Speaker 1: It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends
Speaker 1: Kristen Balboni, Will Brian, and Darren Gamp. Welcome to the
Speaker 1: Happy half Hour podcast. It's your friends, Will, Darren and
Speaker 1: Christen along with producer Matt and uh As. We have
Speaker 1: a lot to get to. We're going to talk about
Speaker 1: the preseason, what we've seen in the first two games,
Speaker 1: what we expect to see on Friday night against the Steelers.
Speaker 1: We're gonna wrap up anything outstanding from training camp, but
Speaker 1: first we have to talk about the roster moves that
Speaker 1: have been coming, what feels like fast and furious. Over
Speaker 1: the last few days. The front office has been busy,
Speaker 1: which means the two of you and the Panther's website
Speaker 1: have been busy. I have the Noty Gang on they
Speaker 1: call it the Noty Gang and on the internet, so
Speaker 1: Darren is very much at the top of my noty Gang.
Speaker 1: I get notifications from Darren a lot, and that means
Speaker 1: I have to drop everything. If you see, if you
Speaker 1: see when I see when I see Darren, I message incoming,
Speaker 1: it's a year ago. It's uh yeah, it's been that
Speaker 1: kind of week. I mean, I I left, I walked
Speaker 1: out of the house this morning with my shirt on
Speaker 1: inside out, and it's just the way this week's been spinning.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just that kind of week. I mean,
Speaker 1: but there's a lot of stuff going on. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, you wake up and it's like, oh, by
Speaker 1: the way, Robbie Anderson three year extension. Oh by the way,
Speaker 1: you know they've traded, didn't sell Peraman. It just keeps
Speaker 1: coming and it's going to be that way for the
Speaker 1: next couple of days. Absolutely so. So there were cutdowns
Speaker 1: if we go back to to this week, in addition
Speaker 1: to the team practicing on the field coming off of
Speaker 1: the second preseason game on Saturday, getting ready for the
Speaker 1: third preseason game on Friday, the moves that have been
Speaker 1: made as the roster was cut down slightly, as you said,
Speaker 1: Denzel Peraman traded to the Raiders, that happened Robbie Anderson
Speaker 1: contract extension. And then also another move of note that
Speaker 1: we're certainly paying attention to is is bringing in a kicker.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot, there's a lot of stuff going on,
Speaker 1: and I mean, you feel terrible for Joey Slide because
Speaker 1: you can just hear it in talking to Matt Rule
Speaker 1: and the guys on the staff. I mean, everybody likes Joey.
Speaker 1: Everybody believes that Joey has the ability to be the guy,
Speaker 1: but he hasn't been the guy lately. And it's like,
Speaker 1: as much as we love you, you gotta go make
Speaker 1: some kicks. And he's been struggling with that a little
Speaker 1: bit lately. It was interesting to me yesterday here in
Speaker 1: Matt repeatedly refer to it as a slump, this little
Speaker 1: role he's in, it's a slump, and it's almost like
Speaker 1: they're trying to talk Joey out of it. Do you
Speaker 1: guys think I always think about pro sports and the
Speaker 1: positions that are so dependent on on being even keeled
Speaker 1: or so mentally taxing, right, and every position I just
Speaker 1: of course goes without saying, if you make it to
Speaker 1: the professional level, every position is has demands in its
Speaker 1: own way. Right, But when you think about an NFL kicker,
Speaker 1: where does that rank with like hockey goalie or or
Speaker 1: soccer goalie in terms of when you get into as
Speaker 1: as Matt Rule referred to Joyce, I slump, You've really
Speaker 1: got to dig yourself. It's almost more of a mental thing.
Speaker 1: He knows how to kick, So we're where does that
Speaker 1: rank in terms of all of the pro sports in
Speaker 1: terms of pressure filled positions, it's got to be as
Speaker 1: high as anything, because if you think about a golfer
Speaker 1: when his putter leaves and for a little bit, it's
Speaker 1: just him. And when you're a kicker and you miss
Speaker 1: a field goal, all of a sudden, you have twenty
Speaker 1: one other people out there on the field who hate
Speaker 1: you suddenly because all the work they've put into it,
Speaker 1: and that just adds to the pressure that's on you
Speaker 1: in that moment. And if you go out for the
Speaker 1: field goal or extra point or whatever, it is like
Speaker 1: there's nothing else going on, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like it's the moment that that everyone in the stadium
Speaker 1: is looking at you, that everyone on on both teams
Speaker 1: are looking at you, and I just anybody, because that
Speaker 1: just is like that feels like a bad dream to me.
Speaker 1: Anyone that can do it at that level, it's it's incredible,
Speaker 1: And it's a numbers game. You know. If you're a
Speaker 1: quarterback or if you're alignment, you go out, you make
Speaker 1: a bad throw, it's just awful. You know, Yeah, Okay,
Speaker 1: now it's third down. You know this guy you're when
Speaker 1: you're a kick or you got maybe one, two or
Speaker 1: three shots during the game. There's you're not going to
Speaker 1: get a lot of chances to make a mistake and
Speaker 1: then to correct the mistake and make a good play
Speaker 1: after it. You're just you only got a couple of times.
Speaker 1: Chase Blackburn said, Yesterday's like we're expected to be at
Speaker 1: our very best every time we walk on the field.
Speaker 1: And I mean there's literally no margin of air for
Speaker 1: those guys that to make miss business. And you know,
Speaker 1: when you get below that eighty percent line, people are
Speaker 1: going to start looking for replacements. And you know, it's
Speaker 1: a it's a cold business, but it's I think part
Speaker 1: of it too. I mean you talked about Joey's approach.
Speaker 1: I talked to him back this summer about working with
Speaker 1: sports psychologist in the middle approach to it. He's a
Speaker 1: meticulous guy anyway. I mean, Joey Size is kind of
Speaker 1: kicker who can tell you, well, I was all four
Speaker 1: centimeters on my you know. I mean, it's just so
Speaker 1: granular the way he looks at this. So when one
Speaker 1: thing goes wrong, I think there's sometimes a cascading effect
Speaker 1: that just kind of builds and builds and builds and
Speaker 1: and it's a shame, and you you would hope for
Speaker 1: the kid's sake. I mean, Joey's a good kid. You
Speaker 1: hope he gets his problem worked out and gets back
Speaker 1: cone track. Whether it's here someplay sales, but you know
Speaker 1: they're they're not gonna wait around forever. So we'll likely
Speaker 1: see Joey sly in this third and final preseason game.
Speaker 1: Feels still feels weird to say third and final preseason game.
Speaker 1: As well as other position battles. We're gonna see the
Speaker 1: starters play in the first half, and then we'll see
Speaker 1: the backups and some of the guys that are fighting
Speaker 1: for spots, whether it's on the Panthers roster or potentially,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe another team, we'll see them more so
Speaker 1: in the second half. At least. That's the latest that
Speaker 1: we're hearing. What have you guys thought of the first
Speaker 1: two preseason games and than anything else from training camp
Speaker 1: that we haven't gotten to, you know, I think, and
Speaker 1: it's been kind of it's almost to take away from
Speaker 1: those joint practices as much as the games. I mean,
Speaker 1: we saw in Spartanburg against the Ravens, we saw in
Speaker 1: Indianapolis against the Cults. Panthers just aren't as deep as
Speaker 1: those guys. But those two teams are a lot more
Speaker 1: stable in the front office. You know, they haven't gone
Speaker 1: through the kind of changes the Panthers have gone through
Speaker 1: the last year and a half, So they're a couple
Speaker 1: of years ahead in terms of the roster building. And
Speaker 1: that shows up when the twos are practicing against the
Speaker 1: twos and threes against the threes. You know, both those
Speaker 1: teams had advantages there. But I think you know when
Speaker 1: I've seen when you watch the Panthers starters, they were
Speaker 1: playing even on defense. I mean, the Panthers starting defense
Speaker 1: was having a day in Indianapolis and had a real
Speaker 1: day against the Ravens that second day of the joint
Speaker 1: practices there. And I mean the five picks on the
Speaker 1: final day at camp, I mean it was just like whoa,
Speaker 1: there goes another one and another one, and a lot
Speaker 1: of those were with starters on the field. I think
Speaker 1: that's where they've made up the margin a little bit
Speaker 1: this year, and and it's getting closer now. I hesitate
Speaker 1: putting too much into preseason results. I mean, I love
Speaker 1: the fact that the Ravens have one nine team straight
Speaker 1: preseason games because obviously they're outstanding. But uh, that to
Speaker 1: me speaks to that depth that they've build over the years.
Speaker 1: And when you've got twos and threes that can actually
Speaker 1: play football, it helps you in situations like that. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't think the Panthers are right there yet, but
Speaker 1: there are at least tangible signs of progress, especially on
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball. And I think you look
Speaker 1: at this draft class and you know that that's where
Speaker 1: it starts. You know, you have a really really good
Speaker 1: draft class, at least on paper so far from what
Speaker 1: we've seen. You know, from top to bottom, you've got, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, guys at the top of this draft. Brady
Speaker 1: Christensen's played the most naps of any one. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously j C. Horns a guy out there, Terroris Marshall Jr.
Speaker 1: You know, down to Cuba, down to you know, even Philmy,
Speaker 1: Tommy Trumbull. You know, all all of these guys kind
Speaker 1: of end to end in this draft class, and that's
Speaker 1: where you start building that that depth of all. Right, now,
Speaker 1: your second team guy is a legit dude, you know
Speaker 1: here from the six or seventh round. Now you're your
Speaker 1: practice squad guys are are ready to go, you know,
Speaker 1: as you kind of build year over year. Well and
Speaker 1: and just talking to Joe Brady earlier today, he was
Speaker 1: talking about the ability of having this preseason and being
Speaker 1: able to get those rookies comfortable and to show them that, hey,
Speaker 1: I can play in the NFL, you know, and he
Speaker 1: said it's just been a point of pride to to
Speaker 1: see the games that terrorists has had to be able
Speaker 1: to get Tommy going, you know, see how he's doing
Speaker 1: out there, and for as much as evaluation purposes for
Speaker 1: him and the coaching staff, but also for these young guys.
Speaker 1: And remember now they were all defensive players last year,
Speaker 1: but but no opportunity for those guys, uh, those rookies
Speaker 1: last year to come in and and be able to
Speaker 1: feel confident. Um. And I think that that's something well,
Speaker 1: as you said, that's really developed in this preseason with
Speaker 1: a lot of those rookies. And I mean you can
Speaker 1: hear it. I was talking to Shy yesterday here in
Speaker 1: his voice. The confidence is building because of what they've
Speaker 1: been able to show in these two preseason games. That's
Speaker 1: been another one of those big takeaways. I mean, you
Speaker 1: think back to eleven draft picks, I mean that's a
Speaker 1: load and out of that eleven, probably nine or ten
Speaker 1: or kind of make the fifty three man roster, and
Speaker 1: five or six of them have just jumped off the
Speaker 1: page in the preseason. I mean, Taras Marshall and Cuba
Speaker 1: have made those big splash plays. And those guys aren't
Speaker 1: going to be starters in the regular season unless somebody
Speaker 1: gets hurt, but they, you know, having that kind of
Speaker 1: ability and reserve, it's like, okay, you can work with that.
Speaker 1: I mean, Brady Christians and Deonte Brown have looked really
Speaker 1: good in the first two preseason games, and you know,
Speaker 1: Tremble has a touchdown. There's other guys here and there
Speaker 1: that stand out, and it's kind of like, and oh,
Speaker 1: by the way, J. C. Horne, you know, it's nice
Speaker 1: to have a no. By the way, yeah, it's good
Speaker 1: to have that. But that just speaks to where he
Speaker 1: is a player too, because it's like we don't even
Speaker 1: think of him through the lens of oh, yeah, rookie
Speaker 1: cornerback because from the day he walked in the door,
Speaker 1: it's like rookie doesn't really imploy exactly exactly. I mean,
Speaker 1: because when you look, starters played essentially a series over
Speaker 1: the last two preseason games, and I've thought the same
Speaker 1: thing from time to time. I forget to put j C.
Speaker 1: Into that rookie class mentally a couple of times, because
Speaker 1: he's you know, if the starters aren't dressed out, he's
Speaker 1: not dressed out, he's he's you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: It's just, Um, you're right, it's he came in with
Speaker 1: such a high bar and from everything we've seen, has
Speaker 1: lived up to that in a big way. And it's
Speaker 1: also the way he carries himself. And of course you
Speaker 1: know his dad's in fle but it's like, Okay, he
Speaker 1: is a rookie. We actually haven't seen him play in
Speaker 1: a in a regular season game yet, but boy, he
Speaker 1: could fool you with his poise and confidence and what
Speaker 1: he's been able to do um against the other teams
Speaker 1: in those drain practices. Um, will do you have a
Speaker 1: stat of the week for us? The times every time
Speaker 1: of the week I do. While we're talking about rookies, Yes,
Speaker 1: how about my man Cuba Tuba. That's the new, that's
Speaker 1: the new, that's going to be the new bank of
Speaker 1: the channel in there. Well, Mick, Mick wants it to
Speaker 1: be like tub thumping, you know, like Chumbawamba. He's like
Speaker 1: Cuba Hubbard. And then every time that he gets knocked down,
Speaker 1: he gets back up again because he's never gonna do
Speaker 1: I see, I see where it's going. Yeah. I didn't
Speaker 1: wake up this morning expecting a Chumbawamba reference. There, Cuba Hubbard.
Speaker 1: So Cuba got a couple of stats for him. He
Speaker 1: currently leads the NFL with six point oh yards after
Speaker 1: attacked per rush. I like that, you went six point oh.
Speaker 1: I imagine someone's at like five nine or five eight,
Speaker 1: but like atle six point out. Now, a lot of
Speaker 1: that had to do with that one big run in
Speaker 1: Indie where he just emerged at that pile to gods.
Speaker 1: But I mean he is making people fall off of him.
Speaker 1: He's he's initiating contact and he's bursting through it, you know,
Speaker 1: and a three yard run becomes a six yard run.
Speaker 1: Those are those are qualities of an NFL running back.
Speaker 1: And with Christian not you know, probably not playing much
Speaker 1: at all, on Friday, you're gonna see Cuba again. And
Speaker 1: I think that he's really emerged of kind of like
Speaker 1: who's who's the guy behind Christian elite? I mean as
Speaker 1: of right now it feels a lot like Cuba and
Speaker 1: now that way, especially with this Manna has heard at
Speaker 1: that position. It's one of those worst of the football cliches.
Speaker 1: But that whole best ability is availability. You know, Ronnie Smith,
Speaker 1: Reggie Bonfen has been dinged up and not been practicing
Speaker 1: or or playing much lately. So it's like, all right, Cuba,
Speaker 1: you get more reps and he's made the most of
Speaker 1: them well. And and we you know, had the opportunity
Speaker 1: to see going back to the ability to have these
Speaker 1: preseason opportunities. Um, you know, trying to get into the
Speaker 1: end zone last week and not being able to quite
Speaker 1: do it, And I feel like that's the kind of
Speaker 1: thing you want. And of course you would prefer him
Speaker 1: to be able to power his way in there, Like
Speaker 1: that's kind of stuff you want to happen in the preseason.
Speaker 1: You take it as a learning opportunity. We'll see what
Speaker 1: he does with all of this time that we assume
Speaker 1: that he's going to get in this third preseason game,
Speaker 1: and then and then how it translates into the regular season.
Speaker 1: So he's ninety scrimmage yards away from the Panthers preseason
Speaker 1: scrimmage yards record. Now who keeps the Panthers preseason scrimmage
Speaker 1: yards records. This guy, he's raising his hand. This is
Speaker 1: an audio medium. Will, I would like to remind you.
Speaker 1: I love that you have the preseason scrimmagar. Everybody's usually
Speaker 1: four games. Yeah, for everybody listening, Will was like jumping
Speaker 1: up in the air for the Theater of the mind.
Speaker 1: He was up up to hands pointing at himself. Yes.
Speaker 1: So the previous record holder was some guy I've never
Speaker 1: heard of. I think his name was Christian something scene.
Speaker 1: Actually the name doesn't ring about and that was mostly
Speaker 1: just because he bursted at for like an eight yard
Speaker 1: run on the first play against Miami and then sat
Speaker 1: for the rest of the preseason. But anyway, he's ninety
Speaker 1: yards away from breaking Christian scrimmage yards record that he
Speaker 1: said that preseason, and you can do it in just
Speaker 1: three games. I feel a tweet coming on from Panther
Speaker 1: stas I think if he has a big game, I
Speaker 1: think there's some sideline reporting to be done on the
Speaker 1: stats that don't matter. You gotta send me, you gotta
Speaker 1: send me the actual I want to make sure I
Speaker 1: get the six point oh right, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: want anyone to think it's a six point one or
Speaker 1: anything like that. You have to write down those numbers
Speaker 1: for me so I can make sure to report them.
Speaker 1: I do want to to talk about that a little
Speaker 1: bit UM with the preseason, because I feel like we
Speaker 1: haven't had a chance to get into it. You have
Speaker 1: a new broadcasting crew, UM for the TV preseason broadcast.
Speaker 1: Hope you all are able to watch them or listen
Speaker 1: on the radio if you are not here in person. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm working with Taylor's Arzer and Steve Smith, another name
Speaker 1: people may or may not have heard of in this building. UM,
Speaker 1: and I just thought, you know what we try to
Speaker 1: do here on Happy half Hours, take people behind the scenes.
Speaker 1: And I thought, I was like, gosh, I haven't really
Speaker 1: talked about getting to work with Steve UM And I mean, guys,
Speaker 1: no surprise, it's it's delightful. It's just delightful. What h
Speaker 1: just what a great guy you know growing up Panthers
Speaker 1: fan and then not being here. I got here last
Speaker 1: year April of last year, so of course we did
Speaker 1: not overlap, UM, whereas well you might have and Darren
Speaker 1: certainly you have in your career, so I did not
Speaker 1: know him aside from UM you know, we briefly did
Speaker 1: something for schedule release um and you know, just here
Speaker 1: and they're saying hello, and it's just been an absolute
Speaker 1: pleasure to work with both Taylor and Steve. And I
Speaker 1: gotta say I know that this I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: say this as a cliche at all, but like the
Speaker 1: most professional, hard working wants to you know, wants to
Speaker 1: be early, wants to know that the nitty gritty of
Speaker 1: everything is like, hey, we should do a you know,
Speaker 1: a dinner for this, and then how how about this?
Speaker 1: And I really wants to know all the ins and
Speaker 1: outs of every little thing. So prepared kind Um has
Speaker 1: great stories, as as we all know or might assume.
Speaker 1: But man, you would think, I guess maybe this is
Speaker 1: the best way to say it. I should have gotten
Speaker 1: around to this in a more succinct way earlier, but
Speaker 1: I'm processing it all as well. We just came from
Speaker 1: a meeting. You would think he was an analyst trying
Speaker 1: to break into the business. With the way that he works,
Speaker 1: and that doesn't surprise anyone that watched him play or
Speaker 1: followed his career. You would not think he was a
Speaker 1: future Hall of fame or with the way that he
Speaker 1: approaches everything because it's just he's so meticulous and consistent
Speaker 1: and professional and um and just a delight to be around.
Speaker 1: And and he I've always loved about Steve that he's
Speaker 1: so curious. He wants to learn about the world, and
Speaker 1: he wants to learn about whatever he gets into, whether
Speaker 1: it's broadcasting or finance or football or whatever it happens
Speaker 1: to be. Steve just goes all in and wants to
Speaker 1: bore down to the bedrock and see every granular piece
Speaker 1: of the business and figure it out. So that's what
Speaker 1: I mean. I hope you know we've we're in a
Speaker 1: position where we can see Steve behind the scenes. I
Speaker 1: the people on the other side are picking up on
Speaker 1: how much fun he's having. Yeah, I think they are.
Speaker 1: I get the impression that people are digging this as
Speaker 1: much as he's digging doing it. But he's just having
Speaker 1: such tremendous fun right now and just being eighty nine,
Speaker 1: which is a pretty cool thing to be. If you
Speaker 1: had an opportunity to be Batman, I guess you would,
Speaker 1: but if not, eight nine would be an alright thing
Speaker 1: to be. But he's just having a blast, and you
Speaker 1: can tell on the broadcast. But I mean, he could
Speaker 1: come in and and read the phone book on the
Speaker 1: broadcast and everyone would be like, that's amazing. But he
Speaker 1: just he works so hard at it, and like he said,
Speaker 1: he's he's enjoying it so much, and just so what
Speaker 1: a what a delight to get to work with him
Speaker 1: and to get to know him better. How many times
Speaker 1: have you just laughed out loud on the sideline when
Speaker 1: he saw quite a bit? Yeah, why is Kristen laughing
Speaker 1: over there on the twenty yard line? I also have
Speaker 1: a bad um. This might be a little too inside baseball,
Speaker 1: but I have a bad our. Executive producer David Linclon
Speaker 1: is sitting in here as well, so he'll he'll know
Speaker 1: that I do this. I don't want to laugh alone,
Speaker 1: so some times I'll hit my producer button on my
Speaker 1: microphone and I'm like, that was so funny. You know,
Speaker 1: they're your producers working as well, But I don't. I'm
Speaker 1: down there by myself laughing and I need someone to sell.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, how funny was that? You know the
Speaker 1: most of it. You know, there's a it's a second
Speaker 1: and whatever out on the field, But I just I
Speaker 1: need someone else to Maybe I'll text you. Well, the
Speaker 1: next time it happens, there's there's like some false started.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone's like, all, how funny, that was hilarious.
Speaker 1: I don't do it all the time, but every once
Speaker 1: in a while you just need someone, You need someone
Speaker 1: to to laugh with. But yes, plenty of times. Um, Darren,
Speaker 1: you said you had a thought about the preseason schedule,
Speaker 1: and I don't know what it's going to be, but
Speaker 1: I'm assuming that it will qualify for your get off
Speaker 1: my Lawn Moment of the Week based on the way
Speaker 1: you sold it, and I think it's probably fair. I
Speaker 1: think it's probably just time for preseason football to go away.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not until they can replace the revenue
Speaker 1: and the games have a utility, and I get it,
Speaker 1: and this is where some guys make roster spots and
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff, but for starting players in
Speaker 1: the NFL, it's just useless anymore. And I mean, I've
Speaker 1: heard so many people carp about, Oh, Sam Donald's only
Speaker 1: played seven snaps, So what Sam Donald's played probably a
Speaker 1: hundred and twenties snaps of practically live football against the
Speaker 1: Colts and the Ravens. So he's gonna go out there
Speaker 1: Friday night against the Steelers, who aren't playing starters because
Speaker 1: they've played four preseason games already, and it's like, what
Speaker 1: does this actually mean? So, I mean, I I think
Speaker 1: people have gotten hung up. The NFL is such a
Speaker 1: it's such a creature of habit that people are used
Speaker 1: to four preseason games. Now all of a sudden, they
Speaker 1: are three, and nobody knows what exactly to do with them.
Speaker 1: And if you look around, I mean, listen, Matt Stafford
Speaker 1: is not going to take a snap in the preseason
Speaker 1: and he's on a brand new team in Los Angeles,
Speaker 1: and all these other quarterbacks are just not going anywhere
Speaker 1: close to the field. And I get that Sam is
Speaker 1: not the same as Tom Brady, but I just think
Speaker 1: it's so overrated, the different between what happens on the
Speaker 1: field and a joint practice and what happens during a
Speaker 1: preseason game when the lights are on and it happens
Speaker 1: to be on TV. I think if there was a
Speaker 1: way to monetize joint practices and broadcast them to people,
Speaker 1: I could see those taking the place of preseason football
Speaker 1: because the work that teams are able to get done
Speaker 1: it's so much better. Well, I was gonna say so
Speaker 1: your commissioner, Darren Gann, what is your ideal solution. We go,
Speaker 1: We're gonna We're gonna televise joint practices. Everybody gets to
Speaker 1: quote unquote home appearances. You get to have a joint
Speaker 1: practice in one of them and then build a concert
Speaker 1: into it. Have a portable stage and like Darius Rucker
Speaker 1: comes out in place for forty five minutes after the
Speaker 1: joint practice is over. It's gonna be huge. People would
Speaker 1: come out and watch that. And the other one is,
Speaker 1: you know, more of an inner squad sort of thing,
Speaker 1: you know, almost like a fan fast situation, and same thing.
Speaker 1: You gotta build entertainment to it. You gotta do something
Speaker 1: to create revenue. You know. Again, the Darius Rucker have
Speaker 1: a concert idea has always been in the back of
Speaker 1: my head for this kind of thing. But you know,
Speaker 1: the stuff we saw in Indianapolis, the stuff we saw
Speaker 1: in Spartanburg against the Ravens was so much better than
Speaker 1: most of the stuff we see during a preseason game.
Speaker 1: And you see guys flying around and stuff, I mean
Speaker 1: the dave On Nixon two interception day and training camp.
Speaker 1: I wish more people would have been able to see
Speaker 1: that and how those guys reacted and how you know,
Speaker 1: excited and jumping around that defense was seeing those guys
Speaker 1: make play after play after play. And we've bore and
Speaker 1: we've gotten to the point where fans can be there,
Speaker 1: fans can watch it, and most of this stuff gets
Speaker 1: filmed and gets posted on social Like, you know, we're
Speaker 1: expanding that kind of you know, practices, this thing that
Speaker 1: you're not supposed to see, and you're expanding more and
Speaker 1: more into this is entertainment. This is this is a
Speaker 1: much bigger thing. And if you go to Panthers dot
Speaker 1: com you can read a recent article by Darren where
Speaker 1: he tells you where Darius Rucker can play his concert
Speaker 1: in three in the new rock Hill development. That's right, man,
Speaker 1: look at that he could get out there in the park.
Speaker 1: They could open up the pavilion and have that d
Speaker 1: foot sliding glass door opening up to uh backstage area
Speaker 1: and that kind of stuff. Yeah, rock Hills pretty amazing.
Speaker 1: I I'm a big kid. I like walking around looking
Speaker 1: at giant construction equipment and construction hat. Yeah, I warm
Speaker 1: my hard hat and my yellow vest. Thankfully there are
Speaker 1: no photographs of that, um, but yeah, it's a huge
Speaker 1: I mean, you walk out there and a you see
Speaker 1: the size of the structure itself, and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 1: this thing's massive. You're gonna be able to see this
Speaker 1: from the interstate as soon as they cut down a
Speaker 1: few more trees or and they've tried to leave as
Speaker 1: many trees as they can and have a little bit
Speaker 1: of a buffer. But when you just pulled through that
Speaker 1: clearing and it's like, won't It's like this death star
Speaker 1: coming up out of the ground in rock Hill. It's
Speaker 1: gonna be a massive complex and once it's finished, it's
Speaker 1: gonna be it's gonna be the kind of thing that
Speaker 1: rock Hill's never seen. I mean, and Mark Haart talked
Speaker 1: about it the other day. Rock Hills always build itself
Speaker 1: as football City USA. When now you you're going to
Speaker 1: have a world class NFL facility there that's got all
Speaker 1: the extra bills and whistles to add to their local tradition.
Speaker 1: I love it. I absolutely love it. I haven't been
Speaker 1: down there yet, so from getting all my news on
Speaker 1: rock Hill from Panthers dot com, I want to wrap
Speaker 1: up with a quick weird question if we can. So.
Speaker 1: In the second preseason game, I was talking to Jermaine
Speaker 1: carter Um and asking about him. You know the young
Speaker 1: guys that have impressed you, and we're talking about J. C.
Speaker 1: Horn and he said, um, he said, he's great. And
Speaker 1: I have started calling him Big Straps because he does
Speaker 1: the seatbelt And I said, do you mean like big
Speaker 1: seatbelt straps and he said yes, and I said, well
Speaker 1: that's now his nickname. That that's now his official nickname.
Speaker 1: They want to know a do you guys like it?
Speaker 1: And be what's what's your official nickname? I like, put
Speaker 1: him next to Big Snacks. That's so yeah, there you go.
Speaker 1: There you go, Big Snack. I like it. I see
Speaker 1: what you did there. But I mean yeah, And the
Speaker 1: other thing about that is with him, the seat belt
Speaker 1: thing has caught on. I mean you see other guys
Speaker 1: in practice doing it. And he's infectious. Man, he's got
Speaker 1: an energy about him. So yeah, I'm I'm I'm down
Speaker 1: with big Strap. That works for me. I like it.
Speaker 1: So what's your nickname? Darren? I don't know, can one
Speaker 1: give oneself a nickname? Have you never called? Have you
Speaker 1: never been called a nickname? I highly doubt that. I
Speaker 1: don't know. Maybe that's for another episode. We've already got one.
Speaker 1: D G in the department Daniel Goldfarb, so I can't
Speaker 1: be you know, I told him he was the O
Speaker 1: G d G. So we'll let him have that one
Speaker 1: for now, all right, Maybe we'll get some some users submissions. Yea,
Speaker 1: how about that tweet the commission apparently your nickname for Darren. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I said the commission after the new he's got the
Speaker 1: whole preseason figured out. Well, you got one before we go.
Speaker 1: I used to be called Chucky Will. Yeah, I remember
Speaker 1: that from from podcast season two. I think, yeah, Chuck
Speaker 1: you will. Yeah. I'll leave it with that one, all right,
Speaker 1: And I'm kalk k it's the it's the it's the easiest.
Speaker 1: It's just the initials. But yeah, let us know your
Speaker 1: suggestions for Darren's nicknames. We will definitely get to those
Speaker 1: on the next episode. Thanks so much for listening to
Speaker 1: The Happy Podcast. We'll see next time.