09-02-2026 MetroNews Hotline Presented by Salango Law Hour 1

0:00This is Mekroni's Hotline, presented by Salango Law. Mekroni's Hotline is a three-hour audio tour, navigating the world of sports, news, entertainment, tech, and more. From a mountain-state point of view. For your entertainment, Hotline is a no-politic zone. You can join the conversation. Text the show at 304-825-5304. 304-TALK-304. We're called 800-765-8255. Here's the host for Metro News Hotline, Dave Weekard. All right, hello, S. Virginia. We are back for more in the 304, and it's darn time to get it done in a 6-8-1. Time to start this three-hour audio tour for Wednesday, September 2nd. I mean, we've crashed through to September, and we're rolling now. 2026, by the way, is the year.

1:01Metro News Hotline comes to you from the Salango Law Studios. Visit salangolaw.com. Cooper, you keeping your eye on the Reds game? You watching around the Reds program? I had it on earlier. I'm not sure where we are right now. Bladay, just homer. Okay. Two run shot. Ellie came across. So it's 7-3. Hey, man, look at that. I didn't know I'd win another series. So, there you go. And as a pirate fan, I say, keep it up, brother. Oh, yeah, you still have some playoff hallucinates. Keep it up. I mean, a combination of a Reds win today and a Bucks win tonight against the Giants were five games out. All right, just five games out. Five games out. Yeah, the Reds are like seven games out or something. Come on. Come on. We need a wingman. You know, let's crash this party. I feel like I may have swallowed reality a little earlier than you this year. Maybe, maybe. So we're keeping our eye on that. Hey, how you doing out there, everybody? 93 degrees in Charleston. It's really hot. It's really hot.

2:01When I got back from lunch, it was like, see, like I'm wearing a yellow shirt with a white undershirt. And I felt literally like a fried egg out there. It was really so hot. So, yeah, I'm kind of all messed up. I wore sweater to work today because it's cold in here, but it's hot outside, man. It's in water today. So, yeah, there you go. There you go. Ryan. You're our program. Imagine his hotline. I was here yesterday. You were? Yeah. Well, you weren't in the crosstalk segment. So, you know, oh, that's right. Yeah, you didn't make the crosstalk segment, but you made it today. I was here on Monday. Well, that's true. That's true. Did you go home and lunch and walk your dog today? Yes. All right. What's his name? Um, Breeland. You get more wrong each time. Brexit two. Uh, no, no. Ballards. Bellars. B-A-D-L-A. Um, no, what is your, uh, what's your pet's name? I'm going to leave you hanging this time. Okay. General, man, general, come on. You think I'm over there? There you go.

3:02That's not me there. Cooper, you'll never guess who I was texting with last night. Um, Charlie Seen. Yeah. Good guess. Close. Actually, that's kind of close. Um, let me, would you like a hint? Sure. He's a key part of our show in the fall. In the fall. He's a key part of our show in one part of the season, the fall. Only in the fall. Only in the fall. Well, primarily the fall. Okay. All right. Um, man, I don't know. Santa Claus Santa. Good. Good guess. Good guess. Brandon Lang. Oh, Jesus. I should have known. Brandon Lang is coming back to the show. He's coming back to the show. He'll be doing his weekly appearances with me weekly, I guess. Uh, every Friday at 545 where he'll, he'll make picks and some of them are good. Some of them are good. And sometimes he makes a lot, but he's always entertaining. The great thing about bringing this, how mad, um, people get.

4:04Uh, yeah, I know. And it's picked sometimes. It's like, man, he makes a lot of picks. Hey, man, it's just, we're just having fun here on the old sporty sports talk. Right. We're just having a little fun. In fact, you know, we're going to do some college football picks today. We're going to do some at five o'clock. Great. Uh, the Jack Carlson is going to combine. I think you'll be on the board as well. So I'll be getting your pick. I was just one of those things where you give your, uh, your breakdown and we, we comment again. Pretty much. All right. Pretty, pretty much. By the way, you're, you're a subscriber to the athletic, right? Uh, uh, uh, previous subscriber. I don't think I have a subscriber now. I've cut off. I've cut just about everything. I don't do subscriptions much. Okay. Well, this story is going to affect almost no one. But anyway, there was a great piece that they had in the athletic last weekend about major league baseball players interacting with, quote, unquote, fans who bet on games. Oh, man. And it was so good about what these guys do. And how they, uh, you know, how they block people and the things they'll say.

5:08And, um, there are some fans when they make a bet on a game and say a relief pitcher doesn't do his job or a guy strikes out. There are some fans who reach out to these players on social media and demand that they pay their bets. Yeah. I know. It's crazy. Like, I think it just happened to, uh, like Robert the other night and he had the right after he was traded. Some catch that robbed a home runner or something like that. And I think I had heard where he was getting, um, like some threats after the game because, you know, that, that was, you know, a game change. That was a game flipping catch that he ended up making. And man, I tell you what, that's, we've gone wrong somewhere. Oh, I agree. Where, where, where we're now reaching out to players who don't perform the way their family. Yes, exactly. We've gone wrong somewhere. And I know that we all bow down to the almighty dollar and that's where it all comes from in these sports leagues. But man, there needs to be some hard evaluation with some of this stuff because it's ugly. And it's also especially traveling because like back in the day, there was only one group

6:11that would actually like threaten players. And that was the mafia because because they were the runs running the gambling. And now gambling is legal. So now you have ordinary citizens. And that actually brings up a good point. It used to be like you'd have to worry about body bag Malone or something that was going to break your knees if you didn't like, if you didn't like shave the points off or whatever. Now it's like, you know, some, uh, broofus from the gym that you might have to worry about waiting for you outside the stadium, you know? I mean, yeah. Oh, these guys, some of these dudes are getting their home addresses, texts to back to them. You know, that kind of stuff. Yeah. Well, I mean, when you, when you search the, the stuff that's going on with people, I mean, especially with, with younger men, credit scores are, are dropping at rapid paces, the places where this has been, uh, were sports books have been mobily legalized. Uh, bankruptcies are at all time highs. I mean, we're at a, we're at a, we're at a, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the legislation point when it comes to sports betting. I don't know what's going to happen. And the worst part is they're taking like, good, honest, hard, uh, like, good paying Mafia

7:15jobs. You thought about that. Man, as a solid boy, amateurs are coming by. I'm telling you what, do mobster work. You could probably run on that platform and win some. Yeah. You probably could. That's true. Oh, uh, coupe, uh, awful announcing is still a free site. Yes. So you can, you can access that if you have a computer, um, uh, I noticed that the same thing for not paying for subscriptions. Not good. I guess I kind of, not everyone is a millionaire. But there are a lot more millionaires than you, than you believe, actually. Anyway, um, off. Can you want them on the show day? Let's just call me out there, um, you know, money bags, whatever. The, uh, awful announcing has their local baseball radio team rankings out today. Where do you think the reds are, coupe? Where do you think they'll be? Oh, no, I've seen this, uh, way higher than I expected. I've, I've forgotten now where, if this is the same list that I saw, I thought they were like 20 or something like 24.

8:15Yeah. Something like a 20 way. I, I mean, I know that's the bottom third of the league, but that's still frankly. Well, it's not that they were ranked higher than I expected is that the commentary was not nearly as brutal as I expected. Well, that's true. And they like Tommy kind of, right, right. And the cowboy they really like, right? Call him the star. I think the cowboy is definitely the, the best part of either broadcast TV or radio usually. Yeah, that's probably right. And that was listening to coming in today and the, uh, Tommy was reading a promo for, there is going to be a concert, I guess at the, either the baseball stadium or the big football stadium in Cincinnati, where Russia's coming in for one show, Russia's coming in for one show. So when, yeah, band, yeah, the band, the band, the prog rock band, the rush, they're on, they're on tour now. So I'm sorry, my radio brain immediately defaulted to Rush Limbaugh and I'm like, how? Well, we are on 580, but so, but so Russia's coming to Cincinnati. And at that point, Tommy read the promo and then he said, well, I think I know one's

9:17rush song. And then the cowboy just schooled him on a nice, and that, and that was like a plotting in my car. It's like, give it to that kid. You give it to him. Thank you, K. I can't believe it, Tommy, Tommy, uh, kind of plays the old soul, so all the time. I'm surprised you didn't have all those songs all on. He was, he was playing to the older audience, I think even older than, than rush, yes, I guess. You know, I don't listen to the, I don't know. I've heard that. I listened to only ride time that they played it the 1930s at the stadium is the only thing I ever listened to back when they really played the game. That's right. The dead ball era is what we prefer. I swear, the younger the announcers get, the more likely it is for, they are to express fandom of older and older baseball. I don't know what's going on with this, but there's a whole bunch of people being elevated to the position of broadcasters in Major League Baseball who appear to hate the modern game. That's right. Really, really odd. Like, oh, here's the voice of your team who hates everything about your franchise for the last 30 years.

10:17Yeah. You know, this is supposed to be fun. Right. You know, it's a game, people. I thought it was about gambling day. It is primarily about gambling, but it's supposed to be fun. You know, you turn on the ball game. It's not like, you know what, I'm already depressed about stuff going on in my life. I'm going to turn the ball game on to make me feel worse. Oh, man. This is supposed to work. Like, like, some old school heat would be like what happened with the red socks in the Yankees this weekend. The red socks radio announcers were just absolutely losing it over Chaz Chizum. They were calling him every name under the sun, calling the Yankees every day, my son. Now, let's some old school baseball heat that you can just, you can live with that. Yeah. By the way, we're the only sports talk show in America that did not do at least 30 minutes on that. Oh, I mean, okay. It was tired by the time it got to Monday. It kind of was. Yeah. I, you know, if you follow me on X, I made a couple of comments about it. Of course, because it's the Yankees, it's the only major league baseball story that ESPN will talk about. So they just barely did all day long.

11:19It was, it was, it was dead by the time we got to it. In any case, Brandon Lang's coming back. Oh, yeah. That's what we were so. So Brandon Lang will be back. You know, I wrote a comment. He's married now, you know, I think he is. Yeah. Yeah. I think he got married right towards the end of last year. Well, I just proved there's somebody for everybody. That's right. Anyway, did you hear Dave Allen reading the text messages about why West Virginia's fun? Some of them, yeah. Okay. Did you hear the one where the guy said that he met his wife in the woods? Nice. Nice. How? And what? And Dave? And Dave responded, did your wife big flip? How? Well, you're like wandering out in the woods and like, hey, we're both wearing orange. You know, how, how do you meet your wife in the woods? Did they specifically say hunting? No, it was just a statement like I met my wife in the woods. He's also hike. And well, now that is true. And people also live in the woods. And at least in a high spirit hikers are major hookup artists. Well, yeah, that's true too. I'm just saying that if you write a text message to a show and say you met your wife in

12:23the woods, that probably deserves a second sentence. Okay. Just a detail. You can't really send that out and just kind of counterpoint. Counterpoint. The person that sent that in, I'm assuming man that sent that in, has had that opening line about how they've met for however long they've been married. Well, you know, I met my wife in the woods. I met my wife in the woods. I bet we're not the first person to hear that. Hey, have they been talking on the network today about the gym, Thornton situation? No. Do you know who gym Thornton is, Cooper? Uh, gym Thornton is from Huntington. He went to Marshall. He was on WMU well. I think he worked at Channel 13 for a while. He's the long time voice of Wheel of Fortune. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's right. Did you see this? Yeah, I did see that. Okay. So he has been removed from the program for an alleged incident aboard an airline. Uh, he had an incident on a flight in May. Details are scarce, but, um, uh, Cooper in broadcasting.

13:25That has got to be one of the sweetest gigs ever. Oh, right. Yeah. You're not even on air. No, I don't think so. I mean, do you even see him? You just hear the voice of the guy, right? No, I'm not. He's a voice over artist on Wheel of Fortune, which has been on the, and I guess he did the price is right for a very brief time as well. So man, that is not a gig you want to mess up, right? And so Sony Pictures, who owns the rights to this extremely popular show is recasting the role. Um, so we don't really know the details, but that is, uh, that's, that's, that's kind of going down right now with gym Thornton. That's kind of a, uh, throw your hat in the back. I'm too old to throw anything in the ring at this point, uh, frankly. Uh, oh, I did have a couple of other things. Cooper, I saw a story today where people are confused about Labor Day. And I wrote a, I wrote a column about West Virginia's connection to Labor Day for the website this week. I saw this only 66% correctly identified September 7th as this year's date of Labor Day.

14:25They didn't know when Labor Day was. Four percent felt that believe there was no Labor Day at all this year that they think it's a holiday that doesn't roll, roll every year. It's like, uh, you know, every four years or every two years, whatever. That's four percent. Okay. Like leaping only 61% knew that Labor Day honors American worker contributions. One in five thought it commemorated Labor Union founding. Twenty five percent. A breed. Yes. The Labor Union. Trust me, there's more than one. And they're not all. There's not that big flag. It's just labor on it. No, just as union. Yeah, just as union, just union on it. Uh, they get all the dues. Twenty five percent agree that Labor Day officially signals the end of summer. Uh, 64% of respondents said every weekend should be three days long. Uh, 38% strongly agree.

15:25Um, despite the holidays, restful intent, only 30% planned to go light on the chores. You know, so you never know you might be able to, if you got out in the woods, you might be able to meet your future wife. It's possible. But, but how about, how about the fact that there's a, there's a portion of people out there that think that Labor Day doesn't fall every year? Yeah. Now, see, this is the thing that of all of those. That's the most egregious one. As far as I'm concerned, name a holiday other than like leap year or something that doesn't happen. I mean, it's Monday, it's September. Why isn't Labor Day, right? I mean, is it any more confusing in any other holiday? Yeah, I suppose Memorial Day. I mean, they all follow something. It's the first or second after this or that or whatever. I mean, it's not a hard calculus. Does the survey include people who know like why you aren't allowed to wear white after late the day? I mean, because that would include me because I don't know. Well, I'm not sure if you're going to be able to do that. I mean, because that would include me because I don't know. Well, the good news is, I don't know if this is still the case, but I read it at fashion

16:27article. I think last year, the year before that, that's out the door now. You're not the world out there. Hey, man, it's 93 degrees outside right now, but it's not Labor Day yet. We're not past Labor Day. I just didn't want to get pulled over by a police officer and they're like, oh, you're wearing white after Labor Day. And I have to then it claps some handcuffs on me. Do you live in super troopers? That is true. All right, question of the day. So in the United States, compact discs, CDs, as we refer to them in the business, jumped almost 59% in the first half of this year, 170,171 million dollars. That's roughly up 108 million during the same period last year, the sharpest growth of any category in this particular report from the recording industry association of America. Vinyl generated far more at 554 million, but grew at a lower rate, 17.7 K-pop collective packaging and multiple album variance drove much of the CD surge, although sales rose 6.7%

17:34even without the K-pop titles. Overall physical music revenue climbing almost 26%. Screaming still dominates, of course. It counts for 4.9 billion of the industry's $6 billion total downloads continue to decline, falling almost 13%. So here's the question of the day. And it's sponsored by Salando Law. What's your reaction to the news that CD sales are actually rising? And what are the best and the worst things about CDs? What's your reaction to the news that CD sales are actually rising? And what are the best and the worst things about CDs? To respond, text those in, 304, talk 304, 304, 304, 8255, 304, tweet me on my next weekly W-E-E-K-L-U-R-E-Coup. How many CDs you think they're here in the building? In the building? In the building. A dude still playing CDs here in the building? I guarantee that we have a storehouse of them upstairs. I know the fact that on the third floor we have just stocks and stocks of stocks of gold discs anyway.

18:35Okay. And then probably several give away stocks of mass amounts of CDs that we'd had somewhere over. But the answer overall is a fraction of what we had say 15 years ago. I mean, there's not many CDs around. We were talk, Stephanie, Pauli came in and she thought when I was referring to CDs, she thought that meant certificates of deposit. So there's probably a portion of the audience right now when I use the phrase CD, they don't really even know what a compact disc is. Is that possible? You would think it would be maybe extreme youth? Maybe. And there might be some people in middle areas that they never really got into CDs. I guess maybe I don't know. All right. Jeff Jenkins is here for a news update. What's going on in West Virginia today, Jeff? Well, we've got a lot, David WVMETRONUS.com. A couple of things that the business summits underway at the Greenborough Resort. Senator Justice just had a few brief comments at the beginning. It was unscheduled, but he got up there and talked about their deal with Kennedy Lewis.

19:36And then the new chairman Lloyd Nathan got up and made some comments about the future of the resort. I'm more introductory, but we got the story at WVMETRONUS.com. Also, we just got this from State Police Dave is that a point pleasant man was found dead in the rear seat of a spare police cruiser in the community of Mason, the town of Mason in Mason County. It appears from Vitter surveillance. He drove into the parking lot in his own vehicle. On Sunday, got out, got into the spare cruiser and then he was found there, Tuesday dead, no foul play suspected. Wow. That's a crazy story. It is. That's a crazy story. What's the motivation there? I guess we're going to find out eventually. Crazy story. Jeff, thank you. All right. We'll take a break. We're back with more in a moment. Are you certain about your financial road to retirement? John Bredett at 4th Avenue Financial.com can give you confidence. 304-746-7977. This is a Bloomberg money minute.

20:38The latest labor market numbers indicate employers are still hiring, but at a slower pace than they were in the spring. ADP reports that companies added 38,000 private sector jobs, which was less than expected, and the smallest gains since the start of the year. The report showed hiring was driven by education and health services, followed by leisure and hospitality, as well as construction. Manufacturing payrolls though did drop. The majority of hiring's did come from businesses with 500 or more employees. In an effort to lure more manufacturing to the US, the Trump administration is weighing a fresh round of tariffs on imported semiconductors. According to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnik, those levies would likely be paired with tariff relief for companies that invest in domestic manufacturing. Lutnik said while talking to CNBC, President Trump has already imposed 25% tariffs on certain advanced semiconductors. Markets continue to be in the green. The Dow is up 410 to 1% as is yes and P500, while the Nasdaq is up a third of a percent. Dan Schwartzman, Bloomberg Radio. My book club president says reading is quote, not a competition.

21:41Well, I finished the book in one night anyway. So I win, Patty. I also got $150 in bonus bets just for betting $10 when I signed up for bet $365. No cliffhangers here, Patty. Just a happy ending. Bet $365. Winning is everything. The family problem, called 1-800-Gambleer, must be 21-plus in present in West Virginia. Claiming app, TNC's apply. According to Feeding America, over 7 million seniors nationwide were food insecure in 2022. West Virginia is no different. Hi, I'm Jason, President and CEO of Union Mission Ministries. For 113 years, Union Mission has focused on helping people in need. Right now, our senior citizens need our help. That is why Union Mission is partnering with local senior living facilities to get food delivered directly to those in need. Will you help us reach more seniors? Visit Union Mission.com to learn more. This is this date in Reds baseball with team historian Greg Rhodes.

22:41The ace of the Red staff in the late 1940s and early 1950s was Ken Raffensberger, a tall left-hander who on this September 2nd, 1951 threw a one-hitter against the Cubs at Brighley Field. The only hit was an infield dribbler in the third inning. Bad luck for the guy they called Rafi. In fact, Raffensberger had a lot of bad luck in his career. This game was his fourth one-hitter. He never had a no-hitter despite coming so close time after time. And he also never pitched for a winning club in his 15-year career. Baseball historian Bill James named Raffensberger to his list of the 10 unluckiest pitchers of all time. And true to form, Ken Raffensberger just inches away from a no-hitter, September 2nd, 1951 this day in Reds baseball. This day in Reds baseball is brought to you by the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame and Museum presented by Dinsmore, celebrating greatness, preserving history, providing inspiration. They say roads are made for journeys, not destinations. And now that I'm retired, I make a point to journey as much as I can.

23:42But when night driving became a challenge, my son and I decided it was time for a doctor's visit to ensure my safety behind the wheel. I was worried, but instead of restrictions, we discussed solutions to make sure I can continue on my journeys. Aging can alter how we drive, take charge of your safety and independence by evaluating your driving skills regularly. Learn more at staysafewv.com. This message is brought to you by the West Virginia Governor's IW Safety Program. Having issues with your home like wet basements, water in your cross-base, bowing or leaning walls or foundation cracks, you need foster construction, your foundation repair experts, locally owned and operated foster construction offers free inspections and estimates, and has a licensed professional engineer on staff. Their services include basement and cross-base water proofing, foundation repair and retaining walls, call 304-776-6263 and get started today. Online at fosterconstructionwv.com, foster construction, they'll fix it right the first time.

24:45Good afternoon, it's 330 and 93 degrees in the capital city. I'm Jack Carlson in the 580WCHS Radio Newsroom, a grim discovery in a state police cruiser in Mason County. State police say they found a point pleasant man dead in the backseat of a spare police cruiser in the town of Mason on Tuesday. Authorities identify the man as 55-year-old Gregory Roush. State police say surveillance video showed Roush getting out of his own vehicle on Sunday and entering the cruiser. Authorities say they don't suspect foul play in his death. May South Charleston woman charged with forgery is going to prison. 58-year-old Terry Mays was sentenced to stay to between one and ten years behind bars. She's accused of stealing checks from her elderly mother who has dementia. Mays was the caregiver for her mother, she was hired by the family. Goodall County authorities have made an arrest after a string of vehicle break-ins in cross-lains. 34-year-old Jesse Reynolds is in custody. He was charged with different break-ins on three different roads.

25:47He's now in the South Central Regional jail. 4,300 pairs of shoes going to Canada County children, the nonprofit kids of Canada organization, raised money during its second annual shoe drive. Treasure Dominic Talleriko says it was a success. We ultimately were able to deliver to all high schools in Canada County, all middle schools in Canada County and 28 of the elementary schools. So in some form of fashion, I think hopefully every elementary school saw some shoes, but if not our goal next year would be to make sure that all elementary schools as well receive some of the shoes that we're donating. The news is brought to you by the Mary Faelin Leadership Academy. It's a free public K-5 charter school offering small classes, free transportation, free before and after care, and richman activities and more. Go to plawv.org. In the newsroom, I'm Jack Rolson. Have you ever dreamed of a project that seemed impossible? Wondered who could bring it to life with precision and care? At Jared Construction, that'll just build a craft futures. From historic restorations to cutting edge designs, they have been your trusted partner since 1999. Whether it's an auto dealership, apartment complex, sports complex, or church addition,

26:50Jared Construction has you covered. See more at jaren-contruchson.com. WV-030133. With an update of sports, I'm Joe Burkato, on 5 ADWCHS. West Virginia connections to the Mertle Beach area are pretty common as South Carolina is a popular vacation spot for many mountain-stay residents. Well, the WV-O-Coastal Carolina Season Opening Football Manchup on Saturday is an intriguing one for WV-O-President Michael Benson, the previously served as the president at Coastal. I love Coastal Carolina. We had a wonderful time there. The president that succeeded in me is becoming a really good friend, Jamie Weinbrink. We want a partner with all higher education institutions. Inside the White Line Day, we want to beat the Breaks off. I have a good feeling. I'm not going to give you a score. I don't want to prognosicate, but I know we are going to have a really good year.

27:50I'm very encouraged because I've seen our offensive line and they are stuck in the air. Benson was against our Metronoose Talkline this morning. With this update of sports, I'm Joe Burkato on 5 ADWCHS. Hey, it's Dave Allen coming up with the next show, new Kennaw County Commissioner Austin. Guess what we'll start by, plus Joe Stevens from the City of Nitro, your calls and text, too. I'll come up right here on the Voice of Charleston WCHS. All right, welcome back. 26 till the hour. Regely DePadre, 7-3, top of the 9th. Coupi got confidence in that since he bullpened to get the job done here. I mean, they've honestly been a little better since the announcement back. So there's a possibility there. And this is another, you know, if it wasn't for that, that epic loss with Dan Myers dropping that flyball against the Cardinals, the Reds would be winners of like, if they

28:51end up winning this for their last five seasons or something like that. So we'll let you know when that game goes final. I was watching a little bit of the Nats in the Braves earlier today. That game was in a rain delay. They're back at it. No score. Braves. There's only two hits in this game. Top of the 5th. Braves have a couple of hits. The Nats know hits yet. And the O's game in Denver against the Rockies is underway. No score there in the middle of the second inning. Did you see this text message from a listener who sent the name of Ryan's dog? Yeah. Listen to better than you apparently, bringing well, I know. I know. I know. I know. I just like to call his dog Brexit. I know. I know. I know. Now that he's out of the room, we can talk about breaking because I know it bugs him. So I just I just do that. After all the grief, he gives me. I'm allowed to have a little fun on my side of the ledger. I agree 100%. I like leaning into it and playing along with him. Like, yeah, Dave has no idea what the name of the dog is. But anyway, this goes to show that some of these some of our listeners are really tuned

29:52into the show. I like that. I do. I like that they know. I appreciate that as well. All right. We've got Jeff Erickson coming up in just a few minutes. So you got any fantasy football questions because it's draft time and the NFL season and Cooper, you believe the NFL season starts a week from tonight. How is that even possible? They got they figured out a way to get a game on Wednesday. All right. So we'll do that. Oh, the other thing is we've got some listeners. We've got some former Metro news news guys that are all part of our first ever hotline listener college football fantasy league. We're having our draft tonight. So for those of you who are in the league and you're listening, thanks for joining us. And we're going to have a lot of fun with that. That should be a lot of fun. That's tonight. Don't forget eight o'clock eight o'clock. All right. Let's go ahead and get the sound of sports rolling and we'll start with college soccer. Last night in Fairfax, Virginia, 15th ranked Marshall spotted George Mason a three-nil lead. Then came storming back to score a trio of goals in the final 23 minutes to earn a three-all

30:56tie. The herd getting the equalizer would just over four minutes left to play. It's out loud. And Gauron sends it in. And what it go. Wait, but no goal. No goal. The referee says no goal. What? Out on the play. No goal. What? No goal. Huh? What? Now hold on. And we are going to stop the clock here. It's a replay of that one. Yeah. They replayed it and it was a goal. It was a goal. So it was a goal. And it was a three-final score. Marshall's now one, oh and two on the year they'll host VCU on Sunday at Hoopsfield in Huntington College football. Coming this weekend, the mountaineers are going to open the season against Coastal Carolina on Saturday at high noon. Offensive Limon Nick Kray feels more comfortable as an O-line veteran this year. I would say it feels a little different. I mean last year, you know, it was my first time really going out there and playing

31:57meaningful staffs. I was nothing nervous, but I think nerves come with every first game before every year. So I think that's a little different. But I mean, just going out there and playing the game that you've grown up playing your whole life. I think it's the biggest thing. And just kind of getting down to the nitty-gritty stuff every day. All right. WV remains a 21 and a half point favorite over Coastal. We'll be talking about the line in the total on this game, West Virginia and Coastal, at the top of the five o'clock hour. Marshall's a heavy underdog to Penn State on Saturday at 330 in Happy Valley. It's the second year for Tony Gibson and Marshall. The Hurts quarterback Carlos Del Rio Wilson is the preseason offensive player of the year in the Sunbelt. And he sounds like the green and white can't wait to mix it up with the blue and white. You can go play big 10 teams. Of course, yes. That's the way I love it. Um, with us, you know, not being on a level to the world is definitely a privilege to go out there and play them the first game to show that we are on that same level and to show that we can be a powerhouse school and the old Marshall is bad.

32:58Definitely. All right. The Hurts remains a 24 and a half point underdog to the nits. Marshall will be the first test for new Penn State Coach Matt Campbell. After a successful run at Iowa State, here's Campbell's take on the herd. The challenge is number one. You got a good Marshall football team. You got a really good Marshall football program that has stood for man, what's right in the world of college football in terms of man, play great football, got great coaching staff, got some really talented players. They're going to put us in challenging situations. How do we respond to that? How do we handle the crowd? How do we handle, um, in our own ego and our own leadership? What does all those things look like from coaches and players? So I think there's just so much that we're going to learn about ourselves. A base one out the dirty birds lost a heartbreaker at Lexington last night. 10-9 to the legends. Charleston scored two runs in the top of the night to take the lead, but Lexington walked it off with three runs in the bottom of the ninth Charleston and the legends played an early game today and Lexington put it on Charleston. Games just ending 16 to four.

33:59The legends over the dirty birds today from the big leagues. The Reds hosting the Padres earlier today. The update from Cincinnati. It's over. Reds win the game. Final seven to three. Um, so what about the pirates? Last night at Pittsburgh, Bucks top the Giants 1312 and arguably the wildest game of the year for the Bucks. This blew a six run lead late as the Giants tied the game at 12 with a five run rally in the eighth, but they walked it off in the bottom of the ninth. Thanks to a throwing air after a hot shot to third by Rafael Flores Jr. And it's first and third with two outs trying to get that man home from third somehow some way. He's looking for his first career. Walk off. Brown ball. Stop by the third base been besoppé on the first and just past devours. Pirates win. Walk it off and raise. The jolly Roger. What a way to finish this one. Oh, we saw it all. Yeah, he's the cone. Oh, they walk it off on an air after the great stop by the subby.

35:03They hot buckles. There it is. 1312 in an absolute wild one here to start this homestead. The results last night for Paul Schien's not great. He gave up five runs in four and two third zinnings and 95 pitches. This Flores Jr. after his walkoff hit against the Giants last night. One out runner. It's second. That's a go ahead run now in Freelink. Okay. I guess we know haven't. Well, he was excited. He was excited. In Cleveland, the big rig had it going on last night for the Guardians. Gavin Williams struck out a career high 13 and allowed just two singles in seven innings as Cleveland topped the blue jays six to one in a battle of teams in the thick of the race for the AL wild card. Williams struck out the side in the seventh and fan five in the last six hitters. He faced. Yeah, I guess the first inning, but that's the way the game sometimes. Okay. I don't know what happened with all my clips. They're almost labeled so completely because I think I was the interview.

36:03We're just looking at that. Yeah, you can play that one though. Let's play that because that's Williams. Just assumed that you heard the clips and he's the big rigs. Awesome. Here he is after the game. He knew when he was hot. Yeah, I guess the first inning, but that's the way the game sometimes. You don't always have your best off in the pre game pens, but when there's somebody in the box, things change. But yeah, if you would have saw it before the game, you would have had somebody up in the first inning. There you go. Now to the jays and the Guardians continue this series tonight. A Joey Cantillo will be on the mound for Cleveland. Cleveland's having a good season. We'll see if they make up for the season. Let's take a quick break and we'll talk some fantasy football. Jeff Erickson from Roto Wire is coming up next. I'm Devon Busby. He's a staff consultant at Civil and Environmental Consultants. I've been fortunate to learn from the best mentors in the business. I grew up in West Virginia and I chose CEC at Martinsburg because I wanted to make a meaningful impact on my Eastern Panhandle community. At CEC, I found opportunities to grow. We connect with clients and the community showing CEC cares about people not just profits. At CEC, we engineer progress in the great state of West Virginia.

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38:07Law Firm. Call 755-5556 or visit PeytonLawFirm.com to learn more. The attorneys referenced in this ad are lifelong residents that are licensed to practice law in the state of West Virginia. My book club president says reading is quote, not a competition. Well, I finished the book in one night anyway. So I win, Patty. I also got $150 in bonus bets just for betting $10 when I signed up for bet $365. Book club hangers here, Patty, just a happy ending. Bet $365. Winning is everything. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambleer. Must be 21 plus and present in West Virginia. Claim in app, TNC supply. Some fans were in middle school last time. Now they're clearing calendars like it's Thanksgiving with Cartheft. I'm Kim Commando.

39:08The Wall Street Journal found a software engineer, Dad of Three, who booked five vacation days. His plan? Disappear into his cave and play. It gets better. One Army battalion is dangling a four-day pass for anyone who re-enlist. You signed up to serve your country. Now you're serving four-day stealing jet skis from fictional retirees. And parents heads up. This game is rated M for a reason. Car jacking strip clubs of the works. If your teen suddenly has a lot of homework on November 19th, you know why. And bosses brace yourself. The Monday after, half your team will have the flu. Historians were called at the great Thanksgiving withdrawal. This year, the only thing getting carved is your vacation days. And get more tech news with my free newsletter over a million readers, Five Star rated. Sign up at GetKim.com. Hi there, I'm Kim Commando. Tech isn't just a part of our lives anymore. It runs our lives. And the phone in your pocket, to your bank account, your job, your card, your kids, even your home security, everything's all connected. And the truth is, most people are just trying to keep up. That's why I created the current.

40:09It's my free daily newsletter that gives you the most important tech stories. The ones that actually matter delivered in plain English with no fluff and no politics. I cover AI, crypto, scams to avoid. Gadgets worth knowing about and how to protect your privacy in a digital world that just doesn't slow down. Almost a million smart people already get it. And it's rated five out of five stars on Google and trust pilot. Every American needs to understand how tech is shaping their lives. And the current helps you do just that every single morning. Sign up right now at GetKim.com. My newsletter 100% free. That's GetKim.com. And I'll see you in your inbox. The voice of Charleston 518 WCHS. All right, welcome back about 13 minutes to the hour. Hey, beginning fantasy football questions. This will be a good time to send them in.

41:11Text them in. Well, for Jeff Erickson, he's with us now 304 talk 304 304 8255 304. I'm on X2. We'll take questions there. Add weekly WEEK. Jeff, how you doing? Amen. How did your trip to Vegas go? Trips. Back to back weekends. I was there. Fantastic. First one was National Fantasy draft day, a couple of Saturdays, a couple of weekends ago. And the last weekend for Cirque du Kickoff weekend I was there as well. Good trips. Good, you know, lots of drafts. I entered Cirque Survivors contest. So did some shows from there. It was all really good. And then I'll be back there for another draft in not this weekend, but the following weekend. Wow, you flying out. Are you driving out each weekend? Drive each time. At least this next one will be with my wife. So, you know, all the splendors of Barso and Baker, at least I could share them with somebody this time. Nice. Nice. Hey, well, do you get any tips from some of these drafts out there about sleeper players or players that usually go high in the draft that might be falling for one reason or another?

42:15Oh, sure. You know, there's always a cast of guys rising and falling every year and it switches each week. A guy that is climbing up boards this week that I'm seeing a lot of is Deandre Swift and probably should have climbed sooner. But it looks like Kyle and Unguy might not be ready for the start of the season. Swift made it, not only made it through training camp at the preseason on Skate, but looked good. And a bear's offense that really hit it straight in the second half last year, especially on the run game. No surprise. Ben Johnson, really good play collar, really good run divisor. The one thing you worry about with the bears is they're centered and retired on them this past off season. But he at least did it before free agency in the draft. So the bears had time to react as opposed to last year would like say the Lions with Frank Ragnar retiring in June. Really kind of threw them a little bit off their access a little bit. So, big on the bears offense this year and Swift's going to play a big part of that. What you're taking the fantasy pros take on Josh Jacobs. I mean, are people taking him early in drafts?

43:18How far down you have them? How far down do you have them? So I have them after picked 200 and in the event that he somehow is at the top of my board and the draft is still ongoing. I still don't think I clicked on them. I don't know. It could work out. It could be a case where he's back after a week or two. Because it's not as dispensuous. The commissioners exemplest. But I'll say this. There's also a risk he never plays. His next legal date is November 17th. The next time he has a court date. If he stays on the exemplest until then, I mean, it's going to be a he's going to have to ramp back up. You know, you don't have to have training camp all over again. Keep in mind. The only thing that Jacobs can do right now is attend meetings. He can't go to practice. He can't play in games. You know, I there is no. The commissioners office in why would they, but they've given no indication when they would bring him back. This is a give. Let the team hold on to the player without taking up a roster spot mentality.

44:18Which also implies a bit of a little bit of length here. It's not a suspension. He'll be paid. But same time. You know, he just I don't think he can use him. Yeah, that's crazy. I saw where the some of the Packers officials yesterday were saying they have not seen the tapes. Of the incident. I personally, I don't believe that. I did. I'm with you 100% 100% agree with you on that. And if they haven't, it's because they haven't tried. Exactly. Because they want that they can have plausible deniability. Hey, let me ask you about a couple of specific players. We had the Giants training camp here in West Virginia at the green bar. How are you feeling about Malik neighbors? Do you think any's all the way back? Where do you have him ranked among the best wide receivers in fantasy football? So he is just ridden the roller coaster this draft season. He started the I think there is a perception that he's going to be ready for the start of the year. No problem when we first started drafting in April and May. And then there's news coming out about a second procedure and then I might not be quite ready right away.

45:19So he dropped all the way to the fourth. Maybe fifth round and some drafts. And then you made it like seven of eight days through full practice. Shed the non contact Jersey. And I see them go back into the second round. I'm not quite there, but a beginning of the third I'm fine with there. I've actually taken neighbors in a couple of drafts. I like the fourth round price better than the second round price. Let's say that. All right. So the so the teams are leaving the West Coast for Australia for this game between the Niners and the Rams. And we're seeing that Nick Bosa and George Kittle both made the plane. So they're they're going to go to Australia. How you feel about how you feeling about Kittle at a tie-down spot for this game against the Rams? And the Rams defense. So I'm a little nervous if I have Kittle because it could be ten plays if he plays. You know, maybe using his way in. He got her in the playoffs and he ruptured into Killy's tent. It's possible he could be all the way back, but it's highly unusual. He has been a guy I haven't been drafting. I have him in a Diesty format where okay fine.

46:21I almost rather them say, okay, he's not going to play in week one. We just wanted him practicing with the team. He's close. Start talking us for one game and then we'll move on. But the fact that they're playing on Thursday and this Sunday and I'm moving it up a little bit is interesting. Also no interesting guys. I think it's the contrast between the Niners and the Rams and how they're handling this trip. The Niners flying out today. The Rams are going to spend like 24 hours there. It's going to be like just like they did with London where it's a business trip. We're just going to be in and out. I don't know. It's a longer flight. I mean London's a pretty far flight from LA. So just keep that in mind. But Australia is even farther. I'm a little surprised they're handling it this way. All right. Let me ask you. What are you I'm seeing that Zack Taylor is saying today that both Jamar Chase and T Higgins are good to go for week one. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not surprised at that. But you know, Higgins popped up this week on the injury part of that heel issue there. But you know, Chase obviously happened last Tuesday.

47:24Happened 10 minutes before my the RotoWire stake league auction, which is where we have a stake state inter side bet for a number of people in the league. And it's always a big deal every year. You know, hate it when news breaks immediately before your draft or auction and he went for a discounted price. I also want to ask you about this. The news that came out yesterday about Isaiah Pacheco of the lions because a lot of people drafted him as a side car for Jamir Gibbs. Now he's going to be out for at least the four weeks. Are there any good running backs left out there that could who's going to be the side car for Gibbs. Now that Pacheco's out. What do you think? I think it probably won't be important. And what Gibbs gets hurt is the way I look at it there. I'll be honest. I don't have any Pacheco. The the guy is on the roster are Valky sailors and small. You know, Valky has been on the roster the last couple of years, but he had one carry for four yards last year, six carries for 14 yards a year before.

48:29Has not been a guy that's been around a whole lot there. So I mean, he's done a whole lot since being on the lions roster here. So it could be a mystery box. It could be a guy that got cut by another team too. It could be one of those situations where they bring somebody else in. But honestly, guys, I was Dave. I was not on to check out a begin with. I thought I don't really buy his skills. I don't think he is the he's not Montgomery. He wasn't going to get that sort of workload. He's a backup period. 30 seconds. The talking about going to Vegas last couple of weeks. The Raiders officially named Kirk cousins. Their starter for week one. Discussions have any fantasy value. And a super flex league only where you're starting to quarterbacks. I think it's good for Brock. Vowers though, because I think cousins will start it tight and fairly often. So that aspect is good. All right. Gotta leave it there. Jeff. Thanks for your time. Today. I do appreciate it. Have a good week. You bet. Thanks Dave. Our Jeff Erickson senior editor at Rotowire. Let's take a break and we'll wrap the hour in a moment. Metro news hotline presented by Salando Law will return right after these messages.

49:32Watch the best weekly high school football matchups this week, including Martin's burger at Bridgeport, Morgan Town and Jefferson. Plus Buffalo at Roan County on Metro news TV. Plus your favorite daily shows and the state of mind. Download the app on your smart TV or streaming device and get more information at WV Metro news TV dot com. Metro news television is powered by 10 Kavagy MC, Go My Blue Indle Marine and Panhandle Cleaning and Restoration. At Poke Valley, your savings deserve simply more. The simply more money market is designed for people who want growth, flexibility and convenient access to their money when they need it most. Whether you're building your savings or planning for the future, Poke Valley is here to help you make the most of every dollar. Ready to learn more? Visit pokevalleybank.com, call 844-782-2651 or stop in to your nearest Poke Valley branch today. At Poke Valley Relationships Matter, member of the IC. My book, Club President, says reading is quote, not a competition. Well, I finished the book in one night anyway. So I win, Patty.

50:40I also got $150 in bonus bets just for betting $10 when I signed up for bet 365. No cliffhangers here, Patty. Just a happy ending. Bet 365. Winning is everything. Gambling problem, call 1-800-Gambleer. Must be 21 plus and present in West Virginia. Claim an app, TNC's apply. Prele is exhilarating performance and cutting-edge sports bikes. Tomoto Gootsie's legendary heritage and adventure-ready touring machines. There's a ride built for every journey. Whether you're chasing the next thrill or exploring the open road, experience the best of Italian engineering and unmistakable style. Come test ride yours today at Trojan Landing Marine and Power Sports or visit TrojanLanding.com and ride into something unforgettable. This is Brandon Grigsby with Prae Construction. When Stepton Johnson needed a partner to construct their professional space, they trusted Prae Construction. Just listen to what Brian Cochley of Stepton Johnson has to say. I'm Brian Cochley of Stepton Johnson here in Charleston, West Virginia.

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