Street Knowledge: Chris Graham

NASCAR legend Richard Petty seems to think Shane Van Gisbergen did something wrong when Van Gisbergen won his way into the 2025 Cup Series playoffs this past weekend. We talk about that, plus break down Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s one-off this coming weekend as a crew chief at Pocono.

Butch Wells, a member of the Augusta County Board of Supervisors, called me on Wednesday to address the controversial cancellation of a planned Pride Month event at the Augusta County Library that had been scheduled for this past Monday. 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.

Still no news on the status of Gary Taylor, the head coach of Cavalier Aquatics, the Piedmont Family YMCA competitive swim team, and an assistant coach with UVA Swimming, who is currently serving a two-year probation handed down by the U.S. Center for SafeSport. 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.

Eight immigrants went to work in Harrisonburg on Tuesday morning and didn't return home that night. 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.

The Alejandro Queen will bring all her showmanship to the stage – big hair and makeup and elaborate clothing – Saturday night at The Foundry in Waynesboro. 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.

The world learned Thursday night that Brian O'Connor, who had signed an extension with UVA just last June that paid him $1.4 million a year, making him the eight-highest-paid coach in college baseball, is now the second-highest-paid coach in college baseball, at $2.9 million a year. 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.

I'd much rather be writing about UVA Baseball getting ready for another Super Regional weekend, but things didn't work out as expected. 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.

Rod Mullins started off our podcast talking about this past weekend's Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600, and NASCAR star Kyle Larson's second failed attempt at “The Double.” 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.

#TeamAFP editors Chris Graham and Crystal Graham get together for our weekly “Street Knowledge” podcast, which starts with a high school football coach arrested for DUI, and ends with the president pardoning a corrupt Virginia sheriff. 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

How about a half-hour of baseball talk to start your week off? All apologies to the other ball sports, but baseball is my jam. 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

AFP editors Crystal Graham and Chris Graham have been hard at work this week tracking down the details of three ongoing controversies involving the Augusta County Sheriff's Office. 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.

It's weekly NASCAR podcast time, and we have to go into depth about Kyle Larson, who now has three Cup Series wins on the season, and is about to test the waters with another try at the Indy 500/Coca Cola 600 double on Memorial Day weekend. 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.

The rain is here, and it's going to get interesting in the Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia this week, weather-wise. #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.

Just last week, Joey Logano and Baseball Hall of Famer Chipper Jones engaged in an odd back-and-forth over a late-race mistake by Logano at Talladega. 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.

Chipper Jones raised issue, seemingly innocently, with a decision by Joey Logano in last weekend's NASCAR Cup Series race at Talladega. 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"

The uncomfortable couple of weeks with no activity in the talent-acquisition part of the silly season ended Monday with the news that UVA Basketball coach Ryan Odom has landed a top Euro prospect, 6'11”, 235-pound German center Johann Grünloh. Story link: https://augustafreepress.com/news/the-drought-is-over-uva-basketball-is-a-step-closer-to-filling-out-a-roster/ 

I've been telling everybody who writes me worrying about the financial state of UVA Basketball, don't worry, we have the money to play big-boy basketball. 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/ 

The NASCAR Cup Series had last weekend off, but the Truck Series and Xfinity Series were busy down in Rockingham, N.C. 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.

The Armentrout Towing/Old Dixie Towing guy facing a criminal reckless driving charge for driving menacingly through a Staunton political protest rally on April 5 got himself on the radar of the Staunton Police Department last fall for something else.   Story online: https://augustafreepress.com/news/staunton-pd-had-past-issues-with-tow-truck-driver-charged-in-april-5-rally-incident/ 

You might remember, I was on top of the UVA Basketball coach search from the get-go, being the first to tell you, among other things, way back in December, that Ryan Odom was one of the top candidates getting a look from the powers-that-be. 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.

There is talk in the industry about former UVA Basketball coach Tony Bennett being a possible target for the San Antonio Spurs, who don't exactly have an official opening right now, but the writing seems to be on the wall, with respect to Gregg Popovich. I can argue a million reasons why I don't see Bennett-to-San Antonio happening, but still, this story has traction behind the scenes.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, in the first week of the Senate's two-week recess, risked his life to try to bring home Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Virginia's senior senator, Mark Warner has been puttering around the state doing grip-and-grins with locals around the occasional roundtable discussion with important people in business suits. Tim Kaine, the junior senator, spent the week in Europe. He did make a stop in Ukraine, which is something. Advantage: yeah, obviously, Chris Van Hollen.

MAGA Gov. Glenn Youngkin is claiming that an outfit called the Virginia Homeland Security Task Force has made more than 500 arrests as of Monday, though the governor's office isn't able to give us much detail on the nature of the arrests.

Are White MAGA voters in Virginia ready to cast their lots with a Black immigrant woman for governor, a gay White man for lieutenant governor, and a Latino for attorney general? Have to wonder how Democrats are going to play this in the fall. I mean, it's the MAGAs who are the anti-“woke,” anti-DEI crowd. This one seems to be playing into Democrats' hands, big time.

Whiny White liberals are complaining to me about how they felt penned in at a local protest in Staunton on Saturday. My message: one, stop being a whiny White liberal. Seriously, not a good look. Your problems with being protected from people who would rather run you over with a truck as they would spit on you are what we call First World problems. Two, and this one should be obvious: if you want to take your protest to other people and to elected leaders, you don't need anybody's permission.

A magistrate has issued an arrest warrant for the driver in the “rolling coal” incident that disrupted an April 5 protest rally in front of the Augusta County Courthouse in Staunton. It literally took me swearing out a complaint and presenting evidence to the magistrate on Tuesday to get this to happen, because Staunton Police had no interest in the case. Jeffrey Wayne Armentrout, the owner of the Staunton-based Armentrout Towing/Old Dixie Towing, was identified as the driver of the 2000 Ford Bronco F-350 with neo-Nazi insignia on the front bumper that blew a tower of smoke through a modified smokestack located in the bed of the truck, then drove at a high rate of speed and squealed tires past the rally site on West Johnson Street around 12:40 p.m. on April 5.   Story link: click here.

#TeamAFP staff writer Rod Mullins spent the weekend down at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he was witness to a historic weekend of dominance from Kyle Larson, who won two of the three races, and was second in the third. As much fun as that was, Rod, a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan, was able to talk for a few minutes with Baseball Hall of Famer Johnny Bench, who was one of the marshals for Sunday's Cup Series race, and was also on hand to help promote the Aug. 2 game between the Reds and Atlanta Braves that will be played at Bristol Motor Speedway in front of what is expected to be a record crowd. Among the items that came up in the interview with Bench was the subject of some of his Reds teammates left out of the Hall of Fame – Rod asked specifically about Vada Pinson and Dave Concepcion. So, NASCAR and baseball.

NASCAR will settle in at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend for racing action that will begin Friday night with the Craftsman Truck Series. #TeamAFP's Rod Mullins will carry the Augusta Free Press flag for us at Bristol this weekend. Rod joins the “Street Knowledge” podcast to get us ready for the short-track mayhem.

Ryan Odom is getting heat for the mass exodus from the UVA Basketball program, but the reality is, the Tony Bennett/Ron Sanchez guys that are leaving aren't fits in the new Odom system. Let me break it down for you, with analysis of the six commits that Odom has been able to pick up from the transfer portal and the April prep signing window.

Staunton Police confirmed that they are investigating a reported incident involving a man with a gun at the April 5 Hands Off! protest rally, and one of the witnesses to the incident told AFP on Wednesday that he intends to press charges against the man.

The search is over, and UVA Basketball has its guy, Ryan Odom, who was introduced to the world on Monday with a public press conference at JPJ. Odom said hello by offering the observation “I love offense,” and that he want to “play fast,” which might take some getting used to by the Embrace the Pace set.

The timestamp on the email from the UVA Basketball SID announcing that the school was cutting ties with Ron Sanchez was 5:00 p.m. ET on the dot. #TeamAFP's Scott German noted that the FlightAware flight-tracking app had the team in the air over the Virginia-North Carolina border as the email was going out. Sanchez didn't learn his fate by email in the air or when the plane landed in Charlottesville, in case you were wondering. Our contacts down in Charlotte described the scene after Virginia's 66-60 loss to Georgia Tech that bounced the ‘Hoos from the ACC Tournament and ended the 2024-2025 season. From what we were told, Sanchez was ushered into a room ahead of his postgame presser for a quick meeting. We don't know who else was in the room, but we can presume it was the athletics director, Carla Williams. Sanchez was later than usual to the presser, and from a look at the video on YouTube, and a read of the transcript, he knew what was up.

There are two stories to follow right now with UVA Basketball – the season, which is now down to whatever happens in the ACC Tournament, and the coach search, which is at the end stages on a different time frame. Today's podcast tries to dive into both. I start with a look ahead to Wednesday's second-round ACC Tournament 8-9 game between UVA and Georgia Tech. Then we shift to the latest in the coach search, which has had a ton of developments in just the past couple of days.

The gloves are off at NASCAR headquarters, with news breaking that the racing giant has filed a countersuit against 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports, which initiated action against NASCAR last year over the terms of the new team charters. Rod Mullins, our NASCAR beat writer, joined the show to help me break down the particulars to the latest move in this back-and-forth. Rod also reviews Christopher Bell's win from Sunday in Texas, and gets us ready for this weekend in Phoenix.

The search committee that has been vetting candidates for the open UVA Basketball coaching job is in crunch time. We know who the top candidates are now, but of course there are so many variables at play. I had Scott German on with me on today's podcast to break down the latest of what we know, which is a lot – that the search is revolving around, for now, at least, Marquette coach Shaka Smart and VCU coach Ryan Odom. Among the issues: we're still weeks away from being able to get anybody to sign on the bottom line. In the pod, we examine the factors at play in getting the search to where it is now, and what can happen between now and thereabouts of April 1 that can lead to one or the other of the top candidates getting the job, or there being a need to get to a fallback candidate.

Rod Mullins, our NASCAR beat writer, joins “Street Knowledge” to review Christopher Bell's OT win in Atlanta, and to help get us ready for this weekend in Texas. The meat of the podcast this week is on the topic of TV ratings: for the Cup Series, Xfinity Series and the Truck Series, with an eye toward what NASCAR will do in the next couple of years to address its TV rights. We wrap the show with news out of Southwest Virginia. Rod is also the editor of Dickenson Media, and we chatted about flooding in the Tri-State area, and the lack of action from the Trump administration on requests for disaster declarations in Virginia and West Virginia.

Ron Sanchez is the interim coach with the UVA Basketball program, but there's some momentum toward Sanchez being a serious candidate to get the job on a full-time basis. I go into detail about what we're hearing on the Sanchez candidacy in this podcast, and also share what I learned from the look at the contracts of Virginia Tech basketball coach Mike Young and Hokies football coach Brent Pry.

A busy couple of days for UVA Basketball, with the loss at home to Virginia Tech at the buzzer on Saturday, then the quick turnaround for a road trip to Pitt. The ‘Hoos dominated the NCAA Tournament aspirant, winning 73-57 in a game that was essentially over at halftime. We break down how UVA did it, ahead of talking through the news coming up the rest of this week with the wrap on the winter recruiting season for UVA Football.

DEI – diversity, equity, inclusion – is “immoral,” per Donald Trump, a White man born into millions whose father bought him an Ivy League degree and gave him a $400 million head start in the business world. Your first indication that U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., is planning to run for re-election in 2026: he voted for the Laken Riley Act, the pretend get-tough-on-immigration bill that will allow the Trump administration to go after DACAs and people under Temporary Protected Status protections. We finally heard from our MAGA congressman, Ben Cline, on the issue of President Trump's inexcusable pardons of the 1,500 J6ers who tried to overturn the 2020 presidential election to keep their Dear Leader in power.

The UVA Basketball team, which has lost its last five, and is 1-6 in the ACC, gets Boston College, which has lost its last four, and is 1-6 in the ACC, in JPJ on Tuesday night. The only reason this one is on TV – ACC Network, 7 p.m. ET – is because every game is on TV in this day and age. True story: my wife gave up her season tickets this season (we might have anticipated … something), so she buys single-games each time out. The gamble: that she'd get ‘em cheaper than what we'd pay for the season tickets plus VAF donation. The price for her tickets in the 300s for this one: 80 cents each. Even with fees, she's out eight bucks for two tickets. My, how the mighty have fallen. Still, I feel worse for the BC folks, because that program has had three winning seasons since cutting bait with Al Skinner (247-165 in 13 seasons there) way back in 2010. Earl Grant got the Eagles into the NIT last season, but he lost Quinten Post to the G League, Claudell Harris to Mississippi State, Jaeden Zackery to Clemson, Devin McGlockton to Vanderbilt, and Prince Aligbe to Seton Hall. Boston College is 9-9. Its one ACC win is Miami, 78-68 at home back on Jan.1. Let me feel bad for one more guy: Dan Bonner is on the call for ACCN for this one. Dan deserves better.

The reactions to the news that UVA President Jim Ryan has finalized an extension with Athletics Director Carla Williams that includes a substantial raise for Williams aren't trending in a good direction. Fans and alums are in meltdown mode on social media over a raise for an AD whose football and men's basketball programs are in free-fall. Meanwhile, the blowback at the highest levels is on Ryan, involving the part about the substantial raise. “The Board of Visitors Executive Committee approved an extension of her contract last June before football

The UVA Basketball program has taken up residence on the Left Coast, with a two-game road trip to new ACC members Cal and Stanford. The 75-61 loss to Cal on Wednesday revealed more in the way of warts for the ‘Hoos, who were awful on offense, and worse on defense. Interim coach Ron Sanchez, for his part, seems at a loss for answers. It's feeling like a lost season for Virginia fans. Stories covered in this podcast A not good Cal team dominated Virginia: The writing is officially on the wall UVA Basketball: Tony Bennett didn't do his buddy Ron Sanchez any favors UVA Basketball: Staff frustration with Christian Bliss bubbling to the surface UVA Basketball: Ron Sanchez has a Dai Dai Ames problem  

AEW finally played the back half of the home-and-home with New Japan, sending a handful of stars to Tokyo last week for “Wrestle Dynasty.” I had resident #TeamAFP AEW beat writer Ray Petree on for our weekly wrestling podcast, and the relationship between AEW and NJPW was a focal point. Among the discussion points: Kenny Omega made his in-ring return at “Wrestle Dynasty,” an interesting choice, given that AEW is where he makes a tony of money. Despite telling the AEW audience on this week's “Dynamite” that he may never again be the Kenny Omega of old, Omega was, pretty much, the Kenny Omega of old in his match with Gabe Kidd. We're told that NJPW suspended commentator Chris Charlton for his comments during the Omega-Kidd match directed at Tony Khan and AEW's booking of former New Japan stars. One way to look at this: there's a strain in the relationship between the companies. Which would make sense from New Japan's perspective, since AEW raided the top of its roster. But why would AEW have an issue going forward with New Japan? Zack Sabre Jr. is a throwback to wrestling before it became sports entertainment. The IWGP world champ is unique in working matches that feel real in an era with guys trying to get in every high spot they can in the few minutes they get. Powerhouse Hobbs got the dub in the Casino Gauntlet Match to win a shot at AEW world champ Jon Moxley. Will this be another one-off for Hobbs, who has been the victim of on-again, off-again pushes? We got our first taste of what we'll see in the first-ever Women's Casino Gauntlet Match this week on “Dynamite.” It has to end with Toni Storm winning the title shot against AEW women's champ Mariah May next month's “Grand Slam Australia” PPV, doesn't it? Mercedes Mone's first several months in AEW were uneven, at best. But Mone, the TBS champ, is starting to hit her stride.

UVA Basketball gets Louisville on Saturday in JPJ, with the Cardinals fresh off a 13-point win over North Carolina. In this podcast, we preview the UVA-Louisville matchup, with updates on the status of point guards Dai Dai Ames and Christian Bliss, and we get a glimpse into the thinking of interim coach Ron Sanchez, with every game, at this point, being a must-win. Online Preview: What UVA Basketball fans need to know about Louisville UVA Basketball: Updates on point guards Christian Bliss, Dante Harris UVA Basketball: Ron Sanchez not focused on what happens ‘three months from now'

The UVA Basketball team hosts NC State on New Year's Eve in the ACC home opener for the ‘Hoos, with a lot on the line, including, apparently, the job prospects of interim head coach Ron Sanchez. I'm overstating that, as I discuss in this podcast – the writing is on the wall as far as the coaching search is concerned. We go into that, and also get into the weeds on the odd story coming out of Tallahassee regarding a suit filed against FSU Basketball coach Leonard Hamilton over NIL payments. ICYMI UVA Basketball: Our first dive into the pool of guys who could be the next head coach Preview: What UVA Basketball fans need to know about NC State Suit: FSU Basketball team threatened to boycott Duke game over NIL payments

AEW has had a nice run of shows as lead-ins to Saturday night's “World's End” pay-per-view, which will feature the semifinals and final of the Continental Classic and a four-way match for the AEW world championship. I had #TeamAFP resident AEW beat writer Ray Petree on the podcast today to review this week's “Collision” and “Dynamite,” as the basis of us then trying to forecast the eight-match “World's End” card. The card: MJF vs. Adam Cole for possession of the Dynamite Diamond Ring AEW International Title match: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Powerhouse Hobbs TBS Title match: Mercedes Mone (c) vs. Kris Statlander Continental Classic Semifinal: Will Ospreay vs. Kyle Fletcher Continental Classic Semifinal: Kazuchika Okada (c) vs. Ricochet Continental Classic Final: winners of Ospreay/Fletcher and Okada/Ricochet AEW Women's World Title match/Tijuana Street Fight rules: Mariah May (c) vs. Thunder Rosa AEW World Title Match: Jon Moxley (c) vs. Orange Cassidy vs. “Hangman” Adam Page vs. “Switchblade” Jay White

AEW returned to Washington, D.C., this week, for the “Holiday Bash” edition of “Dynamite.” The show, which featured an instant classic between Darby Allin and Will Ospreay, a TBS title defense by Mercedes Mone and backstage musings from Swerve Strickland, Ricochet and Toni Storm, got a nice jolt in the ratings, and drew 3,000 people to the Entertainment & Sports Arena. #TeamAFP's Ray Petree was there live, and I had him on for this week's podcast to talk about how the TV show played to the live crowd.

For some reason, Memphis coach Penny Hardaway played UVA Basketball for the first 20 minutes on Wednesday night – measured, precise, largely halfcourt basketball. Go figure, it didn't work – the Cavaliers led 30-21 at the break, and seemed poised for the upset of the 21st-ranked Tigers. Hardaway unleashed the hounds of hell on the ‘Hoos in the second half, pressing full court after makes and misses, utilizing halfcourt traps to get Virginia out of its offensive sets. The stratagem turned the nine-point halftime deficit into as much as a nine-point second-half lead before UVA was able to right the ship. Ron Sanchez's steering corrections came too late in what turned into a 64-62 Virginia loss.

AEW continues to struggle in the ratings, averaging 594,000 viewers for its two-hour “Dynamite” on Wednesday. The show had more ups than downs, though. I talked with Ray Petree, our resident AEW beat writer here at AFP, to review the show. We also discussed the controversy that has arisen backstage with Toni Storm making her return on Friday's “Rampage,” and the lingering issue with the contract status of Ray Fenix.

You want to blame UVA Football coach Tony Elliott, or UVA Basketball coach Ron Sanchez, or the athletics director, Carla Williams, but the truth is, the problems with UVA Athletics are more than what you think. Our #TeamAFP resident Chicken Little, Scott German, joins me on the podcast for a rousing discussion of all that ails UVA Athletics. Included in our rather depressing chat: We're losing the starting quarterback, Anthony Colandrea, for no good reason. We're keeping the offensive coordinator, Des Kitchings, for no good reason. Is Carla Williams even around in a few months to have to deal with all of this? Do the issues involving UVA Health and the external review of the Nov. 13, 2022, shootings play a role in all of this? Photo: UVA Athletics

UVA Football showed improvement in 2024, winning five games in coach Tony Elliott's third season, after back-to-back three-win seasons. But with Elliott facing having to replace 43 seniors and grad students off the 2024 roster, and his starting QB, Anthony Colandrea, hitting the transfer portal, his career at UVA, and the UVA Football program itself, is at a crossroads.