1: knew it, and they still couldn't do anything about it.
Speaker 1: Walk into the Seattle game, the NFC Championship game from
Speaker 1: the hotel, I remember thinking, this is a difference between
Speaker 1: football here and football in the American South. In in
Speaker 1: in our world, people where panther colors, of course, but
Speaker 1: you have in every section, you'll have the couple that
Speaker 1: decides to just put on their finery and wear a
Speaker 1: maroon dress. Or where the the orange sweater that guy
Speaker 1: got for Christmas or what have you. At Seattle, I
Speaker 1: felt like these fans were extras in a Scorsesey film.
Speaker 1: And they had all every single one of them had
Speaker 1: on Seattle Seahawk colors. That was impressive. It probably is
Speaker 1: the highest jersey per capita I have seen in the league.
Speaker 1: I mean, and and because some of them are that
Speaker 1: crazy green you know too. I mean they tend to
Speaker 1: stand out in a crowd anyway. But it is a
Speaker 1: it is a committed fan base, and it's a different
Speaker 1: setting to I mean, because there is you know, there's
Speaker 1: more of a walk up Crown. I mean a lot
Speaker 1: of places you've got a big central parking lot or
Speaker 1: something like Kansas City with like Buffalo's like that, but
Speaker 1: it's just it's popped down in the middle of the
Speaker 1: city and people were walking in from every direction and
Speaker 1: you can just feel it building the closer you get
Speaker 1: there were I don't want to put the car before
Speaker 1: the horse, But how does that compare to to a Buffalo?
Speaker 1: You know, that kind of outside, that cold, that intense loyalty.
Speaker 1: You know we're gonna see that next week. That's a
Speaker 1: different world. Man. You've gotta be wired differently to enjoy that,
Speaker 1: being that cold and committing that kind of vandalism to
Speaker 1: office furniture. Um, yeah, it's it's a different mindset that
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily possess, and I don't know that the
Speaker 1: good people of Charlotte necessarily have it either. Going to
Speaker 1: Buffalo a couple of years ago, play It's been a while,
Speaker 1: but going up there, I remember thinking, Okay, this is
Speaker 1: in Orchard Park, New York, and I looked all over
Speaker 1: and I did not see anything that looked anything like
Speaker 1: an orchard or or a park. I saw a lot
Speaker 1: of it looks like a maximum security prison up there.
Speaker 1: There's just chain link fence and the fans. I remember
Speaker 1: the fans throwing eggs at our buses. When I mean,
Speaker 1: it's like a it's a residential street. You're coming in
Speaker 1: on a street with two lane street and then turning
Speaker 1: into a parking lot and you're there, yeah, and it
Speaker 1: and it's not close to much of anything. It's kind
Speaker 1: of out in the country. It's almost like if if
Speaker 1: the Panthers had built a stadium in Locust or something.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's out there, a little bit away
Speaker 1: from everything, but it's uh yeah, it's definitely a different vibe.
Speaker 1: But it takes something. I mean, I remember I remember
Speaker 1: being up there and being exceedingly cold. And there was
Speaker 1: an old ryder used to cover the team, Denny Sides,
Speaker 1: who worked Murder Herald Journal, and he was a Western
Speaker 1: New York guy, and he was like, it's really not
Speaker 1: that called out here today. You get that scratching your
Speaker 1: throat And he was standing out there in a sweater,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, no, this is the coldest place I've
Speaker 1: ever been in my life. Any this is not okay. Well,
Speaker 1: and the Panthers have have usually been there in August,
Speaker 1: in preseason, in September, like getting a December game in
Speaker 1: Buffalo has been pretty rare. So I've already started looking
Speaker 1: at the long range forecast and now it ain't great.
Speaker 1: You can see that it's well, it's not. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't even want to talk about it. I mean,
Speaker 1: it sounds like it's going to be cold, if not
Speaker 1: legendarily cold. You're inside there though, right, you're not outside
Speaker 1: like Chicago, or you outside like outside. I do not know.
Speaker 1: We have a sort of a tradition that we opened
Speaker 1: the wind. If the windows open, we open them, and
Speaker 1: that's just kind of how you do it. You want
Speaker 1: to get the natural sound. You don't want to sound
Speaker 1: like you're in a in a phone booth broadcast in
Speaker 1: the game. So we uh, yeah, we'll see. I will
Speaker 1: not be electing to open the windows wherever I'm sitting.
Speaker 1: That game at Minnesota where they were building their dome
Speaker 1: and we play at the University of Minnesota. My first
Speaker 1: words on the air, I think that day it's not
Speaker 1: safe to be up here. It was that completely outside. No, no,
Speaker 1: you know, I mean obviously there's windows, but you know
Speaker 1: there's some heat or whatever around you, right, We opened
Speaker 1: our windows and it was just it was just insanely cold.
Speaker 1: I mean your coffee, just trying to take a bite
Speaker 1: out of your coffee after two or three minutes and
Speaker 1: it so I was so glad to get on that
Speaker 1: plane and go home. The South is great. By the way,
Speaker 1: pine trees are underrated, sweet tea is underrated. This is
Speaker 1: the spot that you want to be. I'm not leaving
Speaker 1: it for a bit, so I'll let you guys go
Speaker 1: enjoy all these road trips. Where are you and Ana're
Speaker 1: gonna make your home? We've we've gotten a lot of
Speaker 1: questions about that, and including, uh, you know, what's happening
Speaker 1: for the next six months and then you know all
Speaker 1: the years after that. I I would like to stay
Speaker 1: around here. Her family from Raleigh, my family from Charleston.
Speaker 1: We do not have a date yet, and we don't
Speaker 1: have a location yet. We don't worry. You'll get filled
Speaker 1: in on all that at the appropriate time. I know
Speaker 1: you'll find that that generally the wife wins the battle.
Speaker 1: If there is a battle over whose family you eat
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving with, whose family you spend Christmas, you'll be lucky
Speaker 1: if you you'll have to wear a name tag to
Speaker 1: go see your own family in a few years. My
Speaker 1: my mom is very is you know. It's a strong
Speaker 1: presence in in that in that debate, but I I
Speaker 1: am usually pretty open her. Her family's great, so I
Speaker 1: enjoy spending time with them. Congratulations again, Bro, thank you
Speaker 1: happy for you see nothing but happy here on the
Speaker 1: Happy half Hour. Yeah, I hope, I hope everyone didn't
Speaker 1: completely hate my cameo for for Christen today. Mick, thank
Speaker 1: you for joining us. That's it. Yeah, itever, look at
Speaker 1: the clock. We've we've done our stuff. Maybe we can
Speaker 1: see if we can get an update from christ and
Speaker 1: Belboni on the special assignment before next week's episode. It's
Speaker 1: a boy baby coming and names that we have proposed
Speaker 1: our Mick Mickey Forest, Oriyan, Jake, Jake. I like that,
Speaker 1: the Zoake Forest to Ryan Balboni. I don't think they're
Speaker 1: going with any of our suggestion, you know, I do
Speaker 1: like Jake Jacob be Fun, Jake Balbi, Jake Jordan Balboni
Speaker 1: has a chance, Jake, Jake Jordan Balboni. Yeah, all right, well,
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us, Mick. Maybe we'll maybe we'll
Speaker 1: see you again next week or some of the weeks
Speaker 1: after that. You'll you'll have to queue me up on
Speaker 1: doing this whole hosting thing better. You know, you're you're
Speaker 1: usually the one carrying the carrying the train. You did great.
Speaker 1: I was profoundly uncomfortable by not being able to control
Speaker 1: the happy half hour, but I'm honored to be a
Speaker 1: small times you've gotta be a past. Thanks guys,