AFP Podcasts

Virginia 2025 Republican ticket set

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.

Note to whiny White liberals: You don’t need permission to protest

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.

Staunton: Magistrate issues warrant in ‘rolling coal’ incident

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.

A weekend at Bristol with Kyle Larson, Johnny Bench

#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 heads to Bristol for 2025 spring race weekend

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.

UVA Basketball: I like what Ryan Odom is doing on the recruiting trail

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.

Witness: ‘Agitated’ man in truck brandished gun at Staunton protest rally

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.

UVA Basketball rolls out the red carpet for Ryan Odom

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.

Notebook: The latest on what we know about the UVA Basketball coach search

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.

UVA Basketball at the ACC Tournament, update on the coach search

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.