AFP Podcasts

James Franklin at Virginia Tech, UVA Football in Brazil, UVA hoops

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.

The gang is back together on the bye week to talk UVA Football

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

West Virginia trying to mooch off of us

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.

Putting a wrap on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season

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.

Virginia needs to step up to protect victims of child rape

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.

NASCAR suit playing out against the backdrop of the Championship 4

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.

Intrigue in NASCAR on the track, in the courtroom, as 2025 season winds down

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.

Pete Barlow to Virginia Democrats: Let’s be the big tent party

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/ 

Lisa Vedernikova Khanna | Soon-to-be new mom running for Congress

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.

Who is this ‘Humble Denny Hamlin’ of whom you speak?

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.