Sargent’s contract expires at the end of the academic sports year, on June 30, and word around the clubhouse is, the first offer on the table for an extension comes with his salary flat from what he signed for in 2022 – i.e., no raise.

State Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, one of the authors of the legislation, which would create a Prescription Drug Affordability Board to review prescription drug prices and set payment ceilings on what certain state-regulated health plans can pay, said on Tuesday that Spanberger called him to tell him that she was planning to veto the bills.

What’s going on here, right?

Who knows, Frank Lucio Carillo, 68, of Winchester, could end up being in line for some of that sweet Trump slush fund money for his troubles.

The one who ran for governor last year didn’t end up being the one who took the oath of office; that’s all we know now.

We found this out this week, with her gutting of paid family and medical leave, and her veto of collective bargaining for public-sector employees.

This is what Democrats do when they get elected; they forget who put them there, and try to reach out to the other side.

Predictable reaction from the other side to Spanberger reaching out: they’re still calling her a commie.

Why do we do this?

Gotta start with how UVA Athletics is stonewalling me on the status of assistant swim team coach Gary Taylor, who is in Year 2 of a probation handed down in 2025 for emotional abuse of athletes at two other schools and a local YMCA.

After going into detail on Gary Taylor, we talk UVA hoops, how much it will cost the 1 percent to watch UVA Football play in Brazil, and how far UVA Baseball will get in the NCAA Tournament (spoiler: not very).

Want to know more about Ben Cline than you ever knew before?

Wrong question; you don’t want to know any more about Ben Cline than you have to.

The Insane Cline Posse edition of “Street Knowledge,” debuting today, isn’t medicine, I promise.

I’ll tell you how much money Ben Cline, who pretends to hate government, has made working in government over the years.

(Hint: it’s a lot!)

Also on the show: we discuss SoCal transplant Rob Schilling, who so hated the libs on the Left Coast that he moved to Charlottesville – which, no, makes no sense at all – and hosts a MAGA radio talk show that five people listen to.

For some reason, UVA Athletics supports this crap.

Seems that a lot of folks want fanzine coverage of their favorite team.

This ain’t the place to get your coverage, then.

Want to know what a guy who has been covering the program for 30 years really thinks?

That’s all I can do.

I apologize in advance for the language.

Actually, nah.

The cost: $2,500 minimum.

I’m going to hold out for something bigger, which I explain on this week’s rundown of what’s making news in UVA sports.

Also, if you could, tell everybody you know to click on the YouTube version – I want to beat the viewer number for Seth Davis and Andy Katz for their recent pod with Ryan Odom.

I know, a lot of y’all area already turned off, but.

Hear him out, is all I’ll say here.

Tracinski joined me today for what I’ll call good political conversation, since I don’t think of myself as an interviewer.

We talked about his former Tea Party-ness, and how that no doubt makes it hard to get his foot in the door with some Democrats, but also, in a +3 D Sixth District, having crossover appeal can be a benefit in the November part of the cycle.

Again, hear him out.

First, on the hoops: there’s no news, and I explain why, and apologize, because the silence is all my fault.

Seriously. I’m the reason we’re all having to read the smoke wafting up from JPJ.

Baseball: have to apologize here. I so desperately want the ’Hoos to get back to Omaha this year, and to beat Brian O’Connor in getting there, that I’m holding Chris Pollard to ridiculously high standards.

https://youtu.be/s7LK6GEt7UA

A little early for that.

Crystal Graham joins the show to keep me in line – good luck with that.

Her job this week: to keep me on task talking about the April 21 congressional redistricting referendum.

We also discussed the ongoing decline of the Virginia news media, and what we’re trying to do to forge a new path forward.

Why not try to overturn the tables in front of that particular temple, right?

And it took a sports guy – not me – to figure it out.

Uh, huh.

No, not better policies.

I mean, a big part of the problem is that she’s not doing well with Democrats and independents, because she’s governing like a center-right Republican.

We don’t fix bad poll numbers these days by course corrections.

The solution: bombs.

“A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will,” Trump posted on his Truth Social account, timestamp: 8:06 a.m. Tuesday.

Deadline, per the post: “tonight.”

Unless, from Trump, “different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail.”

Walker, known to friends and family as Slim – he was 6’7”, 140 pounds, at the time of his disappearance, at the age of 53 – may have been the victim of foul play, according to authorities.

“I hate being pulled out, even just to catch my breath. I want to be out there for the full 80 minutes,” said Perry Allen, a member of the Virginia Rugby Football Club, which will host the Virginia Beach Falcons on Saturday at VFW Post 1827 in Charlottesville in the first round of the Division 3 playoffs.

Significant others, prospective players, no worries – it’s safe.

More on that as we dive into the sport.

On the podcast, I offer insight into what we’ve learned about the first-round opponent, #14 seed Wright State, the champ of the Horizon League.

I also offer a travel itinerary – I get to be a tourist, too, in between games.

Macy is a triple threat: journalist, bestselling author (Dopesick), and now, congressional candidate – running for the Democratic Party nomination in the Sixth District in Virginia.

We talked at length about her work on Dopesick and her most recent book, Paper Girl, which has the hook of Macy revisiting her rural Ohio hometown to try to figure out how it went so MAGA in her years away.

The conversation then shifts to the impact of NAFTA and globalization on Appalachian economies, and how the job losses factored into the opioid and heroin crises here in our part of Virginia.

We wrap with a rundown of where we are politically, and Macy’s priorities if elected.

You already know that I’ve been going to bat for fans who are getting screwed out of a home football game so that the fat cats can have an excuse to go to Brazil.

And how I feel about the this is not a reseating reseating policy for UVA Basketball that is pricing a generation of fans out of their seats.

What you didn’t know, until last night, was how UVA Athletics treats the people who write articles about the games, the players, the coaches, like utter crap.

Yeah, so, whatever, me making an issue of it means I won’t get to sit in the stadium with my laptop to report on games anymore.

Think of the money I’ll be saving on driving, flying and hotels to go to bowl games, March Madness, the College World Series.

The job of sportswriter is amazing fun, but it’s a job – and the people who work in the field deserve to be treated with respect.

Not that the folks over there care …

The Deacs played Duke better in Cameron, lost by one in OT to Michigan – that one was back in November, but still.

And they’re 4-2 in their last six.

I wouldn’t look past them, is what I’m saying.

We didn’t know it at the time, but Virginia’s next bucket wouldn’t come for another seven and a half minutes.

A Chance Mallory three on a fast break got the ‘Hoos to within 19-12 with 7:52 to go, but three Duke threes – by Darren Harris and Dame Sarr – in the next two minutes pushed the lead to 16, and the rout was on.

Virginia, which came into the game on a nine-game winning streak, never got closer than 12 the rest of the way – basically never got off the deck after taking the series of body blows.

The final score was Duke 77, Virginia 51.

It didn’t feel that close, if that’s possible.

He did it anyway.

Because it was the right thing to do.

Imagine that.

“I think when we think about what we do right and what we don't do right, what people remember is when we stand up for people,” said Perriello, who is back in the political game, running for the Democratic Party nomination in, well, either the Fifth District or Sixth District, depending.

Selfishly, gritty wins are good for writers and podcasters, because there’s more to write and talk about.

ICYMI: UVA vs. Ohio State

• Preview: What UVA Basketball fans need to know about Ohio State
• UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos rally with D down the stretch, defeat Ohio State, 70-66
• UVA Basketball: Nothing comes easy for this group; might as well embrace it

We’ve got an inquiry into UVA to learn more.

In the meantime, we’re examining how the NFL would have handled the accusations against Edrine.

ICYMI: Jahmal Edrine case archives

• Albemarle County: UVA Football player charged with rape, abduction
• UVA Football player charged with rape, abduction: Who knew what, when?
• Jahmal Edrine attorney comes out firing: We also know now when UVA knew
• UVA Football: Jahmal Edrine case is a cautionary tale for ‘speed dating’ in portal recruiting
• I asked UVA for a comment on the victim in the Edrine case: You already know the response
• Bond set for former UVA Football wideout Jahmal Edrine in rape, abduction case
• How does UVA Athletics handle a sexual assault accusation internally?

Do you sense the anguish?

That’s this podcast: anguish.

In this podcast, I go over where we are with the investigation, which is still ongoing, even as the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Tim Martin, has already decided to exonerate the deputies who shot and killed Griffin as they attempted to serve an arrest warrant at a location west of Staunton.

AFP coverage of the Dustin Griffin shooting

• Augusta County: Man killed in officer-involved shooting; one deputy airlifted
• Augusta County: Medical examiner confirms ID of man shot, killed by deputy
• The story of the man killed in Augusta County officer-involved shooting
• What’s the status of the investigation into the Dustin Griffin shooting death?
• Local media hypes jewelry store heist, ignores officer-involved shooting
• Augusta County: Prosecutor exonerates deputies in Dec. 17 shooting; still waiting for details
• Augusta County: What happened on Dec. 17 on Parkersburg Turnpike?
• Family of Dustin Griffin: ‘We want answers,’ not ‘premature conclusions’

We dive into the game, and coach Ryan Odom’s technical foul – with detailed analysis on how the ‘Hoos did at Odom Ball.

Then we spend some time breaking down the first couple of days of moves on the UVA Football transfer portal.

Story links

• UVA Basketball: ‘Hoos rebound from three-OT loss at Tech, defeat NC State, 76-61
• UVA Basketball: Virginia blows out NC State, 76-61, in Saturday ACC matinee
• Notebook: Ryan Odom talks with media after UVA Basketball win
• UVA Football: Unexpected big losses as the transfer portal opens for business
• Notebook: Eli Wood to transfer portal; Clemson hires Chad Morris to be OC

The key points from Alan:

• We were bullied, even taking into account the whistle swallowing.
• If we’re not gonna run a scheme like the Pack Line, better brainstorm fast how we’re going to get stops in league play.

How dare the kid prioritize his future earning potential when our favorite college football team needed him out there to win an exhibition game.

That, you know, they won anyway, without him.

“I’m just watching the previous World Series that year, in ’89, the earthquake series with San Francisco, and two weeks later, I’m on that team,” said Harris, who joined me to talk about his baseball career on the “Street Knowledge” podcast this week.

What do we talk about?

We’ll think of something.

• UVA Football: Decisions still need to be made on the three coordinators
• UVA Basketball: How are last year’s guys doing at their new schools?
• UVA Football: ‘Hoos losing Ja’Son Prevard, Tyshawn Wyatt to transfer portal

After growing up in Waynesboro, Virginia, population 23K, it’s a little surreal: working in Dr. Dre’s studio, flying on private planes, standing in front of the Eiffel Tower – the real one, not the one at Kings Dominion – all stemming from his role as the official DJ for Justin Timberlake’s recently wrapped “The Forget Tomorrow World Tour.”

The details of the settlement are only trickling out, but we have enough to begin to get a sense of how things are going to play out going forward.

AFP contributor Rod Mullins joins the show to break down what we know.

But first: why are tickets so ridiculously expensive?

Scott German joins me to rain down furious anger on the folks at UVA Athletics, who seem intent on money-grabbing us out of a big crowd for the Saturday primetime game.

Then we direct some upset at the medical staff, for allowing Kam Robinson to return to the Duke game and tear his ACL.

Dumb, just dumb stuff.

I promise that we break down the game at the end.

With the trial in the antitrust lawsuit set to begin next week, Rod Mullins, the editor of Dickenson Media, joins the show to report on and break down the latest developments in the case.

Rod also updates us with the latest on the story of a Southwest Virginia football coach who has been missing for four days as his team makes its way through the Virginia high-school playoffs.

Yeah, it’s been awhile.

I had Scott German join me to discuss.

We also both give UVA Athletics administrators hell for moving the 2026 NC State home football game to Brazil.

We wrap with a lengthy love letter to Ryan Odom Basketball.

It’s actually just puppy love right now, since we’re only in the cupcake part of the schedule.

The guys thought 7-5 or 8-4 was possible, which at the time got them banished to the edge of the Fringe Media.

Now at 9-2, they’re on the other side – yeah, they foresaw a good season, but not this good.

Lots to chew on here, obviously.

UVA Football News

• UVA Football: Morris, Taylor, D key ‘Hoos to convincing 34-17 win at Duke
• UVA Football: ‘Hoos dominate in all phases in pivotal 34-17 win at Duke
• UVA Football: The Virginia defense made Darian Mensah look average
• Breakdown: The role Chandler Morris played in the 78-yard J’Mari Taylor TD
• ‘Hoo do we root for next week? The Road to Charlotte for UVA Football
• Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs? Looking at CFP chances for UVA, JMU

Morrisey, last week, in the hours after our Blue Wave state elections, sent a message to the red counties in Virginia via Facebook, assuming that he feels their frustration.

“It’s about to get awful blue in the Commonwealth of Virginia,” wrote Morrisey, a Brooklyn-born, New Jersey-bred Rutgers alum who only moved to West Virginia, and Harpers Ferry – barely inside the border – at that, when he was 39 years old.

Guy is as West Virginia as Tony Soprano, with the added touch that, before he got into elected politics, he made his living as a pharmaceutical lobbyist, and now runs a state set backwards a generation by the opioid crisis that he made gobs of money advocating for.

Back to Jersey Boy’s post-election message to Virginia:

“Don’t wait for the high taxes to heavy regulations to come, now is your chance to escape to wild and wonderful West Virginia,” Morrisey wrote.

And now, we have lots of questions.

Will NASCAR put the kibosh on the playoff system?

What happens in the antitrust lawsuit challenging the charter system?

There’s that, there’s the beginning, in earnest, of the silly season.

So much to break down.

Do the math, and it’s not good – we’re talking about 14 million girls, 3 million boys.

Let that sink in: 17 million kids, in this country, our kids, raped.

We only know about a fraction of these cases, because 90 percent of child-rape cases involve a perpetrator who is known to the victim – a parent, close family member, family friend – who either manipulates the victim into silence, or worse, threatens or uses violence to keep the secret.

I can sense that you’re uncomfortable.

Nobody likes talking about child rape, which is a big reason why we have the problem we have.

Rod Mullins joins me to discuss the latest in the charter suit, which is playing out against a backdrop of the final race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season, the Championship 4 finale in Phoenix.

We break down how the final two drivers earned their way into the C4, and break down the chances of the Final Four – Denny Hamlin, Chase Briscoe, William Byron and Kyle Larson.

Rod Mullins joins the podcast to report on the latest.

We also spend some time on news from the track, with the 2025 NASCAR Playoffs down to the final two races – this weekend in our neck of the woods, down in Martinsville.

Farmers having markets closed to them because of the Trump tariffs – not a red or blue issue.

FEMA not being there to respond to natural disasters – not red or blue.

But for Democrats in Western Virginia to be able to be a part of the solutions, we need to open up the tent.

“We always talk about being a big tent party. Well, let’s really be a big tent party and talk to people who we disagree with,” said Barlow, who stepped down from his job as a manager with FEMA earlier this year to throw himself full-time into his run for the Democratic Party nomination for the Sixth District seat in Congress.

Link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/pete-barlow-to-virginia-democrats-lets-be-the-big-tent-party/ 

“She was hoping that I was pregnant,” said Khanna, who went public last week with that news – that she is expecting, and due in February, meaning, she’s now running for Congress and about to become a first-time mother.

Rod joins the show to discuss.

We also go in depth on the latest development in the NASCAR charter lawsuit, which appears to be headed to trial in December – though I wonder if NASCAR might be better advised to settle ahead of time, instead of allowing a judge to decide how the series does its business going forward.

That, and we preview Talladega, coming up this weekend.

To mark 25 years of her having to put up with my nonsense, I made her acknowledge that she married me, which is no small admission.

Then we get to business: talking through the recent spate of homes collapsing in OBX and the Trump administration’s effort to get UVA to bend the knee on ideology for a few extra bucks.

Also: the very important story involving UVA Football being 5-1 and ranked 19th in the AP Top 25.

That, and we have to get packing for our anniversary week trip to NYC.

Rod Mullins was down in Charlotte for us this past weekend, and reports back on van Gisbergen’s road-course dominance, and the scramble among the 12 drivers still in the playoff hunt to get to the cutline for the Round of 8.

Also on this week’s show: we go into detail on the latest in the antitrust case in which two teams are challenging the NASCAR charter system.

So, when Hamlin bumped Wallace into the wall toward the end of Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, that was going to get folks’ attention, including Wallace’s.

The word “dumbass” may have entered the chat, for instance.

Wallace is, right now, on the outside looking in, with one race left in the Round of 12, which becomes the Round of 8 after this weekend’s Charlotte ROVAL.

Rod Mullins will be down in Charlotte covering the race for AFP.

I chatted with Rod on today’s podcast to get into this Denny Hamlin-Bubba Wallace story, among other things, including the rumors that NASCAR is going to shutter its current playoff format to go back to the way things were down pre-2004.

Matt Kenseth comes up as we talk through that one.

Also, discussion of declining NASCAR ratings, and how politics is playing a role in that.

“Just cruel, yeah, I think that they put it at the end was the cruel part. You know, in the middle, I could have done it fine and gotten through it. But the very last thing is just this huge sandbag carry, and it’s, oh, why is it here?” said Simonsen, a 33-year-old Waynesboro High School alum, who got past the sandbag carry to finish the Sept. 13 Killington Ultra in 12:26:12.

The Trump administration used a leverage point over a company seeking FCC approval for a $6.2 billion merger to force Kimmel off the air “indefinitely” – not so much about what Kimmel said about the Kirk murder investigation in the opening monologue of his late-night ABC talk show on Monday, but rather, that Kimmel is a frequent and high-profile critic of Donald Trump.

What we’ve seen so far:

• ‘Hoos 55, W&M 16 | UVA Football takes care of business in Cupcake Bowl
• UVA Football | Red zone issues, what else is new, doom ‘Hoos in 35-31 loss at NC State
• UVA 48, Coastal 7 | What do we know about this UVA Football team? Not a lot, not yet

Good a time as any to ask: what do we know about this team, three games in?

He knows that Tech Athletics has pretty much tapped out what it can get from its money people.

There isn’t another $50 million or $60 million a year just sitting out there waiting to be tapped.

What Babcock is doing is, he’s daring the Virginia Tech administration to fire him.

Be careful what you wish for there.

The win puts Bell in the 12-team second round, which begins on Sunday in New Hampshire at the USA Today 301.

Rod Mullins was at Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday’s night race, and breaks down the win for Bell, the issues with the tires that caused “uncontrolled chaos” at the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile.”

Not surprisingly, on Friday, we’re learning that the suspect in custody in connection with the shooting is a 22-year-old MAGA.

Nothing from Trump, to this point, retracting the call to his supporters to “beat the hell” out of innocent people on the left, who had nothing to do with the murder of Charlie Kirk, which was an inside job.

You’re not surprised to learn any of this, no doubt.

What I’m going to do here today is tell you, it’s not just the dwindling numbers in what is left of the sports media profession who treat us as fringy outsiders.

This allows us to take the mid-week to review the disappointing 35-31 loss at NC State in Week 2.

It was disappointing because, in a lot of ways, the ‘Hoos did everything but win that game.

Today’s postmortem grades the offense, defense and special teams.

Denny Hamlin punched the second ticket to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12 with his win in Illinois.

Who will join Hamlin and Chase Briscoe in the Round of 12?

Rod Mullins will be representing AFP at Bristol Motor Speedway for Saturday’s night race, the eliminator for the Round of 12.

On the podcast, we go through the drivers on both sides of the cutoff who have work to do to get to the next round.

The district covers 1,963.7 square miles – an area bigger than the state of Rhode Island (1,545 square miles), and not far behind Delaware (2,489 square miles).

There are no cities in the 35th; there are a lot of wide-open spaces and beautiful vistas.

And a lot of good, hard-working folks who have been abandoned by both political parties.

The 35th voted 70.5 percent for Donald Trump and 73.0 percent for Ben Cline in the 2024 cycle, only to see the MAGAs approve what they called a Big, Beautiful Bill that cut healthcare to the point that one of our two regional hospitals, Augusta Health, has had to close down two primary-care centers serving the outer reaches in the 35th.

Hospitals cutting services are just one impact of the trillions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid and Medicare that are on the horizon.

“Please understand that Medicaid funds the Affordable Care Act subsidies that many of our neighbors rely on for health coverage. That includes cancer screenings, mental health services, addiction treatment, and doctor visits for chronic illnesses like diabetes and heart disease,” said Jena Crisler, a medical doctor who lives in Port Republic, in the southeast corner of Rockingham County, and is the Democratic Party nominee in the 35th.

My job: to get you ready for the main storylines in the matchup.

I go through the Five Things to Watch For, and break down State based on what we saw in its 24-17 win over ECU in Week 1.

ICYMI

UVA Football vs. NC State | Five things to watch for in the Week 2 matchup

UVA Football Week 2 | What ‘Hoos fans need to know about NC State

Chandler Morris update | UVA Football QB a full go for Saturday at NC State

UVA Football Week 2 | Notes, press conference quotes, depth chart for NC State

Chase Briscoe took the checkered flag at Darlington, punching his ticket to the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 12.

Briscoe was the big winner, but plenty of playoff contenders lost ground in the opening race of the 2025 playoffs.

Rod Mullins joins the show to break down the list of guys who have a lot of work to do to stay on the right side of the cut line the next two weekends.

We also discuss the latest in the lawsuit filed by 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports challenging the NASCAR charter system.

What did we really see, though?

Part of my job is to try to make sense of such things.

On the pod, I go over the basics, tell a nice story about Cam Ross, the game MVP, who has been in college since 2019, and then break down, in granular detail, my Week 1 Report Card.

ICYMI

• Report Card | Grading out UVA Football in the 48-7 win over Coastal Carolina
• UVA Football | The Cam Ross you saw yesterday: That’s ‘basically normal’
• UVA 48, Coastal 7 | What do we know about this UVA Football team? Not a lot, not yet
• Live Coverage | UVA Football opens 2025 season with 48-7 win over Coastal Carolina

Three weeks after their death, his younger daughter, Rachel, who was doing a training ride, was hit by the driver of a car in Charlottesville. Rachel, thankfully, was not seriously injured in the bicycle crash.

“Think about that for a moment,” Jay Hightman told AFP. “I nearly lost both of my children to road violence in that brief amount of time.”

Rod Mullins joins the show to help get us ready.

We also break down the 2026 NASCAR schedule, which was released last week, and talk through the latest in the lawsuit challenging the NASCAR charter system, and what it could mean for 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports.

Two spots remain in the final race of the regular season, coming up Saturday night at Daytona.

Rod Mullins joins us to break down the field of contenders, and bid-stealers.

We also discuss the new sponsor for the second-tier series, O’Reilly Auto Parts, which will replace Xfinity as the title sponsor in 2026.

The reader was responding to my recent series of articles discussing the approach that the athletics director, Carla Williams, has been taking to keep UVA Athletics competitive in the still-developing era in which college athletics finances are driven by the need to provide significant compensation for student-athletes in high-profile, money-generating sports like football and men’s basketball.

The Atlanta Braves got the win, 4-2, over the Cincinnati Reds, but that was just part of what was going on at the iconic NASCAR venue.

Rod takes us in the press box and on the field to give us insight into what was going on behind the scenes.

Why Bristol?

Rod Mullins previews the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic, which will feature a record-breaking crowd – more than 85,000 are expected – at Bristol Motor Speedway, which has been remade into a state-of-the-art baseball stadium for a one-night-only game on Saturday.

Rod was at BMS on Thursday, and he takes us behind the scenes to get us ready for this most unique sporting event.

AFP staff writer Scott German joins the podcast for our summer UVA Football preview, and most of what we do over the course of the hour is, follow the money.

Scott talked last week with the new GM for UVA Football, Tyler Jones, and the assistant GM, Justin Speros, to learn more about the massive influx of dollars into the NIL budget, and how that changed things in terms of recruiting.

• It has been made abundantly clear to me that UVA Athletics does not want to say anything, publicly, privately or otherwise, regarding the finding of misconduct against associate head swim coach Gary Taylor.
• I have had it up to, wherever, with Virginia Democratstelling me, several times a day, everything that Winsome Earle-Sears is doing wrong. Main issue for me here being: they never tell me what the person who I want to be governor, Abigail Spanberger, wants to do that’s right.

Rod Mullins joins me for the podcast to break down the latest developments in the case/.

Rod also reports on the pending closure of the company that produces the grandfather clocks presented to winners at Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway and the preparations for the 2025 MLB Speedway Classic.

The show wraps with a recap of Shane van Gisbergen’s win in Chicago, and a look ahead to this weekend’s action in Ponoma.

There was plenty to work with – the issues with leadership at UVA Health, which led to the resignation of its CEO, Craig Kent, in February; the failures on several fronts that factored into the entirely preventable shooting deaths of three UVA Football players in 2022.

Turns out, the leverage point would be DEI, with a pair of UVA alums in the Trump DOJ, Gregory Brown, the deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights, and Harmeet K. Dhillon, a civil-rights lawyer in the department, leading the charge on that front.

We talk about that, plus break down Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s one-off this coming weekend as a crew chief at Pocono.

The explanation for how things went down last week on this doesn’t put anybody involved in the decision to pull the plug on the Pride Month event in a positive light.

AFP was the first to report on the investigation that concluded with Taylor admitting to emotional misconduct while coaching swimmers from 2015 to 2022 at North Carolina State, Auburn and Cavalier Aquatics.

On the podcast, I report on what we know about the case, and the silence from UVA Athletics and the local YMCA.

Crystal Graham tracked down the story of what happened to them, talking with a witness at the scene where the FBI and Homeland Security detained the eight, and threatened locals who tried to intervene to inform the immigrants of their rights.

On the pod: I speak with AFP editor Crystal Graham, who interviewed Alejandro Circelli, the Staunton man behind The Alejandro Queen, to talk about how he became a drag performer, his life as a gay man in the conservative Shenandoah Valley, and the importance of LGBTQ+ allies.

Mississippi State Athletics went out of its way to make this public – which is to say, they didn’t make reporters file a FOIA request and wait five days to get a copy of the term sheet.

The former Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College wanted everybody to know that it had poached its new baseball coach from a blue blood with a $14.2 billion endowment.

The shocking annual salary, and four-year contract, puts a different perspective on the hue and cry from O’Connor from last fall and into the spring about Carla Williams not being willing to give him the resources he needed to be able to compete.

Instead, the news is, Brian O’Connor left town in the middle of the night for Mississippi State, supposedly because Mississippi State is a better situation baseball-wise.

I’ve been covering this from all possible angles – examining the money, the impact of the move on O’Connor’s legacy, and where UVA goes to for its next baseball coach.

A sidebar story about a fan who tried to steal Ross Chastain’s hat in Victory Lane at the 600 led to a lengthy discussion of ‘70s and ‘80s superfan Morganna the Kissing Bandit, and whether her on-field incursions were real or kayfabe.

As you can tell, this week’s show is a can’t-miss.

Topics in the podcast include:

• Waynesboro High School football coach arrested on misdemeanor DWI charge
• Augusta County: VCSB purchases property for crisis center, should break ground this year
• Regional animal shelter completion pushed back to end of June; additional delays possible
• Augusta Health, Valley Community Services Board brace for impact of Medicaid cuts
• Trump pardons former Culpeper County sheriff convicted in bribery scandal

On today’s show:

• The Baltimore Orioles fired manager Brandon Hyde over the weekend, and the firing season may not be over just yet.
• The Washington Nationals, for their part, are in Year 5 of a perpetual rebuild. Are the pieces in place enough to build a winner around?
• UVA Baseball alum Chris Taylor was released by the Los Angeles Dodgers after 10 years in Chavez Ravine.
• UVA Baseball, to me, looks like an NCAA Tournament

In our Friday podcast, #TeamAFP breaks down:

Augusta County: Family of man who died in police custody wants answers

The family of a Staunton man who died in the back of an Augusta County Sheriff’s Office patrol car on May 5 is trying to get answers.

“There is real injustice here, and I truly feel like Stefan was assaulted to the point of his death,” Wade Gerencser, the brother of Stefan Gerencser, 39, wrote on social media, in a post brought to our attention by a family friend, Gary Bone, who served in the Marine Corps with the Gerencser brothers.

Former deputy files $5.35M suit against Augusta County sheriff over forced resignation

The $5.35 million federal civil rights lawsuit filed against Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith that is making news today might need to be taken with a grain of salt.

The reason I’m starting there: the allegations in the suit, Reynolds v. Smith, filed in the Harrisonburg Division of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, filed on behalf of a former sheriff’s deputy, Dennis Reynolds, were first peddled to me in 2023 by people who I know to be sworn political enemies of Smith, whose original sin was running for sheriff in 2015 against the handpicked candidate of the local political machine, and then winning.

Augusta County sheriff reprimands Black deputy over lighthearted TikTok

Augusta County Sheriff Donald Smith still hasn’t commented on the lawsuit alleging that he sexually harassed a former male employee, but he found time on Thursday to publicly reprimand a Black deputy for comments she made on a TikTok video.

In case you’re wondering, yes, this was another instance of your sheriff letting himself get played on a public stage.

But since our intrepid NASCAR journalist, Rod Mullins, is a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, we had to spend a good 15 minutes at the top talking about how Pete Rose deserves to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

#TeamAFP’s Chris Graham and Crystal Graham talk about the weather to open the Monday podcast.

Crystal Graham is our resident weather reporter. She has the scoop on what we can expect from the slow-moving storm making its way from the Southeast.

Also on the show:

• Crystal updates us on local issues in Waynesboro involving a proposed increase in the meals tax and another project at the old Virginia Metalcrafters
• Crystal does her best to get Chris in further trouble with the UVA Basketball fan base, getting him to talk about the new hire by Ryan Odom to his staff.
• UVA Baseball continues its late-season run toward an NCAA Tournament berth.
• The “what else are we working on” segment includes the latest nonsense from DC involving DOGE not saving us money and Donald Trump taking a bribe, and details on a story that we’re working on about how Albemarle County Police are trying a new approach to dealing with mental health.

So of course, it was Logano who would go on to take the checkered flag a week later in Texas.

The NASCAR gods are having fun with us.

Logano, he of obviously thin skin, fired back at the Baseball Hall of Famer.

This is a real thing, as our NASCAR writer, Rod Mullins, explains on our weekly podcast.

Also on today’s show:

• Austin Cedric takes the checkered flag at ‘Dega
• Logano, Ryan Preece penalized after the race
• Steve Phelps for PGA Tour commish?
• Prime Video sets May 22 date for series premiere of "Earnhardt"

Story link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/the-drought-is-over-uva-basketball-is-a-step-closer-to-filling-out-a-roster/ 

Then I see today what Maryland is paying Buzz Williams, and, gotta say, sorry, I take it all back, y’all were right, I was wrong.

Story link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/maryland-is-paying-buzz-williams-how-much-yeah-uva-basketball-is-falling-behind/ 

Rod Mullins joined me on our weekly NASCAR podcast to hit the highlights from the weekend, focusing on the DQ of apparent Xfinity winner Jesse Love that gave the victory to Sammy Smith, and the threats from fans that have derailed the week of Katherine Legge following a late-race crash.

Story online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/staunton-pd-had-past-issues-with-tow-truck-driver-charged-in-april-5-rally-incident/ 

I only know that kind of stuff because people in the know tell me that kind of stuff.

I wish I was just that smart intuitively.

Nope.

Have you noticed that I haven’t had a lot to offer lately on the transfer portal?

It’s because the people in the know don’t know, either, why the flow of guys into the program has come to a halt.