Happy Half Hour Episode 37: Draft Stories (ft. Darin Gantt)

and we have secured. When I talk about an A plus guest, it doesn't get much better than this. Am I right, Well, years of NFL insider experience, there's nothing like him. You think that, you think that schefter is the one breaking news, and I will say hard to get a hold of. We share an office sometimes. I bet I've asked. You know, the digits always got something going on. We're just kidding. No one is no one is friendly, or no one is nicer. But I was

not kidding about this being an A plus guest. Darren Gant, the Panthers writer, I mean, I just saw you a few minutes ago, but it's good to see you again with the headphones on the mic in front of your face. Which, it's good to be here. It's good to finally be invited to be here. I mean, frankly, my feelings were a little hurt that I hadn't been invited until now. But now it's good. You're so busy doing all the other Charlotte media. Yeah, it's it's a real jam pack schedule. No, gosh, No,

it's good to be here. This is cool. It's it's this is one of the cool little places in the stadium that a lot of people don't get to see. And it's like it's our neat, little hidy hole where we can just come and talk about stuff. It's very it's a very soothing place the podcast and radio studio. Uh, it's it's really nice. Yeah, I'll always like coming in here. Um, alright, so it's draft week. We're going to talk a lot about let's let's football. Indeed, talk a lot about that

over the course of this episode. But Darren, Look, nobody knows more than Darren. Nobody is found in the pavement, walk in the halls more than Darren. So what are you hearing? What are you thinking about? What the Panthers are gonna do in the draft on on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Well and the one thing. And we'll have more about this later this week at Panthers dot com. There it is, um. I think it's interesting they went through very deliberately this offseason trying to check off as

many boxes as they could. They probably would have needed a pass rusher, except you go sign a Hassan Reddick. You know, you needed some clarity at quarterback, you make the Sam Donald deal. You needed to fill in blanks on the offensive line. They went at Boom boom Boom. Signed three guys pretty early in the process, and they've added guys at every layer. They filled in At cornerback, I think k J. Booie has the potential to be

a really good piece of business. Uh, cornerback still something they're going to be looking at early, I think in this process this weekend. But if you didn't sign J. Booie, then it's oh my god, we gotta take you know, then you get pinned into that Dave Getlman positional disaster thing where you have to take and everybody in the world knows you have to take a thing. And I think you can make a reasonable case, and we kind

of did this last week on the website. They're about four different, five different options that you could say, yeah, that makes sense. I mean, obviously, I think they'd like to draft an offensive tackle. If a sul's there at eight, I think he's a run don't walk to the podium guy. You just do that without asking any questions or giving anybody a chance. And it's like they're on the clock. They're off the clock. Yeah, I mean, and that's the way it was when they drafted Jordan Gross. There was

a weird thing literally ran. Yeah, there was a weird thing where the Vikings actually passed and their time expired and Jackie Miles was literally running to the podium. It's like, yep, Jordan's our guy. We talked about that on the Draft show last year. Jordan was one of the hosts. Yeah, of those situations, but yeah, they It could also be corner, it could also be wide receiver, depending on what a

couple of teams do in front of him. I think they've got some interesting options depending on what they want to do and how it follows in front of them. How are you feeling about Scott Fitterer. I mean, I think everyone was impressed. Certainly if you look at all the Twitter replies, the memes that were coming out of free agency were incredible, the memes and the gifts of

what Fitterer is doing in free agency. But but Darren, you and I have gotten to spend some time with him, and I just you know, we said this with Rule last year too. It's like, you know, the first draft and just unfazed. He's ready to go. I mean, he succeeded so much in Seattle, um known for trading back, and it feels like he's he's ready. You know. I think Scott's an interesting guy for a lot of reasons. One of the things kind of caught my eye when

he was at the b y U pro day. He goes out to look at Zach Wilson, who they're not going to have an opportunity because he will go second. But while he was out there, they end up signing anotherwide receiver. And if you look at the pictures from that pro day, when people are running forties, who's sitting right on the forty yard line with a stop watch in his hand. Scott Fitter. Scott Fitter is a he's

a road guy. He's an old scout at heart. He wants to be out there clocking guys himself, making notes on his clipboard, you know, doing all the old scout stuff. I mean, that's how he grew up in the business. He told and other people told me stories about him growing up in the business. When he was with the Giants,

they used to have this thing called the box. And the box was this big, heavy thing that young scouts had to carry around and it had instruments and it was basically a thing guys had to run back and forth and touch these pressure pads to measure lateral quickness stuff like that. But it was this huge honking box that he had to carry around. Scott Fitter secretly loved carrying the box. That's the kind of guy he is. He's that road scout. He wants to be out there.

So that's why this process has been so weird, because he can't be everywhere he wants to be because you can only send three people to any pro day. So

they dropped it up amongst him. Scouts position coaches will be at certain places, and you know, I think it will be interesting to see how Scott grows into that role and starts, you know, this is the weekend coming up when he's really going to be great at on stuff because nail in those first round picks is something I think people took for granted for a long time around here under Marty hernie Um. Say whatever you want about the rest of drafts or whatever, but that's a

lot of pressure on Scott. You know, you've got the eighth pick, make it count because usually they do around here well, and as you said, it's it's not just that eighth pick, but then you got to nail those other ones too down the list. It's yeah, and it's going to be important. I think, you know, looking at last year's draft, I mean, yes, I think Derrick Brown is going to be a big time player for a

long time to come. But then to come back with Jeremy Chen, it's like, whoa, all of a sudden, this is looking like a really good drip and n once he got it. But you know, he struggled with some injuries throughout the season but really had to step up as that line um was depleted, you know, further and further down the season. So yeah, last year, last year was a good draft. We're gonna see what happens this year.

And you know, talking about that less less exposure to some of these guys, you know, where does that really make the impact across the league? Is it with the fourth, fifth, sixth round picks, Because it's even harder to get to some of the smaller schools or guys that maybe you don't have more access to, no question, And as a matter of fact, we just published a story about this very topic at Panthers dot com. That's sound together. Um yeah, they are going to be They will draft someone this

weekend they've never spoken to in person. I mean, and you can say what you want about watching film and that's the most important thing. But Matt talked about the importance of getting to know what these guys are like as people and trying to get inside somebody's head over a zoom call. As you guys know, for all the you know, teams meetings we have and stuff like that, it's kind of hard to figure out, you know, what you're looking at sometimes much less someone's intent beyond their words.

So I think it's gonna be tough. And when you get down in fourth the sixth round, um yeah, you're gonna be watching a guy that you basically have maybe not even talked to. But you've watched a lot of film, You've got the measurements on him and that kind of stuff, and that's gonna be tricky. I mean this, this year's draft is gonna be so dodgy in a sense because

of so many situations like that. I think there's an opportunity for people to really miss big because you don't know because you've never talked to this guy or have any kind of relationship. And talking to some of the scouts too, it's you know, not only the combine, which we didn't touch on so last year, for everything that was going on, the combines still happened and they were still able to get those those forty times you know, we're they're clocking them and and all of that and

everything that comes along with the combine. But also some of the scouts have pointed out that when you're watching film, you know, not everyone played complete seasons. Some guys either opted out, some teams, a lot of teams did not play um full seasons because of everything going on. So they're watching tape from two years ago, you know, So it's all going to be it's all going to be very interesting. Um, but I have to ask you, Darren. So you've you've done two plugs for the website. Um,

we'll set you up on the last one. So what's it like working with Will? Oh? Will's the best, the best. Wills like the young wizard behind the curtain. Now do everything does? It's easy to do my part. I just talked to people in right words. Will. It's the guy who has to make them look pretty and make them appear on the internet. And that's the part that kind of Will's taking so many calls from me, like what does that button do? I would not know? How do I make this a thing that exists in the world?

And Will's very patient, very calm. It's like talking to your parents, you know, trying to explain the iPhone deep Mom and dad. Darren's being overly humble. But Will is the best, that Will is really good at what he does. I couldn't do what I do without him. So I have a question for you guys. Since we talked about how matt Rule likes to get to know these guys over zoom, he plays the Desert Island song game or band game. If his choices Dave Matthews, who would y'alls

be beatles? You know that already. I'm torn on this one because you've got to think about a lot of time. Somebody's gonna have to have a lot of material or you're gonna get really sick of listening to him. Um, I go back and forth. It would probably be either led Zeppelin or Johnny Cash and that's just kind of I mean, it's it's very different. You've got to have somebody who can sing rock and roll songs and also things you can chill out and listen to. And led

Zeppelin's like that. M That's what my husband would say. We get into that all the time about the He's like, he says the same thing. He's like, that's why its led Zeppel. I'm like, that's why it's the Beatle. I don't know what. Well, what's yours? Um, I mean, I'm gonna get slamed for this one too. I'd go with you too, just because you have forty years worth of stuff and you can go from like really emotional to like just really just you know, a banger. You know,

that's that's just fun. Matt, you got one. Uh, it's probably either Young the Giant or twenty one Pilots. I like those two. Okay, like it. All right, Darren, I know you're a busy guy. We're gonna let you out of here, yes to write your next incredible article. But before you do, I want to ask you give us

give us a Darren story about the draft. So for anyone who doesn't know, and I don't know why they wouldn't know this, but just in case there's one or two people out there, how long have you been covering the Panthers in some capacity? All of them, all of the years of recorded time. Um no, I was helping out covering in ninety five, I mean the first year. Wasn't doing it full time until ninety seven. But been around a long time. It's took a little break there

to go work for a now sational website. But I'm back now. And but we'll walk out to the practice field and Darren will tell me a story that happened. You know, He's like, this is when the strength coach jumped the fence, when the apartments John Fox's first meeting. Just walk anywhere with Darren and he has an incredible story. Well, and I mean honestly, two thousand two, John Fox's first

meeting camp. All the reporters were sitting on the hill opposite the apartments across Cedar Street, and we see smoke, and all these people who were trained to observe things and then respond to them and describe them, set and watch these buildings burned for a good minute, and somebody said, you know, we should probably call the fire department, and so then we all started calling nine one one on

these new things we had then called cell phones. Um, I think mine was a black berry at that time, but yeah, I mean Jerry Simmons, who was a strength that time, actually jumped to the fence, tore his hand open, I'm a wire over the top of the fence and ended up mule kicking down a door and helping save a guy who was asleep in a burning building. How cool is that? And so we were out there watching

football practice and that happened. Yeah. Raft that, oh draft weekend, Well, I mean it's really covering a draft from inside the stadiums one of the most glamorous things you can imagine. You spend the weekend down in the bunker. They wheel catered food in occasionally, and it's you know, the lineup to traw feat the free food, and then you sit and you wait and you talk and back. I remember this was back in the nineties. This was very early

newspaper career for me. Another one of our co workers, David Monroe, would always come down and there was a speaker phone in the middle of the press room, and when they draft a guy, they'd call him on the speaker phone, put him on speaker all the reporters talked to him. Well, Monroe came down with a phone number of this guy they just drafted written on a little card, and he'd come down into the room and dial it.

And so I was an enterprising young reporter and I just stood over Monroe's shoulder and watched what he dialed and wrote it down in my notebook. Makes all the sense to me. That way, I had that guy's phone number, and and at a certain point in the day. That was back when the draft was rounds one through three on the first day and then four through seven on the second. At a certain point later in that draft, maybe about the third round, another one of our coworkers,

Bruce Spit, caught me. He's at PR. Just to give context, Team PR. Bruce Spait the Hammer caught me and on day two of that draft, they started calling guys upstairs and transferring him down to the speaker phone in the press room. I ruined it for that. Will not peak Darren and Pete Bruce. Oh completely, It's it's protect Bruce, protecting Bruce, protecting the new guys, and Darren finding a new and different way to get into contact. I love it, Darren. This is yeah, this is this is this is so

much fun. I wish you had invited me sooner. No, I'm just this is good. I'll come back. Will you come back? It's happy happy next time like happy, all right, We're gonna take you up on that next Okay, all right, thanks Darren. Mr Jenkins told me. Mr Jenkins told me. Mr Jenkis told me to always make it easy for the customer. That's you alive person will always be here to answer the phone. We're here till midnight, seven days a week, so you never have to take off work.

And it's the same price as in the daytime. We're the ones you want to call. We're the ones you want to call. We're the ones you want to call. You're gonna love these people. I guarantee. Got to Morris Jenkins dot com, welcome back to the Happy half Hour. It is always great to have the incomparable Darren Gant with us. Really really enjoyed that. Here on the Happy Half Hour podcast presented by Morris Jenkins and Will Mr Jenkins told me that the Panthers make him proud and

he's honored to support the team. When you're plumb, her air conditioning is acting up, called Morris Jenkins or visit Morris Jenkins dot com. All right, well it is time we heard some we heard some draft stories from from Darren. It's hard to compete with Darren, it is. It's hard to compete with Darren. Darren is an and master storyteller. But I think if anyone can compete with Darren, it

will be you. Because I have heard little teases, as we say in the biz, about some of your past experiences on draft night, and I need to hear the whole story in honor of Draft week, I need to hear about a couple of these past ridiculous stories from a few years back. Yeah. So this is I mean, this really is one of my favorite weeks of the year because yeah, there's just so much going on. Um, this represents my work anniversary I think four years ago,

five years ago. Now you started the week of the draft. Yes, that's why this is so incredible. So literally my first weekend, we had a meeting of UM at that point, a smaller digital team in one where we were trying for the first time to get actual footage of our draft pick. And it was going to be in Philadelphia. Gonna what year, Piladelphia, Philadelphia. The year is two thousand seventeen, and so we're going

down the list of potential prospects. We were picking eighth, just like this year UM in the first round, and you know a number of them were going to be in Philadelphia, but one prospect that was a potential for us was going to be watching it from his house in h Castle Rock, Colorado, right south from Denver UM. And that was Christian McCaffrey. Never heard of him, never heard So at this point, again we had a very

small team. We were going to send most of our our assets to Philly, and they're like, well, what if what if we were to take Christian then we wouldn't have any video, we wouldn't have any pictures. You know, he's out in Colorado. And everyone kind of looked at me, and I was working in the PR team at this point, but I had in a previous job, had camera work, had done all this stuff, and they're like, well, go

to Colorado and this is what day two. Yeah, day two of the Yeah, I'm like, Okay, that's awesome, this is cool. So you know, I had seen like the meme of him at Stanford with like the guy yelling in the back. But I'm like looking him up on the plane like out to Colorado to like get to know more at um um Okay, but that's he was a Heisman finalist, though it's on the West Coast. I covered college football during that time, and it's I mean, gosh, he was incredible. But yes, the games were very late.

I've lived in l A at that time, and I truly feel like, I don't know if I can say this, if this is a hot take, truly feel like if if his games were played on the East Coast, I think he would have been the Heisman winner. I'm just saying, all right, proceed with your story. All right, So I'm flying out day of the first round the draft Thursday morning. Um, the way we set it up, his agent knew that there's potential for for someone to be there from the

digital team. But you know, didn't didn't tell anyone more than that, And I just want to be clear just in case anyone doesn't know. I love the behind the scenes stuff. As you said, the digital team, you don't know that that it's going to be Christian McCaffrey. As you said, everyone is setting up for different eventualities. But of course you know those conversations were had ahead of time.

The media is talking about it. So he's in play as one of the chop picks, and that's why you're there, But you don't know that that he is going to be the pants. I just want to any camera in Philadelphia ready for potentially Leonard four net if that would have happened. Um, So this was just he was He wasn't going to be in Philly, so we needed to cover this base. And his agent is aware that one of the potential teams and maybe some other ones who knows,

you know, would be around to get footage. So even saying that though, it was go to his house and sit on the street until we know, you know, don't you don't go in there. You were sitting outside. We were sitting outside a SBI steak out. Oh yeah. And the best part was so I had the address when we I pulled up. Of course it's a gated community, and I'm like, wait a minute, no one knows I'm coming.

How do I get in? And so thankfully I was like wearing a suit, I had like all my gear and stuff in the car, and I was thinking, like, in the moment, I bet like ESPN or some other camera crews are probably already here, you know, to do like remote stuff with him. So I'm sure that they're used to just people coming in. I'm like, yes, I'm with the NFL here for Christian McCaffrey. And they're like, oh, come on through, come on through. I feel like that's

a breach of security. I hope they've tightened things up. Yeah. So I just just talked my way in and parked at the end of the street. There are tons of cars like lined up all the way down the street, and so I'm just sitting there trying to follow the draft on my phone. There are several picks away, you know, just you know, looking at it on Twitter, and then the pick before the Panthers goes and it's not Christian, and I get a text like go go Go Go, and and does go Go Go me and like get

into the house. Yeah. So I'm running down the street with a camera bag on one shoulder. No. Yeah, because if there's cameras all over I mean, if there's cars all over the street, you didn't have a prime parking spot. No, I'm I'm like a quarter of you're doing your own for dash in a suit in a suit one one bag of Panthers draft hats that they gave me, like thirty draft pack need oh for the whole family. Yeah, oh yeah, completely, And then the other was like camera equipment.

So I get up to the door and you know this again, I'm four or five days on the job and uh ring the doorbell. Nothing ring it again. I think they were a little busy. Yeah. Well, so then I'm texting my contact who's back here. He's not answering the door, and all of a sudden, I hear the scream inside the house and I'm like, oh, my gosh, I just missed it. He just got drafted and I

missed it. And of course, what I didn't realize was that in this process, typically the teams will call the person they're going to draft before it gets announced on NFL network in espn uh to to talk to him to say, hey, we're going to draft you. Congrats, welcome to the team. You're about to see it on TV in three minutes or whatever. So that's what that call was. They were all screaming because they saw the Charlotte area code on his phone. Um. And so then I'm texting.

I think they just called him or they all just screamed. I still can't get in the door. And I get this text back to hold on. My stomach would have dropped if you because you're like, that's what I'm here for my fourth day on the job. And so then all of a sudden, I just see the silhouette come towards the door, and I'm like, oh my gosh. And of course Christian opens the door on the phone and he's like he opens the door. He opens the door, and he goes hello, and I pull out a hat

Welcome to the Caroline of Panthers. So you didn't have you ever talked about this with him? Uh? Yeah? I mean like that that year we still joked about it from his perspective, or least so. And then he just kind of like looks at me like okay, and he's on the phone with the general manager for at that point was Dave Gentleman. And so then he just kind of keeps walking and then I've come in and there's some stranger at his door with a bunch of draft hats.

I've got thirty draft hats. It's just like, where did he come from? So then I walk in and kind of start following him, and then uh, Lisa McCaffrey's mom comes up to me, and she starts asking questions, and so I tried to be you know, as vague but also as you know, helpful as possible. You know, hey, you know we've got people everywhere. This was you know, we were just covering all our bases, and you know, she didn't know that you were no but you know, I mean by this point, the cat's a little bit

out of the bag. And so then I'm trying to but that is strange. That is strange though, whereas like if you're his mom and and and Lisa is amazing, but you're his mom, and all of a sudden he gets like the biggest phone call of his life, and then all of a sudden that there is a person that you have never seen before reading your doorbell with thirty draft hats, like oh yeah. So then so then she's like, well, do you want some food? Do you

want some dinner? We have all this spread over here, and I'm like, well, I think I'm gonna trying to record this as we're about to it's about to be picked on TV. Thomas Davis is about to make the pick. She's like, oh, that's great. Um, I'm like, I had do have thirty draft hats and she's like, oh my gosh. So she starts handing out draft hats to everyone's So yeah.

I get the video on my phone of of everyone celebrating and she was standing right next to me, and course Christian comes right over right up to the phone um or like right in the frame of the phone to hug her with his hat on, and its incredible um. And then they went outside, uh, and they did were doing a hit for ESPN on the remote and before he started, you know, they had like the stage lights

and everything kind of set up in the back. And I asked him, um, hey, do you mind if I take a quick picture for our social channels, so then I'll show you this real quick. That picture that I took on my phone became the most shared picture of all thirty two teams on draft night of week one or of the first night of the draft. Oh yeah, I know that that's a good picture for everyone. This is a podcast, so I know that's not great um podcasting,

But you could just google Google. You know, Christian McCaffrey draft night, it's the picture that you see of him sitting on a couch the Panthers had on is Will's picture that came out of that from my phone. Ye got to say, I was laughing at just like the improbability of it all. But you did a great job, Like that's incredible that that was your fourth day. You go in completely unannounced, show up, talk your way into a gated community and and get all of this content

like what I mean? But what do is like the week after? It looks like so then you're like, all right, so where else you guys need me to go? I get a flight back the next day and I get here, um in the McCaffrey's flight, and we were like two hours behind me flying back from Colorado. And so typically, you know, in the pre pandemic times, you know, the first round pick comes to the locker room and meets everybody in person and does all this. So we're all

kind of down there welcoming him. Um and uh. Coach Ron Rivera was talking to his parents kind on the other side, and I'm kind of near them, and all of a sudden his mom pipes up, Will, how are you doing? And of course Coach Rivera doesn't know who I am on four days on the job, and she's like, He's like, who's that? How do you know him? Oh? That's Will. He was signing in our bushes yesterday. Wait, why would why why would she say you were hiding in the bushes? I don't know, because she did you

hide in the bushes? Now, I was never actually in a bush, but she yeah. So then I've always became that guy for the first two years of working here. Whenever Ron Rivera saw me, he asked whose bushes I was over the weekend. That's awesome, what a what a great way to start. So that's any other draft stores

so that that's the big one. The next year didn't go nearly as well as planned, because again we're still now we've got people everywhere, you know, like in over the past couple of years, we've been able to get video people from the colleges that these guys worked with, you know, we have freelancers. Um. But the next year was still kind of you know, Will has camera, will travel.

I mean, you did such a great job of it last year, and so I'm sure that they were like, all right, we gotta get Will back out there, right, Except this time it didn't work out because the prospect that I went to go with was not the one that we ended up picking. Um. And this time around, rather than hiding out in the bushes, they just had they had a huge barbecue at a park in Florida

and it was just tons of people. You know. I was there next to uh like the local video from like news, NFL Network, ESPN, like just they were like twenty of us. Um. But I guess as this prospect his I'll say his name in a second, but his they were No one was concerned about me because the Panthers were picking and everyone assumed that he was going

to go a little bit higher in the drest. So now, but you identified yourself as a Panthers and I was just I was hanging out in the back eating chicken wings, you know, like for from the barbecue, and I was like, oh, yeah, as much as you want, Yeah, you know, don't. We're not worried about you. And then he started dropping and all of a sudden, it was like it was between him and the other wide receiver in this draft class, and his marketing person was like, well, you know, get close,

you know, you can get a good shot. And then of course I get the text that it was the other one, and everyone kind of looked at me. You know, it's like, try to slink away really slowly before they announced it on TV that it was not him, it was d J Moore you want to say, I'm pretty sure most people know, but it was Calvin Ridley, who was then picked by the Falcons not long right after. It's like two picks later and it all worked out for the best. But I do remember when he was there.

I mean I remember watching that draft when he was there. Everyone was like, oh, for surely the Panthers are gonna go for him here. Yeah, I mean, we had we had people in Feeling are up close to him. I was here to hear Oh my gosh, how did I think I think that's why he forever? Yeah, I mean because we had someone in Philly. We had great video from DJ that night too. But it just so happened that person was the you know, got the winning lottery ticket and I did not. Did you? How long did

you stay after that? Oh? No, I was as soon as I got the text, I slunk back behind because there's like a bunch of people and I just kind of made me and completely like ran out to get nuber out, you know, at the edge of the park and just got out of there as quickly as I could. That's incredible. Which one was your favorite? I mean, I'm kidding, I mean, but like it definitely was, Like you just these things are so crazy, you know, the nights of

these drafts. And I will say the thing that I took away from both that was so incredible to see up close is just the roller coaster of emotions that these kids, their kids, their kids, you know, their kids and their family and too know, um, you know what this night is going to be for the rest of their lives. I have goose bumps right now because it is true. The draft is one of my favorite events, and it is a moment that everyone gets to see.

And I think we saw it last year in their homes, maybe even more so then I'm used to seeing it when they go to. You know, if it would have been in Las Vegas, they would have been coming across a boat at the Bellaggia, which is incredible and you know, the the outfits and it's it's such a production and

it's such an incredible night. But I think last year really brought it home for me because it is the time that you get to see really with any professional draft, but you get to see so many kids lives change in the blink of an eye. And I mean and it's not just where they're picked or how much money they're making, I mean, or even what team they're playing for. It's where they're going to live, who they're going to be friends with, um, who they're going to play with,

and um. It's just pretty incredible. And you know, to get to see it last year and for you to get to go to the homes and be on location, which so many people don't get to do, it's it's pretty awesome. I love it. Yeah, I mean, it's so you think about that from you know, here's this like NFL. You know, oh you're thinking about, uh, you know, how you're going to fit in with this offensive system or

you know, whether you like the your position coach. I mean, so many of these kids are like, oh, I wonder what you know, what it's like to live in Florida, or what it's like you know these states, you know that they've never been to before. And it literally happens in a three hour period over one night in April. I mean, it's incredible, it really is. All Right, it's time for the weird question of the week. So, mock draft season has been in full effect since last season ended, really,

but it's really ramping up. We're getting versions, you know, or hearing things. So I thought we would do you know, we'd love to do a mock draft here on the Happy Half Hour podcast. But I thought for this one. You can do any mock draft of your choice. You can mock draft anything that you're passionate about. Give me your top three picks and one hard pass of a mock draft of your choosing on any subject. I thought

I'd go first. All right, I'll set the tone. Let me pull up my phone here, I'm gonna get my picks out. All right, I am doing my mock draft on naps. All right, Naps, I'm mocked drafted. You're already going to win this already here we go with the first overall pick in the knaps Mock Draft. The rainy afternoon couch nap. I should say rainy weekend afternoon couchnap like that is the perfect nap in my opinion. All right,

Second college football game couch nap. Now I'm specifying couch nap, so you're so say it's a it's college football game. It's the early set. It's that's CBS SEC game. It goes on for four and a half hours. Alabama. Now it's it's incredibly specific. It's my favorite, second favorite nap of just you. You kind of joes off when Alabama is up on you know, Ole miss or whoever, in the first quarter. You wake up in the fourth quarter three hours later, they've just pulled further away. It's all okay.

And then you get to enjoy the night game. Yeah, the afternoon, the prime time four o'clock. You love it, love it, alright. My My third overall picked is the day drinking nap, where you go out with your friends for you know, for a couple of hours. You enjoy some mimosas, maybe a nice brunch, come home, take a nap, feel great afterwards. Either ready to just relax for the night rally. I don't know, but it's just a perfect nap,

all right. So those are my top three for the naps mock draft, and then I gotta give my one hard pass, all right. My hard pass on naps is the late afternoon nap where you wake up and it's dark and you don't know where you are. I hated. It is the worst nap. And all of these are dangerous because all of the top three naps could turn into your worst on the flip of a point. That's the pressure of the draft, it is, all right. So that's mine very passionate about bonus bonus for you. The

beach porch and a hammock nap. That's a great one. But that's like a once in a I mean, that's a really like a once every couple of years. You gotta get the hammock. You gotta the right location, make sure nobody's you know, do anything inside. I mean, that's like a generational talent really right there. That's a hall of fame nap. Yeah, that's like you immediately goes to number one Hall of fame. All right, Well you're turning, okay, so mine aren't nearly as good as yours, um So

pizza types Okay, I like it. I'm going with three meat. That's my number one overall. Wow, this is off to a tough start. Wow. Wow, Matt, okay um barbecue chicken. Okay is number two? Not a pizza. But okay, what do you mean? It's not it is it's like a sandwich or something. It's not you know, it's like whatever. There's no tomato sauce. If he says pineapple, Matt, let's go Hawaiian number three pizza pizza. So your three picks that's terrible. Yeah, like my least three. I think those

are mine too. Oh all right, what's your heart? It's going to be something traditionally. There's plenty of pepperoni on your three meats. Um, No mushroom. I don't eat mushrooms. That's a fair that's fair mushroom. That's the only one that I agree with. Yeah, that's the only one I agree with. Wow, you would get a draft like D plus um. But you know it's for you. It's if that's how you feel good for you, Matt, what's yours?

Um So? I had to come up with this figger recording because I couldn't think of any, but I finally came up with one because he slandered the CBS broadcast. So I did not slander it. I just said that I actually really enjoy it. No, I said, if you if you fall asleep during it and you wake up and it's still going on, because let's be honest, on times this four and a half hours, you don't feel like you missed too much, you know, all right? Fair point.

I'm still going to go with my top three sports commentators. Oh that's good. So number three would be me, I mean number one, number one. Number three is Chris Fowler for ESPN. I think he does a good job on college football. Okay, you're doing a countdown, not really a mock draft. You want to still you want to reveal at the end, Sure, okay, that's fine. Christler, great great? John jim Nance at number two, Hello friends, And Vernon Lundquist for CBS was my all time favorite. Is my

all time favorite. Great line? You're happy Gilmore. Yeah, so that's a hard past. Brint Musberger. I don't like Musburger. Oh he does? You're looking live, brun Lon Quiz doesn't. Yeah, Brint Musburger does, You're looking live right, M. I think I'm always bust. That's for the people in Vegas. Pretty sure. Wow, what's what's your before the Brint Musburger? Uh, he just gets a lot well I used to get a lot of love and think he's a great. Oh he's bad. I don't know. He s all right. We are gonna

leave it right there. Thanks everybody for listening to the Happy Half Hour podcast. We'll see you next time.