Speaker 1: It's time for a happy half hour with your friends,
Speaker 1: Chris stud BALBONI, Will Brian and Darren gab Welcome to
Speaker 1: the Happy half Hour. I'm back, I promised. Though. I
Speaker 1: have plenty of years of football experience, maybe not ten
Speaker 1: in the NFL. I have been to a super Bowl.
Speaker 1: But this is Will Brian back again. I'm replacing Brad Hoover.
Speaker 1: All of y'all are very upset. It's a younger model.
Speaker 1: It's a it's a younger, more athletic Brad Hoover. Because
Speaker 1: I'm hoping Brad's not listening right now and coming up
Speaker 1: here to pummel me. But yeah, Brad Field in force
Speaker 1: last week, it wasn't quite the same it was. It
Speaker 1: was less happy, uh more half hour, but less happy
Speaker 1: without Brad. I mean I went to a soak on
Speaker 1: school too, you know I wanna Yeah, it's not Jackson
Speaker 1: County Tech like Brad went to. But I was waiting
Speaker 1: for all the ways you could describe Western Carolina and
Speaker 1: it was cracking me up just a little bit. Brad.
Speaker 1: Brad's a good sport I like Brad a lot there.
Speaker 1: He was good to fill in for us last week
Speaker 1: while you were out on special assignment. I know it was.
Speaker 1: It was a fun special assignment. I'm still trying to
Speaker 1: recover from all the soreness of going down the mountain. Now,
Speaker 1: let me ask you, when you ski, are you just
Speaker 1: a start at the top of the hill and survive
Speaker 1: until you get to the bottom or are you actually
Speaker 1: a skier and do you do tricks? No, I'm but
Speaker 1: I'm now unfortunately, I'm now in some weird purgatory of
Speaker 1: skiing where the greens that I've been doing are kind
Speaker 1: of boring. They're no longer life threatening like they were
Speaker 1: two years ago, but the blues still seem overwhelming. Are
Speaker 1: the blues the middle? Yeah, and the blues and snowshoe
Speaker 1: are more like the blues in Colorado than they are
Speaker 1: like sugar and beech. So there you look at them,
Speaker 1: and that seems like a lot. So but I go
Speaker 1: down the greens and yeah, no, I'm not hanging on
Speaker 1: for dear life. You know, my my coats on buttoned.
Speaker 1: I'm just kind of going back and forth, you know exactly,
Speaker 1: You're You're just you know, you're stopping for pictures, You're
Speaker 1: you know, every once in a while, there'll be some
Speaker 1: kid that goes into the forest. There's like these little
Speaker 1: forest things and they just like come out over a
Speaker 1: jump over, like just some little hill and you're like,
Speaker 1: what what, No, Now I'm not doing that. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: probably best. I mean this, this body is getting older.
Speaker 1: These bones don't do those things. Somebody asked me about
Speaker 1: skiing recently, and and I actually skied when I was
Speaker 1: at Appalachian State. I did a reasonable amount of skiing
Speaker 1: because it was cheap for students and you would go
Speaker 1: a lot. But I quickly realized the price of overconfidence.
Speaker 1: And when I was not quite a blue, a steady
Speaker 1: blue skier, I said, let's see how bad the black
Speaker 1: one can be. Yeah, And it was bad. Ad. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I came out of a I came out of a
Speaker 1: cloud the snow. The wind was blowing so hard one day,
Speaker 1: it was blowing everything that came out of a snow
Speaker 1: gun back up the hill. So I sort of came
Speaker 1: through a cloud one day and there was a guy
Speaker 1: stopped in the middle of the hill, and yeah, I
Speaker 1: just can't do anything about that. It was a yard sale.
Speaker 1: There was stuff all over the place. Um. The thing
Speaker 1: I remember the most about that, after I kind of
Speaker 1: came to my senses and I'm laying there on the
Speaker 1: side of Sugar Mountain and it's like, what just happened
Speaker 1: to me? And Appalachin State had a big seven foot
Speaker 1: center at the time named Tim Powers who was from Nebraska.
Speaker 1: And I remember Tim Power's going over the top on
Speaker 1: the ski lift and he was like pointing and laughing
Speaker 1: and I'm like, what are you laughing at? You can't
Speaker 1: even dribble. And that's my skiing story. That's fantastic. Uh, Darren,
Speaker 1: there's a quote unquote a big game that happened a
Speaker 1: couple of days ago. Yeah, the football happened. That the
Speaker 1: football big game happen. What are your initial thoughts takeaways?
Speaker 1: Give me one thing that stood out to you. I mean,
Speaker 1: the team that had the best player in the building one,
Speaker 1: you know, Aaron Donald should have been the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: m V p uh By, you know. I mean, Cooper
Speaker 1: Cup was a nice story all year. He had a
Speaker 1: great season. He certainly had an impact on that game.
Speaker 1: But Aaron Donald's the reason the Rams one and all
Speaker 1: week leading into that game, anytime anybody would ask me,
Speaker 1: I would say, well, I kind of hope the Bengals win.
Speaker 1: The Bengals are fun and Joe Burrow is fun and
Speaker 1: they don't get to enjoy stuff like this all the time. Uh,
Speaker 1: But the Rams are gonna win, aren't they because they
Speaker 1: got all the good players. And that's kind of the
Speaker 1: way it worked out. I mean, it got to a
Speaker 1: point where, if not for that disgraceful uncalled O p
Speaker 1: I at the beginning of the first half, the Rams
Speaker 1: just kind of shut him down on defense. And there's
Speaker 1: too much Fon Miller, too much Jalen Ramsey, and way
Speaker 1: way too much Aaron Donald for that offensive line. Two
Speaker 1: little bits about the m v P part you tweeted,
Speaker 1: and not everyone knows this the way that gets done.
Speaker 1: Our votes from the press box, from the media that
Speaker 1: largely get picked up by the two minute warning. Correct, correct,
Speaker 1: So things that happened in the height of the game,
Speaker 1: the climax, the final drive often aren't factored in right, right,
Speaker 1: And and I distinctly recall, I mean, I remember a
Speaker 1: couple of things about Super Bowl thirty eight. Number one
Speaker 1: being asked to vote for the m v P of
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl was kind of neat for a young
Speaker 1: reporter at the time. I mean that was two thousand three,
Speaker 1: so I was still I was stealing my twenties. And
Speaker 1: I remember distinctly Lee Remmel, the former Packers pr director
Speaker 1: who had the voice of God. When Lee Remmel would
Speaker 1: introduce things in the press box, he would say, Brett
Speaker 1: Farve touched. You know. He just had that big, basso
Speaker 1: profundo voice that was fantastic to hear. And Lee rem
Speaker 1: Will call me on the phone one day and he said, Darren,
Speaker 1: this is Lee, I know who this is, Yes of
Speaker 1: wars Um. But when they asked you to vote, they
Speaker 1: do want them by the two minute warning because they
Speaker 1: want to be able to present while confetti is still
Speaker 1: falling and all that fun stuff, which is a logistical nightmare.
Speaker 1: And I remember in Super Bowl thirty eight, I handed
Speaker 1: him a ballot and I had written on it Tom
Speaker 1: Brady if New England wins, Jake Dilome if Carolina wins.
Speaker 1: I mean, because the game was going back and forth
Speaker 1: and it was going to be one of those two
Speaker 1: guys at that point. But you you know, you're just
Speaker 1: in that spot. I believe that they are able to
Speaker 1: harvest some of those votes electronically now, which speeds it
Speaker 1: up a little, but they still try to get this
Speaker 1: thing in before the gun and that's you know, tough
Speaker 1: because you know the pressure Aaron Donald put on late
Speaker 1: when Bengals had that last chance that decided that the
Speaker 1: run stop the sack. Yeah. Absolutely, And another part of this,
Speaker 1: I'll ask, do you think was there any you know,
Speaker 1: I mean, no one, no one wants to admit it,
Speaker 1: but do you think there is any kind of mindful
Speaker 1: influence the fact that maybe people felt like Cooper Cup,
Speaker 1: that's screwed out of m v P for the league year,
Speaker 1: you know, because he's a wide receiver because of you know,
Speaker 1: all that conversation coming out of NFL Honors and then
Speaker 1: you know, let's give it a Cooper possibly, I guess maybe. Uh,
Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to tell on a lot of
Speaker 1: that stuff because without knowing who's doing the voting, I
Speaker 1: mean it's usually a cast of characters doing the voting.
Speaker 1: Who is who have been around, who covered the teams involved,
Speaker 1: and or you know the longtime national writers who you
Speaker 1: know aren't as easily swayed on some of that stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's no shame in Cooper Cup. I mean,
Speaker 1: if you look back, I mean, he's a perfectly deserving recipient.
Speaker 1: I just wouldn't have voted for him. I would have
Speaker 1: gone the other direction and voted freer and Donald. I
Speaker 1: think buying large defensive players get jammed out of a
Speaker 1: lot of those things anyway. Um, and it's hard, but
Speaker 1: he was the guy I mean, and it's he's the
Speaker 1: one everything's built around. Everything is going to you know,
Speaker 1: the parts for were the rams in the future. You know,
Speaker 1: who knows what von Miller's future in l A is,
Speaker 1: how long he's going to be there. Who knows how
Speaker 1: long Odell Beckham if he's ever going to show up
Speaker 1: there again after the unfortunate knee injury, and he's going
Speaker 1: to be a free agent. You know who knows all
Speaker 1: these corollary parts. But Matt Stafford is gonna be there,
Speaker 1: and Aaron Donald is going to be there. And I
Speaker 1: think when you're putting together a defense, as long as
Speaker 1: you got Aaron Donald in them and love it, you're
Speaker 1: gonna have you got a chance to be really, really good.
Speaker 1: Because that guy is is crazy talented. He's matchup nightmare,
Speaker 1: especially for a Bengals offensive line that can't block anybody anyway.
Speaker 1: I mean, they only gave up seven sacks in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl, which is a lot by any measure, but
Speaker 1: it's too fewer than they gave up against Tennessee earlier
Speaker 1: in the playoffs. So God bless Joe Burrow for surviving.
Speaker 1: I hope he's I hope he's in the cold tub
Speaker 1: and then the hot tub and just relaxing, probably with
Speaker 1: a scar somewhere. So speaking of Los Angeles, speaking of
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl, you yourself were out there for something
Speaker 1: entirely different and much more important honestly, for for those
Speaker 1: here in the Carolinas. On Thursday night, Sam Mills selected
Speaker 1: to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Yeah, that was
Speaker 1: pretty neat and uh, it was quite a moment, and
Speaker 1: you could tell, Uh, we had the opportunity while we
Speaker 1: were out there, uh to visit with his widow, Melodie Mills,
Speaker 1: his son Sam Mills, the third longtime Panthers assistant coach,
Speaker 1: And you could tell they had been in this process
Speaker 1: for a long time and they had never you know,
Speaker 1: I've known people, you know, from being involved in the
Speaker 1: voting process forever ten years. You know, people get frustrated
Speaker 1: at times and wonder why not me? And this has
Speaker 1: taken too long? They never really expressed the frustration, So,
Speaker 1: I mean, it was just an overwhelming sense of gratitude
Speaker 1: from them that a guy whose legacy means so much
Speaker 1: to so many people was finally being recognized. And the
Speaker 1: family is fantastic. They're so humbled, they're so gracious, they're
Speaker 1: so you know, overwhelmed by the reaction, and and you know,
Speaker 1: it was kind of interesting when you get Usually this
Speaker 1: is a room full of large people, and especially this year.
Speaker 1: I love, as somebody voted on it, I love this
Speaker 1: year's class because it's not full of quarterbacks and it's
Speaker 1: not full of fantasy football guys. It's an offensive lineman.
Speaker 1: And Tony Boselli, who was the great left tackle of
Speaker 1: his generation, you know, who didn't get to play as
Speaker 1: long as other people did or would have wanted to
Speaker 1: because of a surgeon jacked up his shoulder, made a
Speaker 1: mistake during a surgery kept him from ever being the
Speaker 1: same guy again. Um, but was the dominant player. And
Speaker 1: then you come back with all defense with Sam Mills,
Speaker 1: with Bryant Young, a defensive tackle who was kind of
Speaker 1: not necessarily the Aaron Donald of his generation, but had
Speaker 1: a similar kind of impact. You can build a defense
Speaker 1: around that guy. In the forty Niners did well. Roy
Speaker 1: Butler the great Packers safety who invented the lamb boat
Speaker 1: leap um Richard Seymour, who played every position along the
Speaker 1: defensive line for those Belichick defenses in New England before
Speaker 1: he was traded to Oakland. I mean, he's just just
Speaker 1: a phenomenal class of guys who made impacts in ways
Speaker 1: it's hard to count. I mean, as a Hall of fame.
Speaker 1: I I think they get hung up sometimes all on
Speaker 1: on pass rushers because sacks are easy to count. You know, quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: big touchdown numbers, big uh passing yard numbers are easy
Speaker 1: to count. Receivers are a little bit of a quagmire
Speaker 1: right now because there are guys hung up in line
Speaker 1: because it's hard to separate between you know, three guys
Speaker 1: who once got more in this category, one's got more
Speaker 1: in this category. But the class as a whole, I
Speaker 1: mean it kind of it's full of character guys and
Speaker 1: grind guys. I mean, Tony Boselli burned brightly for a while,
Speaker 1: but the rest of these guys had long careers and
Speaker 1: were excellent over the long haul. And and that was
Speaker 1: Sam Mills. I mean I could and you know, because
Speaker 1: you've heard most of it, but I could jump up
Speaker 1: on this table and talk about Sam Mills for hours
Speaker 1: and hours. I mean, it's just to me the story
Speaker 1: of Sam Mills, I think overshadows sometimes how great he
Speaker 1: was at football. I mean, let's just start at the top.
Speaker 1: A five ft nine shop teacher from New Jersey who
Speaker 1: was a twenty seven year old NFL rookie is not
Speaker 1: supposed to go to a place in New Orleans where
Speaker 1: they've never ever won and create one of the great
Speaker 1: defenses in the NFL in his era at that time.
Speaker 1: And then at thirty six, he's especially not supposed to
Speaker 1: come to an expansion team and create one of the
Speaker 1: top defenses in the NFL right off the bat. You'll
Speaker 1: go to the NFC Championship game in their second year,
Speaker 1: and all these things that were never supposed to happen
Speaker 1: kept happening around Sam Mills. And when it happens for
Speaker 1: fifteen years, when you include the three seasons in the
Speaker 1: USFL where they created a thing out of whole cloth
Speaker 1: and he was the best if into player in a
Speaker 1: league that included Reggie White, all these things kept happening
Speaker 1: around Sam Mills. And after fifteen years, you realize it's
Speaker 1: because Sam Mills and so that's why it was. It
Speaker 1: was gratifying for me to be a small part of it,
Speaker 1: to you know, be there to see that family enjoy
Speaker 1: that moment. Because when Melanie is surrounded by all these
Speaker 1: giant people on stage, it's like, Okay, who is this
Speaker 1: small person? But from talking to those guys behind the scenes,
Speaker 1: talking to her and Sam after the fact, I mean
Speaker 1: those guys in the class, Young and Seymour and all
Speaker 1: of them and Sally, they really embraced her and they
Speaker 1: talked about what Sam meant to the game to her
Speaker 1: and Sam and they were just the emotion was clear,
Speaker 1: and talking to them after the fact, just being embraced
Speaker 1: by those guys really made a huge difference for the family.
Speaker 1: And you got to, you know, as you said, you
Speaker 1: got to speak to Sam the Third and Melanie um
Speaker 1: that the next day, and let's take a quick listen
Speaker 1: to just some of the emotions in their voice and
Speaker 1: and some of the things they had to say about
Speaker 1: that night. We're in Los Angeles with a crowd that
Speaker 1: could maybe use a little more sleep, but a very
Speaker 1: happy and proud family. Welcome to the Mills family, Melanie Mills,
Speaker 1: Samuel's the Third, Thanks for taking a minute to join us.
Speaker 1: Just tell me what the last twenty four hours have
Speaker 1: been like hearing the words Hall of Famer Sam Mills.
Speaker 1: Absolutely well, it's been phenomenal for our family to experience
Speaker 1: this great accolade for our beloved Sam. Great to see
Speaker 1: the game acknowledge him and for all he's put into it. Um.
Speaker 1: He loved this game, and it's good to see the
Speaker 1: game give back to him and him being with that
Speaker 1: elite class. Now, when you hear the other players talk
Speaker 1: about him, what are the messages you're hearing from the
Speaker 1: other guys in the hall? You know, kind of his
Speaker 1: peers now when they when they talk about him, they
Speaker 1: talk a lot about his leadership and its toughness. And
Speaker 1: then when they talk about the Hall, they're talking about
Speaker 1: a brotherhood, you know, a fellowship that they're gonna have
Speaker 1: that's gonna last forever. And you'll ask some more guys,
Speaker 1: but it's a very you know, unique and elite group.
Speaker 1: The reaction back in Charlotte, it's been phenomenal. I mean,
Speaker 1: he touched so many people across the Carolinas. When you
Speaker 1: realize that impact he had in Charlotte, what does it
Speaker 1: make you think of now? While we were there from
Speaker 1: the beginning, to see the team advanced this far, to
Speaker 1: just see that the fans still love Sam, that that
Speaker 1: statue is still there, that we can go visit him
Speaker 1: when we miss them. Uh, it's great and I look
Speaker 1: forward to experiences in their happiness as well. If you
Speaker 1: had to just pick one word or one memory, what
Speaker 1: stands out to you the most about Sam, That's a
Speaker 1: tough one, but honorable. Yeah, I'd go with that. And um,
Speaker 1: I also think you know pator Nation in the Carolinas,
Speaker 1: both the Carolinas, I think that keep pounding mantra. You know,
Speaker 1: it really embodies the spirit of him, and um, the
Speaker 1: town is taking it on and they believe it in
Speaker 1: and it's in their blood. And so are you. People
Speaker 1: that your family is in a lot of hearts across
Speaker 1: the Carolina and it and a lot of people are
Speaker 1: very happy for you this week and dare in our
Speaker 1: hearts as well. That video is on Panthers dot com.
Speaker 1: You you know the story kind of about the way
Speaker 1: that they described it. One of the things that I
Speaker 1: think I took out of it was that Sam the
Speaker 1: third his first thing which he came back to sit down,
Speaker 1: was that video where's the Panthers stuff? You know, you know,
Speaker 1: and and God bless him. I mean, NFL networks trying
Speaker 1: to put together a show and how do you encapsulate
Speaker 1: a Hall of Fame career in fifteen seconds of video clips?
Speaker 1: And I think probably because Ricky Jackson, his old Saints teammate,
Speaker 1: was the one UM introduced him, and because Sam played
Speaker 1: nine years in UM New Orleans before he played three
Speaker 1: years here and then another six coaching UM. I think
Speaker 1: it was kind of it just kind of got lost,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure some junior staff at NFL Network was
Speaker 1: just throwing together highlights into like this looks good, this
Speaker 1: looks good. Boom boom boom, and that's it. It's fifteen
Speaker 1: seconds of video. But it was all Saints highlights. And
Speaker 1: there were a lot of people in that room who
Speaker 1: were like, wait, something's missing. And Sam the third was
Speaker 1: he was he was so funny about that. He is UM.
Speaker 1: You know, obviously they're very protective over their father's legacy.
Speaker 1: The New Orleans are meant a lot to them, but
Speaker 1: you could tell, I mean, Charlotte's got a special place
Speaker 1: in their heart. And Sam was an assistant here, you know,
Speaker 1: he was on staff here for so long, right, and Sam,
Speaker 1: you know, it's always awkward when someone is someplace for
Speaker 1: a long time and then he isn't. But Sam just
Speaker 1: kind of he was like, listen, I get it. There's
Speaker 1: no hard feelings. I was part of the staff that
Speaker 1: was here for a long time. Staff's change when head
Speaker 1: coaches leave, their assistants leave, and so he gets it
Speaker 1: and they understand it. But they've still got a lot
Speaker 1: of ties to this area and they are always going
Speaker 1: to be tied to this area, I think for a
Speaker 1: lot of reasons. But it, uh, it was a neat deal.
Speaker 1: And Sam kind of laughed, but he was like, where
Speaker 1: the Panthers highlights? And you know, I know, and I've
Speaker 1: already heard from some fans. One of the things I
Speaker 1: wrote Thursday night, right after the announcement, while was really
Speaker 1: for the Panthers. This is kind of the first of hours,
Speaker 1: so to speak. I mean, one of us is finally
Speaker 1: in the Hall of Fame. You know, there were guys
Speaker 1: who have passed through. Kevin Green played three seasons here,
Speaker 1: but he also played seven for the Rams and three
Speaker 1: for the Steelers and a season for the forty niners
Speaker 1: and was kind of all over the map and Bill
Speaker 1: Polian was here and put together that first team, but
Speaker 1: he was also the guy drafted Peyton Manning and put
Speaker 1: the Bills together. Um, Mike McCormick, the very first team president,
Speaker 1: was a Hall of Famer when he was hired. So
Speaker 1: there have been guys. You know, Donnie Shell worked here
Speaker 1: in a support role, but Donny shells a Steelers guys,
Speaker 1: so there there wasn't really a Panthers guy and a
Speaker 1: lot of and a lot of Saints fan like, listen, y'all,
Speaker 1: there's listen y'all. There's enough of Sam Mills for us
Speaker 1: to share. And I thought Jim Porter, the Hall President,
Speaker 1: said it best. He was like, listen to somebody with
Speaker 1: a heart as big as Sam Mills. There's enough of
Speaker 1: that to go around. And I think Saints fans can
Speaker 1: celebrate it. I think Panthers fans can should and will
Speaker 1: celebrate it. And it's gonna be really cool. It's gonna
Speaker 1: be a neat five months leading up to August. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so some of the details about that I think I
Speaker 1: saw on NFL dot com is in August five six
Speaker 1: is around there. First weekend in August is going to
Speaker 1: be the entrinement there'll be an announcement later on Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame game which teams are involved. Don't know any
Speaker 1: of the details on that yet, but it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a it's gonna be a cool deal. There's not you know,
Speaker 1: sam not being there takes away some of kind of
Speaker 1: there's not that speech and so many of those Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame speech has become a legendary, And God, could
Speaker 1: you imagine what Sam Ells would say if he was
Speaker 1: on that stage. I mean, this guy, you know, created
Speaker 1: this emotional wave for an entire football team, which became
Speaker 1: a mantra for an entire city, in an entire region
Speaker 1: before a football game. Could you imagine what he would
Speaker 1: say is he was going into the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: I think it would be fantas aastic for football, for
Speaker 1: the hall um. But I think the words he left
Speaker 1: behind and and the family and what they'll be able
Speaker 1: to put together to kind of honor his memory is
Speaker 1: going to be super neat. And as they put together
Speaker 1: their stories, we wanted to kind of prime the pump
Speaker 1: a little bit. We've already received just off Twitter, on
Speaker 1: the on the website, things that you've heard already, you know,
Speaker 1: fans around this region fans that have been here for
Speaker 1: a while, you know, the stories they have that personally
Speaker 1: touched them about Sam. And as we get going into
Speaker 1: the spring, that's something we're going to try to build around.
Speaker 1: From your perspective, you're the listener, we want you to
Speaker 1: think of your stories. You know, what, what moment did
Speaker 1: you have at a driving range that you know, Sam
Speaker 1: rolls up and asked for some help on his slice.
Speaker 1: You know that we've already heard that. You know, like,
Speaker 1: what are the things that you had with Sam Mills
Speaker 1: that impacted you? You know, maybe just something about key
Speaker 1: pounding that impacted the way that you saw your life,
Speaker 1: your future, your connection to this community. That's something we're
Speaker 1: gonna be we're working on for Panthers dot com. Obviously
Speaker 1: you'll uh stay tuned to that Darren's Twitter. Um, we'll
Speaker 1: be putting that out further the spring. But yeah, we
Speaker 1: just want your your stories, your feedback of you know,
Speaker 1: how did this man impact your life? And and I
Speaker 1: imagine we're going to get a good response to that
Speaker 1: because he is a guy who did touch so many people. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, just in the stuff in writing the stories
Speaker 1: leading up to it. Going into the selection meeting, which
Speaker 1: was in mid January. I wrote a piece and talked
Speaker 1: to Steve Smith and Dan Morgan and Thomas Davis and
Speaker 1: you know several other guys. Luke Keikley Um talking to
Speaker 1: Brett Maxie last week, I mean, just the people who
Speaker 1: were near him. It's hard for them to describe sometimes
Speaker 1: exactly what Sam meant because he was he was so
Speaker 1: central to everything that was happening here. And listening to
Speaker 1: Steve Smith talk about how Sam's words impacted him not
Speaker 1: only as a football player but as a father. Listening
Speaker 1: to Brett Maxie tell a story and you know, Brett
Speaker 1: and I were able to laugh last week. I mean
Speaker 1: I remember him telling the story at Sam's memorial service,
Speaker 1: which was here in Charlotte. Um, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: laughing because Sam was a good sport. And when Sam retired,
Speaker 1: he said, I don't know if I want to coach.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna get an insurance And I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you look like an insurance agent with your little glasses
Speaker 1: and your little sweater, and you know, everything was kind
Speaker 1: of teasing him. But Sam was a fantastic sport, but
Speaker 1: just didn't Talking to Brett, I mean, he told me
Speaker 1: he's like, I don't know what it's going to feel like.
Speaker 1: I can't imagine what it's going to be like to
Speaker 1: hear those words, you know, into for him to get
Speaker 1: that recognition. I mean, it means so much to all
Speaker 1: the people he touched for so long. Yeah, man, tough
Speaker 1: to to move away from that at this point. But Yeah, anyway,
Speaker 1: we're wrapping up the Happy Half Hour, and that's Will's
Speaker 1: way of saying, Darren's got a lot more Darren's gonna
Speaker 1: be talking about. Yeah, I mean we're going to be
Speaker 1: the Happy Hour and a half honestly the ore programming
Speaker 1: schedule for for those of you, you know, checking your calendars.
Speaker 1: We're looking ahead. We've got the Combine coming up in
Speaker 1: a couple of weeks. After that, we'll probably will have
Speaker 1: another podcast here to kind of wrap up Darren. You
Speaker 1: will be in Indianapolis, hopefully some really great insider info
Speaker 1: with general manager Scott Fither up there. Yeah, well, we'll
Speaker 1: see those guys will be up there, you know. Unlike
Speaker 1: the Senior Bowl where we came back from the other week,
Speaker 1: I mean, uh, that was primarily a scouting opportunity. Combines
Speaker 1: the place where coaching staffs get a little more involved,
Speaker 1: and those guys get a chance to meet face to
Speaker 1: face with a lot of these prospects, and that's a
Speaker 1: big part of it. I mean, we get hung up
Speaker 1: on the televised portion of the combine and forty yard
Speaker 1: dashes and drills and how this guy is throwing and
Speaker 1: all that kind of stuff. Um, that's all well and good,
Speaker 1: but most of the guts of it is the medical test,
Speaker 1: meeting these guys, talking to him, getting to know him,
Speaker 1: and and we'll have plenty of content from the combine
Speaker 1: on Panthers dot com, so stay tuned for all that.
Speaker 1: And that is also kind of the kickoff to the
Speaker 1: free agencies. And as you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff going on here. The Panthers got a lot of
Speaker 1: dudes about to hit that market, whether it's Dante Jackson's
Speaker 1: to find Gilmore Hassan Reddick. A lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of questions to answer in the next couple of weeks
Speaker 1: and we'll be all over Darren. Finally, for those that
Speaker 1: follow you on Twitter, uh, they know that the Darren
Speaker 1: Gant Twitter account can range almost almost drastically at times
Speaker 1: into you know, I enjoy it because I get to
Speaker 1: kind of hear it and see it every day for
Speaker 1: those that maybe aren't around there, and it can I
Speaker 1: I do. I live it. You know, they're not exactly
Speaker 1: sure where some of these tweets come from. Darren, just
Speaker 1: to kind of give a shout out to what else
Speaker 1: is happening in this building. And the next couple of
Speaker 1: weeks we're gonna be kicking off MLS franchise here, are
Speaker 1: you gonna be tweeting about soccer? I you have thoughts.
Speaker 1: I have thoughts about soccer. Um, Yeah, I have thoughts
Speaker 1: about soccer. I'm curious to see it. I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see the reaction and and one of the things
Speaker 1: that I think is gonna be neat for me. Um
Speaker 1: having been around Charlotte for a couple of expansion teams now,
Speaker 1: whether it was the Hornets, whether it was the Panthers,
Speaker 1: seeing the reaction in the late eighties to the Hornets teams,
Speaker 1: which and those teams were bad right off the bat,
Speaker 1: but people loved them anyway. And I remember being a
Speaker 1: part of twenty three thousand people screaming their lungs out
Speaker 1: on Tyvola Road, being here in nine and going down
Speaker 1: to Clemson and seeing games down there, and people who
Speaker 1: didn't really know how to respond to the NFL just
Speaker 1: wrapped their arms around it. I think it's gonna be
Speaker 1: a fantastic environment. I'm looking forward to it. I think
Speaker 1: it's going to be neat seeing this thing put together.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people in Charlotte really I
Speaker 1: think the soccer community is probably a lot were familiar
Speaker 1: with international you know, soccer World Cups in the English League,
Speaker 1: that kind of thing, as opposed to the MLS. But
Speaker 1: I think is this marketplace grows, my suspicion is there
Speaker 1: is going to be that core of grassroots support that's
Speaker 1: just gonna be all over this thing. Win, loser, drawal
Speaker 1: and draws a thing. Remember draws allowed and sometimes positive.
Speaker 1: So yeah, you get a point for a draw, you
Speaker 1: get a point for that. It's gonna be neat. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That crowd down in Charleston last week for their first exhibition,
Speaker 1: the Carolina Cup, I think it's called. I mean, incredible
Speaker 1: group that went down there, you know. I I am
Speaker 1: looking forward to kind of just the energy. There's a
Speaker 1: diversity about it, you know, young, old, black, white, Hispanic. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that's going to bring a really great vibe
Speaker 1: into the stadium, right and you know my rule, whether
Speaker 1: it's a concert, whether it's a ballgame, whatever it is,
Speaker 1: if you've got thirty forty fifty sixty seventy thousand people
Speaker 1: in a building to see the same thing, that's gonna
Speaker 1: be pretty cool. Probably, But because there's an energy in
Speaker 1: the collective that you just can't replicate watching something on
Speaker 1: on TV. So I think it's going to be fantastic.
Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to being here. You go to Charlotte
Speaker 1: Football Club dot com to get all the information on tickets, schedule,
Speaker 1: all that good stuff. Thanks Daren, has been a great podcast.
Speaker 1: Thanks for letting me come back. I was worried there
Speaker 1: for a second. Absolutely, we you know, we like Brad,
Speaker 1: we appreciate brad um, but you're too centers happy half
Speaker 1: our Thanks. We'll wait till Jonvan Stewart kicks me off
Speaker 1: in Yeah, do that