AFP Podcasts

Something is going on down at Virginia Tech, where the school’s president, Tim Sands, announced to Hokie Nation on Thursday, in a shock move, that he will be stepping down in the coming months. And it took a sports guy – not me – to figure it out.

TNA President Carlos Silva, obviously getting marching orders from big brother WWE, has forced Nic Nemeth, the former Dolph Ziggler, out of a May 1 indy match with AEW champ MJF, citing “partner conflicts.” Uh, huh.

Abigail Spanberger isn’t polling well right now, but I think I’ve got the solution. 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.

Iran got Donald Trump to agree to a two-week ceasefire in which the Iranians basically give up nothing, and actually secured the right to charge tolls on ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz – and Ben Cline thinks this is “a beautiful thing.”

ESPN.com college basketball scribe Jeff Borzello has his “Way-Too-Early Top 25” for next season out this morning, and has Virginia at #9.

Donald Trump, not at all off his rocker, is, today, threatening Iran with total genocide. “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.”

The AWARE Foundation is highlighting the cold case of James Davis Walker, who was last seen on April 7, 2000, in the Food Lion parking lot on Longwood Avenue in Bedford. 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.

A school bus driver in Lynchburg allegedly assaulted a student and has been arrested and charged with strangulation and child neglect.

UVA Basketball alum Jenny Boucek would obviously be somebody whose agent you’d want to contact about the coaching vacancy in the UVA women’s hoops program.

First-team All-ACC guard Kymora Johnson is entering the transfer portal, and there is one possible, quite logical, landing spot for her – on the roster of legendary UVA point guard Dawn Staley down at South Carolina.

Rugby is American football, without pads and helmets, and without mass substitutions – and if you’re bleeding after a hit, nothing to it, ’tis but a scratch. “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.

To the UVA Basketball fans who thought they wanted Will Wade over Ryan Odom, and you know who you are, Wade not only already lost his way out of his first NCAA Tournament at NC State, with last night’s last-second defeat in the First Four, but he’s also a loser.

I’ll be heading to Philly on Thursday to cover the first weekend of the 2026 NCAA Tournament, with a focus on #9 Virginia, which opens play on Friday as the #3 seed in the Midwest Region. 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.

Beth Macy did a sitdown with me for this week’s “Street Knowledge” podcast. 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 want to know what I really think about how UVA Athletics treats people? 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 …

Let’s see if the ‘Hoos can get back on track Tuesday night against a Wake Forest team that seems to be better than me than its 15-14 record would seem to indicate. 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.

Thijs de Ridder hit an open three at the 17:02 mark, his second basket in the opening three minutes. 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.

Tom Perriello knew when he cast his vote for the Affordable Care Act in 2010 that it may very well cost him his job as a freshman congressman. 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.

The 70-66 win over Ohio State on Saturday night was the sixth in a row for the UVA Basketball team, but, man, nothing comes easy for this group, does it? 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

I think it would be helpful to know how the University handles accusations of the nature currently involving former UVA Football wideout Jahmal Edrine, who was indicted by an Albemarle County grand jury last week on rape and abduction charges, in an incident reported to police on Aug. 25, 2025. 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?

This Jahmal Edrine story isn’t one that is fun to report on. It involves a victim that UVA is not acknowledging, a young man who is facing criminal charges that could change his future course, and people who get paid good money to know better who don’t seem to have acted like they know better. Do you sense the anguish? That’s this podcast: anguish.

Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Tim Martin, in the matter of the Dec. 17 officer-involved shooting of Dustin Griffin, is acting more like a defense and civil attorney for the Augusta County Sheriff’s Office than he is presenting as an elected prosecutor representing the people of Augusta County.

Fair or not, we can’t take the Augusta County criminal-justice apparatus at its word that there’s no there there with respect to the shooting of Dustin Griffin, 42, by two sheriff’s deputies on the night of Dec. 17. 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’

UVA Basketball dominated from the jump in a 76-61 win at NC State that wasn’t that close. 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

Solid email this morning from Alan, regular reader, on the Tech-UVA game, the kind of good that got me to think through what we know, to this point, in Year 1 of Ryan Odom, about our new-look UVA Basketball program. 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.

Shocker, right, that I got emails from a trove of White guys who think a young Black man named J’Mari Taylor should consider it a privilege to entertain them. 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.

Two years after graduating from Waynesboro High School, Reggie Harris was taken by the Oakland A’s in the 1989 Rule 5 draft, and he made the team – the defending World Series champs – out of spring training in 1990. “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.

We’ve been going practically non-stop since August, but now, we’ve hit a lull – UVA Football and UVA Basketball are both on an exam break, with no games for a 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

Andrew Hypes has spent the last two years travelling all over the world: Paris, London Romania, Vegas, Poland and California, to name a few. 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.”

NASCAR settled the suit brought by two racing teams alleging violations of federal antitrust laws on Thursday. 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.

It’s UVA-Virginia Tech football week, so I got the gang together to preview the game, and we do, eventually. 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.

Leaks of internal communications between top NASCAR executives both hurt the racing series’ legal challenge from two NASCAR teams, and are also causing massive damage to the circuit in the court of public opinion. 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.

Virginia Tech has officially welcomed James Franklin to Hokie Nation. Will Franklin be the guy to get Tech Football back to where it was … 15 years ago now? 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.

Chris Graham and Scott German get back together via podcast to review their preseason UVA Football prognostications, which, it turns out, were way off. 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

The West Virginia governor, Patrick Morrisey, and a Mountain State legislator, Chris Rose, think they see an opportunity to mooch off our prosperity. 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.

Kyle Larson snuck his way into his second NASCAR Cup Series title, winning in OT after a late wreck changed the calculus for Denny Hamlin. 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.

The CDC tells us that one in four girls and one in 13 boys are, right know, as you read this, victims of sexual abuse – basically, let’s just call it what it is, child rape. 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.

It’s looking more and more like NASCAR is going to have to settle the suit challenging its charter system, not so much to save face, but to at least have a hand in setting the future direction of its business model. 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.

A settlement conference in the NASCAR antitrust suit will head into a second day, after lawyers for the privately owned racing circuit and two of the sport’s top teams met in court on Tuesday to see if they could resolve their many disputes. 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.

Healthcare isn’t a red or blue issue, says Pete Barlow, an Augusta County Democrat running for Congress in the 2026 midterms cycle. 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/

When Lisa Vedernikova Khanna called her Russian immigrant mother a few months ago to tell her that she was running for Congress, mom was, let’s just say, a tad bit disappointed. “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.

Denny Hamlin, who won Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series playoff race in Las Vegas, was described by our Rod Mullins as downright “humble” post-race, which leads to the question: did somebody do something to our Denny Hamlin? 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.