Speaker 1: It's time for The Happy Half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Christine Balboni, Will Bryant and Darren Gaham. Welcome to a
Speaker 1: special Week eighteen edition of The Happy Half Hour. That's
Speaker 1: the first time that's ever been said in the studio
Speaker 1: or anywhere. What do we think about Week eighteen in
Speaker 1: the NFL? What do you think Eighteen weeks is a
Speaker 1: lot of weeks of football. It's uh yeah, and when
Speaker 1: it's going the way this one's gone, it feels like
Speaker 1: you're kind of crawling to the end of a marathon.
Speaker 1: You're that guy who's sort of knee walk into the
Speaker 1: finish line trying to get across. But you know, in
Speaker 1: a lot of precincts, people are very excited about Week
Speaker 1: eight teen. I don't know. I think personally, if you're
Speaker 1: going to play seventeen games or even more in the future,
Speaker 1: because it's the NFL and Moore's always on the docket,
Speaker 1: you know, we all have spread this saying out a
Speaker 1: little bit. I think if there was another bye week
Speaker 1: built in to the system, if you're gonna play seventeen
Speaker 1: scattering extra buy in there. Um. I know some television
Speaker 1: partners are wary about watering down the content, but based
Speaker 1: on the offensive content. I saw Sunday in New Orleans
Speaker 1: and then again Monday night on my television with the
Speaker 1: Manning Brothers as the Browns and Steelers, Pillow fought to
Speaker 1: the end. Um it's uh yeah, and I think everybody
Speaker 1: could use a little extra space. One thing you learn
Speaker 1: in athletics is let's not cloud the issue with facts.
Speaker 1: So Thursday night football maybe bad football. It may be,
Speaker 1: it may be corrosive into player health. But yet as
Speaker 1: we all know that it is the money, you follow
Speaker 1: the dollars. I've always looked at it, Darren and Will
Speaker 1: in terms of I mean, I know we keep score.
Speaker 1: We stopped keeping score at the preseason, and we start
Speaker 1: when the regular season begins, but I've always looked at
Speaker 1: it as a twenty game season before preseason game sixteen
Speaker 1: regular season, then you hope you play more. So I
Speaker 1: hadn't had a problem with taking one pre away and
Speaker 1: one adding one regular season game. To me, that's a
Speaker 1: pretty good deal to do. We still got to do
Speaker 1: our depth charts, we still get interviews, we still prepare
Speaker 1: to do these broadcasts. But I think Darren makes a
Speaker 1: great point, as you would expect since he is after
Speaker 1: all noted uh sage, old guy and veteran corresponding in words,
Speaker 1: Smith Darren Ghant expand the right if you really want,
Speaker 1: if you get when we get serious about player safety,
Speaker 1: expand the rosters and and then build two by weeks
Speaker 1: in and creep a little bit into who's gonna get upset?
Speaker 1: The bowl games? Do we college basketball? Do we creep
Speaker 1: backwards or forwards? Do we creep back into August or
Speaker 1: more into February. I think the league's long time dream.
Speaker 1: You know, one of those you hear Roger Goodell. You know,
Speaker 1: people say his goal is twenty five billion dollars in
Speaker 1: revenue or whatever it happens to be. But one of
Speaker 1: the goals I've always believed for the NFL is President's
Speaker 1: Day weekend super Bowl. So everybody's got Monday off to
Speaker 1: talk about it and it and just occupy the national
Speaker 1: consciousness for one more week and one more day. Um.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think we're pushing towards that anyway. I mean,
Speaker 1: we're creeping into that mid February timeline for Super bowls
Speaker 1: now and um, I realized that this year it's a
Speaker 1: February super Bowl, so we don't even have to make
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day plans. Just invite the girl to the super
Speaker 1: Bowl party and call it even. See, here's this party
Speaker 1: for you. You know it's a day early. You know
Speaker 1: we'll keep it going into midnight. Here about in your
Speaker 1: life where that's no longer gonna work. Guys like Podcast
Speaker 1: Matt who used to invite their girls to his rotisserie
Speaker 1: league a draft for their first day. Now he can
Speaker 1: just just do a full on Super Bowl party. But
Speaker 1: you know, if if the NFL is gonna play games
Speaker 1: in Europe Mexico, these are gonna be longer flights, more
Speaker 1: of a travel nut to turn. So it makes sense
Speaker 1: to me just expand the roster, spread the contact out
Speaker 1: over a larger group of players, and then build that
Speaker 1: extra by weekend. Over the course of this year, um
Speaker 1: obviously more weeks, so more stories. We've had more players
Speaker 1: who have been some of your favorite players, player favorite moments,
Speaker 1: favorite stories to cover over the course of the season.
Speaker 1: You know, I I think one of the really uh,
Speaker 1: kind of off the beaten path guys who I didn't
Speaker 1: know quite what to expect from the day he walked
Speaker 1: into the door to every Sunday you see and play
Speaker 1: was Frankie Luvu. Uh, Frankie Luvu was signed and he
Speaker 1: was just a spare part depth guy, special teams Jets linebacker.
Speaker 1: The Jets didn't want him, so he rolls in here
Speaker 1: for a minimum wage deal and I go downstairs to
Speaker 1: meet him the day he signed, and Frankie somebody warned me.
Speaker 1: They were like, I don't know, Frankie's got all that
Speaker 1: much to say. And so I walk in and and
Speaker 1: Frankie is kind of downcast. He is soft spoken guy,
Speaker 1: kind of quiet, and uh. And I noticed he's wearing
Speaker 1: a big button on his shirt with a picture of
Speaker 1: what appears to be a relative, and so I asked
Speaker 1: him about it, and as it turns out, it was
Speaker 1: his brother who had just passed away. And I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, here, I walked downstairs to write a quick
Speaker 1: story about a guy who's going to be a special
Speaker 1: teamer and run down some kid X and maybe be
Speaker 1: a backup linebacker, and all of a sudden, you get
Speaker 1: Frankie Luvu's tale of heartbreak about his brother Frasier. And
Speaker 1: Frankie has really been one of the bright spots on
Speaker 1: this team. And share I mean beyond the stars, I
Speaker 1: mean beyond Dj Moore, beyond Brian Burns, Hassan Reddick, guys
Speaker 1: like that, you know, the Frankie Luvu's of the world
Speaker 1: or what makes the NFL go round, and and the
Speaker 1: kind of energy he brings to his job. You know,
Speaker 1: he is always out there and you saw him Sunday.
Speaker 1: I mean, he just he makes plays at key times
Speaker 1: and I don't know, you know, people always love him
Speaker 1: and I and I fear that if you ever got
Speaker 1: too much Frankie Luvu in a game, it would dilute
Speaker 1: the intensity of what you get when he's out there.
Speaker 1: But man, that guy brings energy to whatever he does.
Speaker 1: He runs down punts, he plays defense. Basically, he's the
Speaker 1: defensive Brandon Zilstra. He'll do whatever it is you need
Speaker 1: him to do, and do it at a pretty high
Speaker 1: level of energy. Matt Rule has said about Frankie Luvu,
Speaker 1: he plays the game the way is meant to be played.
Speaker 1: It has crossed my mind that what we really need
Speaker 1: around here's some guys who play game the way it
Speaker 1: wasn't meant to be played. But I get the you know,
Speaker 1: I get the reference and it is the ultimate compliment
Speaker 1: from from coach to Frankie Luvue worker and and and
Speaker 1: a big personality if you can get him to trust
Speaker 1: in the the process of an interview, like like Darren
Speaker 1: has done. I got just two real short ones. One
Speaker 1: is Zenegn Zalice. When we signed Zenegn Zalie May, I
Speaker 1: was talking to him on the practice field and we
Speaker 1: have no access, So it just happened to be after
Speaker 1: practice that I was allowed to be down there and
Speaker 1: and and in that soupy undertow the foamy Bryan of
Speaker 1: players going this direction. In that direction, I start talking
Speaker 1: to Zane Gonzalice. I asked him about end up, asking
Speaker 1: about how he was parented, and he mentioned growing up
Speaker 1: in Texas that he and his mom were not close.
Speaker 1: His mom had some substance abuse problems throughout much of
Speaker 1: his young adulthood and adolescence and childhood. And then she
Speaker 1: was able to get those uh bracketed and and corralled
Speaker 1: and the boundaries around those and the two have reconnected.
Speaker 1: I just thought that was kind of a cool human story,
Speaker 1: was AGNs was. The other one is a mere Abdullah
Speaker 1: talking to Amir Abdullah. I'm not a broadcaster that assigns nicknames.
Speaker 1: You know, the Chris bermanization of of our industry. But
Speaker 1: if I, if I was going to do that, a
Speaker 1: mirror would be something like the governor or the mayor,
Speaker 1: because he has got that thing, that confidence, that communication skill,
Speaker 1: that ability. In fact, he's almost he stands almost uncomfortably
Speaker 1: close to you when you're interviewing him. Have you experienced this, Darren?
Speaker 1: He just gets right, you know, Mick, thanks for having
Speaker 1: me on your show. And and he just he doesn't
Speaker 1: just as Darren says, he doesn't just say words. Uh.
Speaker 1: He's he has thoughts and their cogent and they have
Speaker 1: a beginning of middle and an end. He grew up
Speaker 1: in Georgia, played at Nebraska, the only big school that
Speaker 1: really recruited him. So he drove a nineteen Ford Mustang
Speaker 1: to Nebraska, nineteen hour drive. It broke down in St. Louis.
Speaker 1: I just love I love stories like that, if you
Speaker 1: can get a player to tell you a little bit
Speaker 1: about their life and how they got here and what
Speaker 1: makes them scared and what makes them happy and what
Speaker 1: motivates them. So those are a couple of my favorites.
Speaker 1: I like Dai Kwan Jones a lot. He's a guy
Speaker 1: that when he speaks to the media Darren. Darren has
Speaker 1: asked him this a couple of times of his experience
Speaker 1: in Tennessee and what he's learned from being a part
Speaker 1: of that culture and what he's brought here. But I
Speaker 1: feel like he's a guy that quietly, you know, while
Speaker 1: Reddick was very much kind of like the face of
Speaker 1: that defensive line along with Burns and then obviously have
Speaker 1: Derek Brown, but I feel like Da Kuan was someone
Speaker 1: that could speak for them as well, um, and had
Speaker 1: some big moments at times. I think probably fans would
Speaker 1: have maybe wanted a little bit more production out of
Speaker 1: him at at different times. But I liked him a
Speaker 1: lot in terms of what he also brought, uh kind
Speaker 1: of to the veterans of that defensive side. Um, as
Speaker 1: we move forward, obviously a little programming note next week, Darren,
Speaker 1: Now we're back, we'll talk about free agents and draft
Speaker 1: and all of the nuts and bolts of the next
Speaker 1: five of My king. So we're not gonna do that now. UM,
Speaker 1: what are but what are some things looking back that
Speaker 1: you can take with you into these next months. What
Speaker 1: are the things you feel that you can build upon, take,
Speaker 1: you know, to to use moving forward. I mean there
Speaker 1: are individual pieces on this football team that any football
Speaker 1: team in the NFL would want. I mean, there are guys.
Speaker 1: DJ Moore is kind of lost in the morass of
Speaker 1: this offense right now. But DJ Moore is a brilliant
Speaker 1: wide receiver. I don't think he's just very good. I
Speaker 1: think he's great. I think in the right setting, he
Speaker 1: has the opportunity to be a major star in the NFL.
Speaker 1: I mean, if you look back, you know, I got
Speaker 1: in this conversation yesterday in the mail bag about Steve
Speaker 1: Smith comparing him to guys like Reggie Wayne or whatever.
Speaker 1: Could you imagine the numbers eighty nine would have put
Speaker 1: up if he got to play with Peyton Manning and
Speaker 1: d J Moore had competent quarterback play around him. Imagine
Speaker 1: what that guy could do. Because he's tough, he's he's
Speaker 1: grace fowl, he's got good hands. Um. You go back
Speaker 1: to the early part of this season, when the offense
Speaker 1: was offensing at a high level, or at least a
Speaker 1: reasonably capable level, DJ was the reason it was moving.
Speaker 1: I mean, and and he's not just making plays downfield.
Speaker 1: That section of the Dallas game where he's getting downfield
Speaker 1: blocking on big run plays and stuff like that. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's kind of who that guy is. And he's one
Speaker 1: of those guys going into the offseason it's like, all right,
Speaker 1: you you got one of those. You don't have to
Speaker 1: worry about that, and you know eventually he'll have to
Speaker 1: get paid. Um, they're they've got guys like Jeremy chen I.
Speaker 1: I think Derek Brown still a guy who's got a
Speaker 1: lot of ability. Um, you know, obviously burns and we'll
Speaker 1: see how some of the other stuff goes. But you know,
Speaker 1: j C. Horns another one of those guys. We saw
Speaker 1: him for a very brief time during August and September
Speaker 1: before he got hurt in that game in Houston. That
Speaker 1: was just kind of the bell weather for the rest
Speaker 1: of the Sea. Reason that was, you know, you won
Speaker 1: that day. But um, but the games we saw of j. C. Horne,
Speaker 1: it's like, whoa, that's what one's supposed to look like
Speaker 1: right there. He knows how to do this thing. And
Speaker 1: so there are a bunch of free agents and we
Speaker 1: don't know what all the other parts are gonna look
Speaker 1: like around him. But the idea of starting a secondary
Speaker 1: going into two with Jeremy chen and j C. Horne
Speaker 1: in the back of it. It's a pretty decent place
Speaker 1: to start. Proud of you for mentioning j. C. Horn
Speaker 1: is glad you did so easy to be forgotten about
Speaker 1: when you get hurt, and especially with people looking in
Speaker 1: the rear view mirror saying, oh my gosh. You know,
Speaker 1: you could have had Mac Jones, You could have had
Speaker 1: justin Fields, you could have had Liamba being green from
Speaker 1: out of Texas or what you know, whoever, just put
Speaker 1: your player in here. But J. C. Horne is not
Speaker 1: his fault. He got hurt at Houston and he is
Speaker 1: gonna be a handful in the back. So I think
Speaker 1: I think that's a good, good pull by you, Darren.
Speaker 1: I think Brady Christensen might have turned a corner into Orleans.
Speaker 1: I saw him battle pretty hard. Really hadn't seen a
Speaker 1: lot of suddenness from him for a player that has
Speaker 1: all these measurables, and it was fantastic in terms of
Speaker 1: his combine. I think it was a ten for uh
Speaker 1: long jump or no broad jump. And he was mad
Speaker 1: because he thought he'd got cheated out of two inches
Speaker 1: four six forty pounds. That's unheard of, but yet in
Speaker 1: that that short area, quickness that small space quickness. I
Speaker 1: just saw him fight pretty good against US State. Didn't
Speaker 1: win every time, but I thought that was a big moment.
Speaker 1: And I don't know. I mean, I think that so
Speaker 1: many issues confront this team that I cannot wait to
Speaker 1: see how it shakes out. What do you do? Who
Speaker 1: coordinates your offense? Is that? Is it Jeff Nixon? Or
Speaker 1: do you are you now shopping for an offensive coordinator?
Speaker 1: If so, what kind of offense do you want to run?
Speaker 1: Do you do you hire a coordinator to fit the
Speaker 1: stated goal of being a run to pass football team,
Speaker 1: or do you go get a coordinator to say, here, here,
Speaker 1: here's our You tell us what we should be. You
Speaker 1: look at our personnel, then you tell us what we
Speaker 1: should do. How many more years for j J. Jansen?
Speaker 1: Will you need a snapper? What about a punder? I
Speaker 1: think all of this thought Joe Charlton was gonna be
Speaker 1: the pot, thought Joe Charlton would be the punter here
Speaker 1: for uh the next ten years? Of course, offensive line.
Speaker 1: But there's this guy. There's this guy's name, Christian McCaffrey CMC.
Speaker 1: There's no reason to believe that his injury history is chronic.
Speaker 1: He could come back and be the player that he
Speaker 1: has been. So I think that I think he'll be
Speaker 1: a big building block. And people are friends of mine
Speaker 1: are saying, you know, what could you get from McCaffrey said,
Speaker 1: that's asinine. Just because this this miserati needs a tune
Speaker 1: up doesn't mean you should trade it for a Nissan ultimont.
Speaker 1: You were about to go for the Toyota. Cameras slaying
Speaker 1: it again. I could only sing the song of the camera.
Speaker 1: I want to change, uh, change roads here a little bit,
Speaker 1: golf on and off ramp just a second. People ask
Speaker 1: me a lot um are they more just kind of
Speaker 1: say to me when I say I worked for the Panthers, like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that must be the greatest thing in
Speaker 1: the world. You know, must be a dream job. And
Speaker 1: I think it is in a way, but not in
Speaker 1: the way that people think. Um so much of I think,
Speaker 1: what is its been awesome to me over the last
Speaker 1: several years, I mean, and especially the last two years
Speaker 1: in in COVID was being able to walk in that
Speaker 1: room over there. And for people that don't know, these
Speaker 1: two that I'm looking at right now, Darren and Mick
Speaker 1: sit right next to each other. Uh, and right outside
Speaker 1: the door of Bill, both Panthers Bill. In that room,
Speaker 1: there's years and years and years and years of stories
Speaker 1: of Panther knowledge of just experiences in this world. And
Speaker 1: I kind of get to be this, as Darren called
Speaker 1: a young but not quite a young in his mind,
Speaker 1: you know that I'm I'm the oldest of the young.
Speaker 1: So I get to kind of be this bridge of
Speaker 1: understanding a little bit where the young people are coming from,
Speaker 1: but also being able to connect to these guys. And
Speaker 1: for me, that's that's been such a special experience to
Speaker 1: be a part of this organization, to be around people
Speaker 1: like Darren and Mick, and I think it also is
Speaker 1: for a lot of others too, and I want them
Speaker 1: to be able to say that. I love doing broadcast
Speaker 1: with Nick. He makes it so easy from one transition
Speaker 1: to the next, it's like seamless. But I love his
Speaker 1: intro every single week. You know, if it's a one
Speaker 1: o'clock game at twelve fifty, when we put the headsets
Speaker 1: on and we're going on air for the duration, he
Speaker 1: welcomes the Panther crowd and he just starts to describe
Speaker 1: the week, who we're playing, what it's like a franchise
Speaker 1: record sixteen wins have brought the Carolina Panthers to the
Speaker 1: doorstep of Super Bowl fifty. All season long, the Panthers
Speaker 1: have co mingled the bloodthirsty stare of a top predator
Speaker 1: with a childlike passion for the game and for one another.
Speaker 1: That boid. That excitement is contagious, and our little big
Speaker 1: town is on fire with it. So tonight, welcome to
Speaker 1: the most important game in the history of Bank of
Speaker 1: America Stadium. Welcome to the NFC Championship Game, Arizona at Carolina.
Speaker 1: Are you ready ready? Can you feel it? It's a
Speaker 1: pepperable old My goodness, let's bring it home. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: miss that. I don't think there's any doubt I'm gonna
Speaker 1: miss that. Trem me in this week when I sit
Speaker 1: next to Mick, I think these are the good old days,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? Like things are moving in
Speaker 1: a different direction with streaming and the tension span of
Speaker 1: the audience and who knows where radio broadcast will eventually evolve.
Speaker 1: To Mick Mixon is a piece of broadcasting history and
Speaker 1: his ability to paint the picture and tell the story
Speaker 1: and the detail that he just throws out you know,
Speaker 1: the towel fluttering in a light southeastern breeze of five
Speaker 1: miles and he'll say that like right before the staff.
Speaker 1: You're like, I'll be damn it. You know, hey, Mack
Speaker 1: max Henson here otherwise known to you is Maximilian Jay Henson.
Speaker 1: But I think about Nick Mixon like anybody. You think
Speaker 1: about the comically large clothing and those trademarks sneakers, uh,
Speaker 1: And you also think about the humility and the humor
Speaker 1: that was always on display. Mick just has an incredible
Speaker 1: ability to weave a story. I always just had a
Speaker 1: tremendous amount of respect for that, and really a tremendous
Speaker 1: amount of respect for the way, Mick, you were such
Speaker 1: a steward of this organization. I really just wish you
Speaker 1: all the best, nothing but the best, and really congrats
Speaker 1: on a job well done. Mick. We're gonna miss your voice.
Speaker 1: Your voice of the Carolina Panthers has been legendary. It
Speaker 1: has moved so many people and provided so much entertainment
Speaker 1: and entertainment for so many people here in the Caroliners.
Speaker 1: I enjoyed what working with you, Mick, learning from you,
Speaker 1: learning that even half a house needs a full show,
Speaker 1: Learning to be prepared at all times, learning to ask
Speaker 1: questions and how to ask questions so that you elicit responses.
Speaker 1: I apply alud you. You are absolutely incredible. I wish
Speaker 1: you the best as you move on from the Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 1: Maybe you've tinkering in your garage, or maybe you back
Speaker 1: to playing drums and whatever it is, I wish you
Speaker 1: so much success. My friend, Nick. This is Caroline can Fraser,
Speaker 1: and I just want to say congratulations on a truly
Speaker 1: historic career. You have been so good at your job
Speaker 1: for so many years. And I don't say so many
Speaker 1: years to make you feel old. I say that because
Speaker 1: what you have accomplished as a broadcaster is legendary. You
Speaker 1: gave us fans so many memories through your gift of
Speaker 1: communication and storytelling. But what I want to celebrate and
Speaker 1: make sure that everyone knows about your career are all
Speaker 1: the moments that you created off air. I'll never forget
Speaker 1: passing you in the hallway when you were on your
Speaker 1: way out to a speaking engagement where you never once
Speaker 1: accepted a fee because you truly enjoyed getting to know
Speaker 1: the Panther community. But even more personally, to me, what
Speaker 1: I love about your career is that you spent time
Speaker 1: getting to know those that you worked with. I know
Speaker 1: that our time together in Carolina was short, but you
Speaker 1: truly changed my life. Mick. You listened to me and
Speaker 1: poured wisdom into my career and my personal life. Congratulations
Speaker 1: on an incredible career, Mick, and enjoy the farm with
Speaker 1: your bride. Byron Putland, studio producer for the Carolina Panthers
Speaker 1: Radio network. Since Mick joined the Panthers, it has been
Speaker 1: an absolute pleasure of getting to know him and his family,
Speaker 1: and I would like to do nothing more than to
Speaker 1: wish Mike a very, very healthy, happy and relaxed retirement.
Speaker 1: And I look forward to the book that I am
Speaker 1: hoping he will pin to give us all the great
Speaker 1: stories he's told us over the years, as well as
Speaker 1: the ones that we do not know about it at
Speaker 1: this time. So Mick, God Bless, will definitely miss you.
Speaker 1: Enjoy your time. Forrest Orian Mixon the Third. I grew
Speaker 1: up at listening to him on the radio, you know,
Speaker 1: being a tar Hill fan. There was no better broadcast
Speaker 1: than a Woody and Nick broadcast, and just his voice
Speaker 1: is synonymous with so many happy memories for me and
Speaker 1: my dad would always listen to the games together. And
Speaker 1: then I moved away and became a broadcaster after going
Speaker 1: to un C Chapel Hill, and someone put me in
Speaker 1: touch with him, and I asked him to watch my
Speaker 1: real and he wrote back the most thoughtful email and
Speaker 1: gave me some some great pointers and complimented me on
Speaker 1: certain things, and it meant so much. It was so
Speaker 1: personal and um so constructive and just so kind. I
Speaker 1: have learned just an incredible amount from him, and I
Speaker 1: enjoy listening to him. One of my favorite things is
Speaker 1: being on the broadcast because I get to listen to
Speaker 1: him the entire time. But I just I think the
Speaker 1: world of him, and I still pinched myself that I
Speaker 1: get to call him a coworker and a friend. All Right, Mick,
Speaker 1: I guess you're really gonna do this. So here we
Speaker 1: go seventeen years of just this part of our lives together,
Speaker 1: working together, and so much of what I would say
Speaker 1: to you isn't really worthy of being on a broadcast
Speaker 1: or a podcast because they only make sense to you
Speaker 1: and me. That could be a voice which only you
Speaker 1: would know if I said mc mc mick, you're the
Speaker 1: greatest Mick or if I said mix and let me
Speaker 1: tell you something, you would know what these means. But
Speaker 1: nobody else would get these things. I have no one
Speaker 1: else to share these things too. And I will miss
Speaker 1: having you on countless road trips in the backup buses, hotels,
Speaker 1: dinners in the booth, sharing our stories together. But we
Speaker 1: did it, man, We did seventeen years together. Can I
Speaker 1: miss having year round? We got to go to a
Speaker 1: super Bowl together, didn't get a win, but we had
Speaker 1: a great trip. We had big games, we had little games,
Speaker 1: we had TV shows, we had podcasts, and gave you
Speaker 1: my cheese wheels on the plane. Of course, we promised
Speaker 1: to make sure that you won't be stuck on a
Speaker 1: train in New York for your radio interview. Did not
Speaker 1: accomplish that for you as well. Your quest to find
Speaker 1: dates for our engineering staff did not go unnoticed. Just
Speaker 1: too many stories that you have that you've shared with
Speaker 1: us through the years that entertained us. If I say Socrates,
Speaker 1: if I say eyeball story your glory days in Bellm Radio,
Speaker 1: many of which I cannot speak of those stories in
Speaker 1: great detail, I'll come flooding back to my mind. But
Speaker 1: we're gonna miss having that on a constant basis. But
Speaker 1: this is just so long. Not goodbye, of course, because
Speaker 1: as we know, Sandra and Donnie would never allow us
Speaker 1: to be separated as a force of a very long
Speaker 1: soil road trip to Burlington. Get you off your tractor,
Speaker 1: get you a grilled chicken salad, nice glass of red wine,
Speaker 1: and get to hang out some more. I'm sure you'll
Speaker 1: be back down to Charlotte to come visit us as well,
Speaker 1: But can I miss your partner? Has been great fun
Speaker 1: and could not be more pleased that you got to
Speaker 1: pick your date, your timing, your circumstances of your departure.
Speaker 1: And in this business, that's saying something we don't all
Speaker 1: get to do that very often. So God bless you
Speaker 1: and we'll see you soon. Second down in nineteen and
Speaker 1: for the Carolina Panthers pro land motion, it's effake to
Speaker 1: the right and throw a long outfield to the left.
Speaker 1: Steve Smith. Smith is there. Smith's got a tots down
Speaker 1: Carolina Panthers hand off up the middle. McCaffrey running free, unbelievable,
Speaker 1: thirty thirty five forty forty across midfield. Can someone drag
Speaker 1: him down? Funny to the fifteen, the ten to five
Speaker 1: free ta head home, Chick Along has the snap, fades back,
Speaker 1: rolls out, pumps once now throws into touch down in
Speaker 1: the middle of the end zone. Pads have done it,
Speaker 1: dude and keeps it himself and it's wide open. Thirty
Speaker 1: thirty five, forty forty five, fifty forty five, forty thirty five,
Speaker 1: thirty twenty five, twenty ten five dives for the piline.
Speaker 1: It's a touchdown. Cam Newton has taken it home and
Speaker 1: Wilson in trouble flicks it out the black field pick off,
Speaker 1: quickly tangling right ten five touch out. You know, I
Speaker 1: have never liked any of you people. It's all been
Speaker 1: in act. I actually have accepted fees to go speak.
Speaker 1: What in the world? What is wrong with you? Will?
Speaker 1: Why did you? Why are you doing this to me?
Speaker 1: I enjoyed it. Well, hey, the short answer is because
Speaker 1: you deserve it, and the longer answer is one of
Speaker 1: the really cool things and and piggyback and off. What
Speaker 1: Will said early on is he introduced his segment one
Speaker 1: of the cool things about being in stadiums and living
Speaker 1: this life and being around other writers and other broadcasters.
Speaker 1: The focus of the public has always on that three
Speaker 1: hours that the football games being played, they're about twelve
Speaker 1: hours on either end of it that you end up
Speaker 1: in stadiums or in transit or getting ready for a game,
Speaker 1: that you spend around these people. And one of the
Speaker 1: really cool things for all the ball games I've seen
Speaker 1: in my life, some of the really cool moments you
Speaker 1: spend in stadiums are sitting around five hours before kickoff
Speaker 1: in Atlanta with mcmixon when he tells you a story
Speaker 1: about Doug Bear or you know, and those are the
Speaker 1: kind of things that you're gonna miss. Those are the
Speaker 1: kind of things that you know, I think definds me
Speaker 1: because a person, because the things that came through through
Speaker 1: all those tributes is this man is a storyteller, this
Speaker 1: man cares about his craft. But this man is a
Speaker 1: good friend. And we're all gonna miss at Well, I'm
Speaker 1: mad at you both for making me um My allergies
Speaker 1: kind of kicked in during that a little bit. And
Speaker 1: uh here's some of the Yeah, so many good friends
Speaker 1: and and the honor of all these relationships has been mine.
Speaker 1: Of course, I can't follow this up. I have nothing
Speaker 1: left to say. Make do you want to sign us off? Well,
Speaker 1: my colleagues, and I hope you've enjoyed the way we've
Speaker 1: called the games and got one more left, another panther
Speaker 1: talking beyond that. If you need me, on and I'll
Speaker 1: be at the farm.