Folks, it finally happened. After a lot of requests from fans, Anthony Boone and I were able to connect for a great, great talk about Duke football, QB Country and the mindset it takes to overcome devastating injuries.
– Anthony gets a TD against Virginia Tech in 2013.
During our talk, Anthony discussed what it took to win at Duke, provides great advice on how to maintain success over multiple seasons and what it was like sharing snaps with Brandon Connette (aka The Phantom). As we discussed the Blue Devils’ current season, Anthony gave some great insight on what Coach Elko and the staff are doing in Durham. You also learn a lot about the DukeGang mindset that his era personified.
Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t take the opportunity point out that while Anthony has some impressive clients at QB Country, it sure sounds like he may be a sleeper agent who is funneling top prospects to Chapel Hill College. We’ve got to correct this, folks! Anthony, get your guys to Durham!!!
In all seriousness, this interview was a blast. You’ll enjoy every minute of it and I hope we can have him back on soon.
We aren’t getting to my “Where this team stands after eight games” post because Eli Pancol is back! Eli and Duke are in the midst of an outstanding 5-3 season with four games to go.
During this nearly forty minute talk, after covering the fact that I’m the Legal Mamba, we get into the Blue Devils’ mindset, what’s responsible for the turnaround this season, the Slideouts and what we can expect from the Blue Devils the rest of the year. If you take the time to listen, you’ll learn a lot about how important Coach Elko, Coach Feeley and the rest of the staff have been in righting the ship. Eli also updates us on his NIL deals and how NIL arrangements are helping players. And, hey, look at that – you can get some Eli merch here! Follow Eli on Instagram to learn more about his merch.
Wait, what’s that? Eli talks about the Hellraisers? And the icy whites? What does he think about them? You have to listen, folks!
It may not be a game preview or a game recap in the traditional sense, but we have a bonus interview with Steve Wiseman! Steve is a reporter for the Durham Herald Sun and the Raleigh News & Observer. He’s covered Duke Athletics since 2010 and recently started co-hosting a podcast on the Bleav network, Bleav in Duke, with The Landlord, Shelden Williams.
After a discussion about Steve’s background and the changing landscape of local and regional sports journalism, we recap the Blue Devils beating UVA, the upcoming game against Georgia Tech and talk about what to expect during the remainder of Duke’s schedule. We get into the current state of the Coastal, dissect what is going on at UVA and Miami and talk about Coach Elko’s rehabilitation of the Blue Devils. We discuss what it will take to keep Coach Elko in charge of Duke football going forward and what the fans need to do to show him their support. HINT – SHOW UP AT GAMES. Seriously – the Blue Devils are having a great season and the turnout last Saturday was awful.
And, before you ask, we have another guest picker. I won’t reveal the person’s identity here, so you’ll have to listen to find out who it is!
This was a great talk with a top-notch reporter. Thanks again, Steve, for stopping by. Let us know what you think about what we think in the comments or on Twitter.
Our old friend Lee Rodio returns to the podcast for his third appearance. (Listen to his first two here and here.) After he updates on us on what he’s been up to lately, we go over what it will take for Duke to have a successful season, Lee gives his picks for each game and closes with a discussion about what NIL can mean for students. Also, Lee delivers some real hot takes when he starts talking about that other school in North Carolina which all us Blue Devils will love. This is a fun talk with a great guest.
Lee just out there being awesome.
Also, we recorded this on Sunday night and by the time I got this posted, Coach Symmes’ interview hit the SEVENTY listens mark. Congrats, Coach! I know when you retire from coaching you’ll think about appearing on this podcast before anything else. Right? I mean, appearing as a guest here as to be a momentous achievement. Right? Bueller? Bueller?
After a bit of trash talk on Twitter, Coach Symmes took some time out of a Wednesday evening to talk about ECU football, his coaching career in college and the NFL and, of course, Duke football. Coach Symmes coached at Duke during the Cutcliffe era before moving onto Indiana where he worked with current Blue Devil OC Kevin Johns. Coach Symmes also had stops at Florida, USC (the one in South Carolina) and with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here’s the Twitter exchange that led to the interview
During this informative conversation, you’ll learn about what a defensive analyst does, the challenging life of a coach and what made the 2013 Duke team so special. We’ll give Symmes a pass for thinking that Indiana made the field goal at the end of the Pinstripe Bowl. I think his glasses were broken or something. Oh, and we mention Miami. Blerg.
Those of you who follow the ACC closely probably get information from Dan Siegel. Dan hosts the eponymously named The Dan Siegel Show where he covers all things ACC. It’s a great podcast that you should listen to.
Dan stopped by to give us his thoughts on what to expect from the ACC this football season. As you might expect, the Coastal is up for grabs whereas the Atlantic is likely to be won by one of three teams. Dan also educates us about his recent Twitter disaster which caused him to set up a new account. Let’s hope all of his listeners find him – he’s a great source of information.
We hope you enjoy the episode. Let us know what you think in the comments or on Twitter. As a heads up, the Miami game was mentioned during the episode and I said a few choice words. Sorry, but it was time. And please let me know if you think I should do a special episode specifically about the Miami game. The idea would be that I would edit all the discussion we have so far about the game into one episode.
Porter Wilson, Duke’s famous punter and the man in possession of a great mullet and moustache, stopped by to talk about how he got into football, his plan to stay for another three years in Durham, the approach he takes to get ready for game day and what the Blue Devils are looking to accomplish this season. He also tells us about the time he takes to get his mullet and his moustache ready for football season.
Oh, and Porter is fully recovered from the horrific injury he suffered during last season’s game against Pitt which you can watch below.
Watching that again, I think we can agree that he is lucky to be alive.
I hope you all enjoy this interview. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for stopping by, Porter!
We all remember Carlos Wray from his time at Duke (2012-2015) and the Golden Era of Duke Football he was a part of. Carlos previously sat down for an interview back in 2020 and another one in 2021 to discuss the Blue Devils’ appearance in four straight bowl games.
Carlos at work as a coach.
During our third and most recent discussion, we talk about Carlos’ coaching career, family crises, leadership and, of course, Duke football. As you would expect, we spend some time going over what it will take for Duke to win and also how to better connect the football program to the Durham community. And we both mention that we don’t like BLEEDBLUE and that DukeGang should make a comeback (or, at the least, start using DukeGRIND).
Guys, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m a bit of nerd. Unashamed of nerdish ways, I made a guest appearance on one of my favorite podcasts, This Might Be A Podcast hosted by Greg Simpson, which is about one of my favorite bands – They Might Be Giants.
Live look at my wife’s reaction when I told her I was going to be on a TMBG podcast.
Older readers may recall the band’s big hit “Birdhouse In Your Soul” which got them on The Tonight Show back in the day. Over the course of their long career, TMBG did the themes for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Malcolm in the Middle and, for those of you with kids, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (both the opening and closing tunes). If you aren’t familiar with TMBG, they have been described as “alternative” (whatever the heck that means these days), indie rock, experimental rock, art rock, avant-pop (huh?), power pop, art punk and geek rock. And they’ve done a few children’s albums, too. Whatever label you want to put on the band, TMBG is nerd rock.
This Might Be A Podcast is a song-by-song podcast about TMBG. Each episode discusses a different TMBG song. The podcast is up to about 175 episodes so far with only another 700 plus songs to go. TMBG has been at it for 40 years and won’t stop making new music. Not even father time can keep TMBG down, nor does the fact that they’re older than they’ve ever been and now they’re even older. Greg’s efforts to chronicle each song makes him a modern-day Atlas.
Greg drops a new episode about once a week and this week I stopped by to talk about a great TMBG song, Yeh Yeh. (As a result of choosing to talk about the song, I learned the TMBG version is a cover of the Georgie Fame version, which is a cover of a cover of the original. Talk about spiraling shapes of confusion here.)
As you’ve noticed with my own podcast, I don’t let myself get constrained by the purported subject matter. Greg and I discuss a lot of things including the full story of my daughter’s appendectomy and bowel obstruction surgery (the episode was recorded the night before she came home). I appreciate everyone who reached out and helped our family during that time. A lot of you who have never met me were kind enough to pray for my daughter and that means a lot to us.
Greg and I also broke whatever record existed on his show for references to The Simpsons. We made a lot of them. A. Lot. We also talked about one of the greatest kids’ books in the history of ever – I Want My Hat Back. This. Book. Is. Perfect. And we do give away the ending. Consider yourself warned.
Bull City Coordinators - A Duke Football and Roman History Blog 