AFP Podcasts

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.